RLC TEAM

Kiran Bir Sethi is a designer who became a teacher, a principal who grew into an education reformer and subsequently morphed into a social entrepreneur. A trained visual communicator from the National Institute of Design, she comfortably uses the language of design as a tool for user centered innovations...

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  Kiran Sethi

  Kiran Bir Sethi is a designer who became a teacher, a principal who grew into an education reformer and subsequently morphed into a social entrepreneur. A trained visual communicator from the National Institute of Design, she comfortably uses the language of design as a tool for user centered innovations.

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  Kiran Sethi

  
  

  Kiran Bir Sethi is a designer who became a teacher, a principal who grew into an education reformer and subsequently morphed into a social entrepreneur. A trained visual communicator from the National Institute of Design, she comfortably uses the language of design as a tool for user centered innovation.

  
  

  Sethi founded the award winning Riverside School in Ahmedabad, India, in 2001. Riverside, is viewed as a laboratory to prototype design processes that uses a systems approach to build a culture of empowerment, graduating young citizen leaders with an ‘ I CAN Mindset’ – using their agency for the greater good. The values that nourish this mindset are the 5 E’s – Empathy, Ethics, Excellence, Elevation and Evolution – intentionally moving us to becoming HumanE, by design.

  
  

  Riverside Learning Centre ( RLC ) started in 2016, has codified the practices and processes of The Riverside School, and housed them in 6 Pillars ( Curriculum, Parent Partnership, Personal and Professional Development, Community, Administration and Leadership ) and designed Training Programmes that empower more schools to become I CAN schools.

  
  

  Kiran is also the founder of 'aProCh'—an initiative to make our cities more child friendly, for which she was awarded the Ashoka Fellow in 2008 and was a Yidan Fellow in 2019.

  
  

  In 2009, Kiran launched “Design for Change” which uses a simple 4 step design framework – FIDS (Feel, Imagine, Do, Share) to cultivate the I CAN belief in all children. Today, DFC is the world's largest movement of change - of and by children, and is in 60 countries — impacting over 2.2 million children and 65,000 Teachers.

  
  

  Over the years, Kiran, Riverside and Design for Change have won several accolades and Awards, and some of the most recent ones are:

  
  

  • November 2021 – Design for Change is one of the only 7 innovations that made it to HundrED.org’s Hall of Fame
  • In March of 2021, Kiran was invited to be judge for the prestigious YIDAN Prize.
  • In November, 2019, Design for Change conceptualised and helped to host the first ever All Faith - I CAN Children’s Global Summit at the Vatican in Rome from 27th to 30th November, with participation of over 2500 children from across 40 countries, who were blessed by the Pope!!
  • In October, 2019, she was awarded the Earth Prize in Luino, Italy
  • In March 2019, she was amongst the first batch of the ChenYidan Visiting Global Fellows at Harvard.
  • In January 2019, she was honoured with the Lexus Design Award for 2019, in Pune, India
  • In 2018, Kiran has been awarded the “Light of Freedom” Award, at the Vital Voices, U.S.A., Global Leadership Awards.
  • In 2018 Edutopia covered The Riverside School for best practices. In 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 -DFC has been recognised as one of the 100 most innovative educational programmes in the world by HundRED.org (based in Finland).

  Kiran currently resides in Ahmedabad with her Husband – GeetSethi and two wonderful children – their son, Raag and daughter, Jazz. She loves listening to music, watching movies, singing, dancing and has an insane love for fruit-filled Dark Chocolates!!!

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  Pranay Desai

  Pranay Desai has vast experience as a Visual Communication specialist. He graduated from the prestigious MS University of Baroda with core competency in the area of Graphic Design. At RLC, Pranay is responsible for the website design and the user interface of the I CAN platform.

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  Pranay Desai

  
  

  Pranay Desai has vast experience as a Visual Communication specialist. He graduated from the prestigious MS University of Baroda with core competency in the area of Graphic Design.

  At RLC, Pranay is responsible for the website design and the user interface of the I CAN platform. With his business acumen, he has also contributed in developing RLC’s business model.

  
  

  In his spare time, he is a passionate off roader and traveller.

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  Parul Patel

  Parul Patel is associated with The Riverside School since its inception in 2001. A B.Com graduate by education, she started her career as a Junior K.G. Teacher in 1990. Working as a School Administrator, Parul has actively spearheaded several initiatives started by The Riverside School, namely, aProCh.org, Design for Change and Koshish.

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  Parul Patel

  
  

  Parul Patel is associated with The Riverside School since its inception in 2001. A B.Com graduate by education, she started her career as a Junior K.G. Teacher in 1990. Working as a School Administrator, Parul has actively spearheaded several initiatives started by The Riverside School, namely, aProCh.org, Design for Change and Koshish. Her contribution to augment Joy of Giving program and the RTE program at Riverside has been exemplar. She now looks after the administrative work of RLC and ensures better implementation of processes and good governance at RLC. She enjoys reading and watching movies and is an out-and-out people's person. Her administrative skills are impeccable and she puts her heart and soul into everything that she does.

