Our Team
This is your Team page. It's a great space to introduce your team and talk about what makes it special, such as your culture and work philosophy. Don't be afraid to illustrate personality and character to help users connect with your team.
Leela Sharma
Leela Sharma is a 16-year-old high school senior at St. Lukes School in New Canaan, CT. Her interest in different cultures and diversity was sparked by her exposure to Indian classical dance and music at a young age. Through her experiences with the Asian Affinity Group and the China Care Club, she has become passionate about helping create understanding and appreciation of the rich cultural diversity across the world.
Inspired by the family history of Raji Srinivasan, Leela came up with the idea of The Raji Project in late 2022. Since then, she has been sharing her experience of exploring cultures and giving back to the community.
Apart from exploring different cultures and dancing Bharatanatyam, the Indian Classical dance, Leela has also been diversifying her profile with lead roles in her school’s productions of Theater shows and musicals since her freshman year
Ranjani Krishnaswamy
Ranjani is a passionate brand builder with over 24 years of experience in marketing leadership roles, journeying a rich, diverse spectrum of markets (developed & emerging economies), roles (national, regional and global), and brands (mature as well as nascent); in large complex as well as small nimble teams.
Her marketing journey has been fueled by brands like Dove, Tanishq, Titan, Yardley London, Hindustan Times, Lever Ayush, Santoor, Giffy, Tasty Tales, etc., across diverse markets of India, SEA, Japan, North America, EU, and Middle East.
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Ranjani is currently the Chief Marketing Officer for Mainline Analog Watches at Titan India. Ranjani was included in the list of 50 most influential Women in India in 2022 and 2023 by IMPACT.
Vani Nidadavolu
​Vani is a renowned Bharatanatyam artist, and hails from a family of musicians and connoisseurs of fine arts. She is the founder of Vani Natyalayam, a classical dance school, based in Trumbull and Monroe, CT, where she has been inspiring, training and molding girls into classical dancers for over 25 years. She has launched the debuts of many young dancers and has, over the years, trained more than 50 dancers to complete their Arangetrams.
Vani is also a passionate philanthropist and has been a strong supporter of Uplift a Child, helping the education of underprivileged children in India, The UNICEF, The Oakhill organization to help the blind, Sneha Incorporated, supporting South Asian women in need, and Operation Hope which helps the needy of food and shelter.
Vani is a recipient of numerous awards including one from the Connecticut Immigrant and Refugee Coalition for her outstanding community services and from The Milan organization for her dedication in Indian performing arts. Vani holds Master’s degree in Commerce and a Diploma in Interior Decorating.
Gaurav Sharma
Gaurav serves as the Secretary of The Raji Project. He has more than 25 years of leadership experience across multiple industries including Banking, Finance, Healthcare, Consumer Products and strategy consulting.
Gaurav’s experience includes building successful organizations through developing high-performing teams, driving innovation and business impact and catalyzing organizational change. In his most recent role as Managing Director and Global Head of Data, AI and Analytics of Citigroup’s Treasury and Trade Solutions (TTS) business, Gaurav helped develop and commercialize AI powered data products and governed data across systems. In addition to managing data and analytics, Gaurav has held roles leading P&Ls, product management, marketing, new product development and sales management.
Gaurav holds an MBA in Finance and Strategy from the Yale School of Management, a Post-Graduate diploma in Business Management from Institute of Management
Technology, India and a Bachelor of Engineering from Goa College of Engineering, India.
