South Asian Voices

Monica Modi Khant is the Executive Director of the Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence (API-GBV). As an experienced trainer and national speaker, she shares her expertise on gender-based violence, immigration law, and the intersection of immigrant rights, human trafficking, domestic violence, sexual assault, and asylum. With over two decades of experience in the non-profit legal community, she is also a speaker on non-profit leadership. Monica is passionate about impacting systemic changes at the local and national levels, strengthening communities, and creating a broader understanding to influence the culture and lives of AAPI survivors and their families.

Ms. Khant received her BA from Rutgers University and her J.D. from New England School of Law. Upon graduation, she was the Detention Attorney at the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) where she represented detained asylum seekers. In 2000, Ms. Khant continued practicing immigration law with private immigration firms in Boston, MA. In 2005, she was appointed as the Director of Legal Services at the International Institute of Boston (IIB) and joined Georgia Asylum & Immigration Network (GAIN) as their first Executive Director from 2006-2020.

Ms. Khant currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence (GCADV) and the Advisory Board of Raksha. She is a graduate of Leadership Atlanta Class of 2015 and the Regional Leadership Institute in 2018. Ms. Khant is currently a fellow of the prestigious International Women’s Forum fellowship program. In 2014, she received the Public Interest Award from the South Asian Bar Association (SABA). In 2017, she was honored as Atlanta Magazine’s Women Making a Mark and has received Emory Law School’s EPIC “Unsung Devotion to Those Most in Need” Award in 2018. Ms. Khant has also received the Legal Legend Award from the American Constitution Society (ACS) in 2019.

PAURVI BHATT is the Vice President of Medtronic Philanthropy and President of Medtronic Foundation, leading the philanthropic and social impact strategies of Medtronic, PLC. Paurvi’s unique career spans the corporate, nonprofit, and government sector. In her past leadership roles, she led outcomes-based initiatives at Levi Strauss and Co., Abbott, USAID, US GAO, and CARE. Her technical training is in health systems and economics – with a specific focus on HIV/AIDS, women’s health, and impact measurement. She is known for delivering scalable and sustainable cross-disciplinary solutions deliver results by partnering across commercial, nonprofit, and government stakeholders to improve outcomes in health and social issues impacting health for the underserved. Paurvi is deeply committed to building the next generation of women leaders focusing on social impact. She is passionately a “working daughter” as a caregiver and serves on several advisory groups and nonprofit boards focusing on leadership, philanthropy, caregiving, and access to healthcare. Her formal Board roles include The Rosalyn Carter Institute for Caregivers, CaringBridge, and The Nurse Family Partnership. She advises the Council of Foundations, The Conference Board, GlobeMed, and Women in Global Health. Paurvi holds a Master of Public Health in health systems and economics from Yale University and Bachelor's Degree in neuroscience from Northwestern University is Ph.D. (ABD) from Johns Hopkins University.

Sarah Khan is Director of Programs at Asian Pacific Institute on Gender-Based Violence. Since moving to the United States, 20 years ago, Sarah Khan has been committed to working in communities impacted by inequities. She believes positive social change, racial justice, and equity can be created by facilitating organizational transformation and leadership development in marginalized communities. Towards that end, she has been focused specifically on working with non-profit organizations that are primarily focused on ending gender–based violence, to build their capacity to advance their anti-violence work, especially in marginalized communities. She is a network weaver/connector skilled in public presentations, training and facilitation, and supervision and is highly experienced in event management and fundraising.

In her work, she also draws on her years of experience in the field of gender-based violence and community development – developing programs and leadership while supporting the expertise and voices of those she works with. She brings a breadth of experience providing both direct services as well as training and technical support to the field while working with multi-cultural communities of color.

Trigger warning: Sensitive Content

Trigger warning: Sensitive Content

This episode features an interview with Mahabanoo Mody Kotwal who is the pioneer in bringing the world-famous ‘Vagina Monologues’ to India and using it as a tool to shatter the conservative beliefs related to women’s body as well as their rights over their bodies. The Monologues have been hailed as a landmark in the history of women’s struggle for equality and explore various aspects of sexuality, body image, fears, anger, and pleasure around one’s own body. Mabanoo in her talk shows us how this theatrical piece has been helping her in empowering women and how it is impacting the patriarchal psyche of men, forcing them to think and change.

About the Speaker:

Mahabanoo is trained as a microbiologist and geologist, but in her adult life took up her first passion – performance. She is an actor, director, and producer in film, television, theatre, and radio with over 60 credits to her name in India and abroad.  She is also a social justice advocate, working diligently for women empowerment globally and has been honored for her leadership in this regard.

She has worked with Indian and international luminaries such as Amitabh Bachchan, Prunella Scales, Richard Johnson, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Anupam Kher, Naseeruddin Shah, Paresh Rawal, Shabana Azmi, and the late Om Puri amongst many others. As the owner of Poor-Box Productions, one of India’s premier theatre companies Mahabanoo has produced, directed, and starred in some of India’s most critically acclaimed works and longest-running shows in English and Hindi including Shirley Valentine, Art, (W)Hole In The Head! and soon entering its fifteenth year in India, The Vagina Monologues (in Hindi and English).