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  Shruti Narayanan

  A designer and growth hacker, who is fuelled by her passion for understanding the nuances of cross-cultural application of space, sustainability and design thinking to create not just buildings, but a feeling! Shruti Narayanan, has completed her undergraduate B.A.(Hons) program from Pearl Academy in Interior Architecture and Design.

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  Shruti Narayanan

  
  

  A designer and growth hacker, who is fuelled by her passion for understanding the nuances of cross-cultural application of space, sustainability and design thinking to create not just buildings, but a feeling! Shruti Narayanan, has completed her undergraduate B.A.(Hons) program from Pearl Academy in Interior Architecture and Design. 

  Her 'pursuit of knowledge' has always been a cherished obsession and a dominating influence for her. She comes with an experience in project management, space planning and computer aided designing. Her background in co-ordinating all facets of design, from conceptual processing’s to final delivery inform her mindful approach. She considers herself a ‘forever student,’ eager to both build on her academic foundations in design thinking and stay in tune with the latest technologies and techniques through continued coursework.

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  Nirav Modha

  Nirav Modha brings in many years of experience working with leading media houses in India and is the lead documenter (film-maker) for Riverside Learning Center, converting the complex educational processes into short films that are simple to understand and easy to share. Nirav has a post graduate degree in Multimedia and International Trade..

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  Nirav Modha

  
  

  Nirav Modha brings in many years of experience working with leading media houses in India and is the lead documenter (film-maker) for Riverside Learning Center, converting the complex educational processes into short films that are simple to understand and easy to share. Nirav has a post graduate degree in Multimedia and International Trade, and has been working with Riverside on process documentation for the past seven years. He has specialised in Motion Graphics, Brand Solutions and Post production. He also runs his own creative agency, Talkingcloud. Outside of the workplace, Nirav is passionate about both nature and yoga.

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  Raag Sethi

  Raag Sethi graduated from the Woodstock International School in Missouri in 2009, after which he took a gap year to work for the Design for Change contest which was featured in TED that same year. He completed his undergraduate degree from Chapman University, California in Integrated Educational Studies with an emphasis on schools..

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  Raag Sethi

  
  

  Raag Sethi graduated from the Woodstock International School in Missouri in 2009, after which he took a gap year to work for the Design for Change contest which was featured in TED that same year. He completed his undergraduate degree from Chapman University, California in Integrated Educational Studies with an emphasis on schools in the community and music performance in Classical Guitar.

  Currently he works at The Riverside School, conducting Professional Development courses for teachers regarding Pedagogy and teaching Music, Global Perspective and Literature to High School students. He also spends considerable time providing consultancy to Riverside Learning Center, specifically for impact measurement and observation processes.

  He also has a Jazz band in Ahmedabad and organizes the Ahmedabad Jazz & Blues festival annually. Raag is currently pursuing his Masters of Science in Psychology in Child and Adolescent Development.

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  Arpita Bhansali

  A unique combination of art, design, and education and an acute eye for detail fuels her exploration of the world’s lesser-discussed issues. Graduated from Srishti Institute of Art, Design, and Technology, majoring in Creative Education, she comes with an eagerness to continue working towards integrating her ideas into practice.

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  Arpita Bhansali

  
  

  A unique combination of art, design, and education and an acute eye for detail fuels her exploration of the world’s lesser-discussed issues. Graduated from Srishti Institute of Art, Design, and Technology, majoring in Creative Education, she comes with an eagerness to continue working towards integrating her ideas into practice.

  
  

  On the journey of building herself as a reflexive designer, she reflects on her own learning processes and iterates design outcomes accordingly. Her enthusiasm stems from learning about new ideas and concepts, conversing with children and documenting their experiences, and introducing the concept of making as learning.

  
  

  Her illustration skills are expressive at the very least and give her a platform to find her stance about things that matter. In her free time, she also likes to dabble with art, watching shows and journaling. If she goes missing, you can find her sitting in a corner making books.

  
  

  She comes from a big intergenerational family and has found herself growing around them.

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  Neena Mehata

  Neena has a cumulative working experience of over 15 years in business programming for a manufacturing company in the USA, heading aproch.org at The Riverside School for 5 years and until May 2020, managing Leadership and Teacher Training Programs and doing Business Development for Riverside Learning Center.

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  Neena Mehata

  
  

  Neena has a cumulative working experience of over 15 years in business programming for a manufacturing company in the USA, heading aproch.org at The Riverside School for 5 years and until May 2020, managing Leadership and Teacher Training Programs and doing Business Development for Riverside Learning Center.

  
  

  Neena is currently working as a part time associate with RLC to develop new programs and content curation. Her practice is informed by her experience of leading Riverside Learning Center (RLC) for more than 5 years. Neena’s ability to build professional and personal relationships has been a key asset to Riverside in the multiple roles she has held in the organisation. She values RLC’s purpose in education and passionately promotes its cause, which she demonstrates while managing RLC and working with trainees and educators from around the world.

  
  

  Neena has Bachelor’s degrees in Business Administration from Sydenham College (Mumbai), a Bachelor of Science in Computer Technology from Purdue University (USA), in addition to a Postgraduate Diploma in Systems Management from NIIT.

  
  

  Neena finds her relaxation in meditation, playing different sports and occasional singing.