Pooja Pradeep

Experience

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  Letters of Love

  Oct 2015 - Jan 2022

  Founder & Executive Director

  Letters of Love is a youth-led international 501(c)(3)non-profit organisation that provides psychosocial support to refugee children through art, sports, dance, and music, while creating a global citizenry of changemakers around the world.• Delivered 60,000+ hand-written letters to Syrian, Iraqi, Yazidi, Palestinian,Afghan, and Rohingya refugee children on New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day etc.• Galvanized & coordinated efforts of 10 experts & a team of 30 with an averageage of 22 across 11 countries; trained 20 Student Ambassadors.• Networked & coordinated with UNHCR, 7 international NPOs, 20 communitycenters & 4 Refugee camps across Turkey, Palestine, Jordan, & Bangladesh.• Represented Letters of Love at the UNHCR Nansen Refugee Award Ceremony 2019 in Geneva.• Created empathy-centric education modules and community engagement eventguides widely adopted by schools, universities, and companies.• Fostered 350 pen pal friendships through the Pen Pal Project between students in India and Refugee Children in Turkey, children entrapped by war in Syria andthose under siege in Gaza.• Pivoted during covid to raise awareness around frontline communities and sent10,000 letters to frontline workers as a token of gratitude in India, Pakistan, USA,Italy, and UAE.• A member of UNHCR'S #WithRefugees Coalition, UN-Sustainable DevelopmentSolutions Network-Youth and United Network of Young Peacebuilders. Show less

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  Centre Point School - India

  Feb 2016 - Aug 2016

  Taught Modern Physics affiliated to CBSE curriculum to Grade 9 with 40 students. Taught Mathematics affiliated to CBSE curriculum to Grade 7, 8 & 9 , each with 40 students.

  • Physics Teacher

    Feb 2016 - Aug 2016

  • Mathematics Teacher

    Feb 2016 - Aug 2016
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  Beyond The Classroom Education

  Sept 2016 - Dec 2019

  Chapter Director, India

  A member of Cambridge Social Ventures that uses history as a tool to inspire criticalthinking and empathy amongst students through an activity-based accelerated learningprogram – ‘Beyond The Classroom’.Responsible for : Setting up operations and business development in New Delhi and Mumbai.  Overseeing hiring of trainers, curriculum development, sales &delivery of the course. Head Counselor, Future Leader Fellowship program 2019 @Colombo,Sri Lanka. Continues as India’s Representative. Show less

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  Seeds of Peace

  Jun 2017 - Oct 2020

  Counselor

  Founded in 1993 by journalist John Wallach, Seeds of Peace is dedicated to inspiring and cultivating new generations of global leaders in communities divided by conflict. It equips exceptional youth and educators with the relationships, understanding and skills they need to accelerate social, economic and political changes essential for peace. Seeds of Peace focuses on personal transformation and then wider societal change.I served on staff in a mentor role to hundreds of brilliant teenagers from Israel, Palestine, Jordan Egypt, USA, UK, India, and Pakistan and fostered a sense of safety, community, and joy, in order for them to immerse themselves into their leadership development journeys through dialogue and play with one another. Show less

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  Clap Global

  Oct 2019 - Feb 2020

  Head of Community & CSR

  An award-winning EdTech company that creates changemakers in classrooms by leveraging international travellers in local classrooms both physically & virtually. Headed rebranding of the company; coordinated with Sales, Marketing, Growth & Communications departments. Created a new IP called Pop-Up Classroom which creates globally competent communities of high school students.

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  Wadhwani Foundation

  Feb 2020 - Aug 2020

  Program Manager

  A global foundation working towards accelerating economic development in emergingeconomies through entrepreneurship, innovation & skills development. Responsible for ideating and creating entrepreneurship program for schoolstudents (Grades 9 to 12). Project Manager of COVID-19 response project that provides digitalentrepreneurship experience to high school & early college students.

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  CAN Network

  Oct 2020 - Sept 2022

  Manager, Communications & Advocacy

  Community Arts Network (CAN) is a platform which aims to engage, enable, and empower people through arts - be they individuals, organisations or whole communities.As part of the founding team, I've had the pleasure of wearing many hats but mainly, I set-up and ran CAN's Communications infrastructure and headed advocacy through creative campaigns and public speaking to centre art for greater impact across global and local efforts relating to climate, democracy, wellbeing, education, hope, and business; built and nurtured diverse relationships. Show less

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  Seeds of Peace

  Oct 2021 - Feb 2024

  GATHER International Director

  GATHER is a collective of people offering access to community, connections, and critical resources required to advance social, political, environmental, and economic change. GATHER is the impact arm of Seeds of Peace and was started in 2015 with the goal of supporting and investing in leaders mainly across Palestine, Israel, USA, UK, India, Pakistan, Jordan, & Egypt. Today, as an international network of local hubs, GATHER aims at building a healthy citizenry of changemakers doing whatever they can, with whatever they have, wherever they are.I led GATHER overall, liaised with the larger Seeds of Peace team, managed relationships and partnerships, kickstarted a membership infrastructure to hold and engage 7000+ alumni of Seeds of Peace, directed the prestigious GATHER Artivism Fellowship, organised international and regional convenings for changemakers, kickstarted 10+ local Hubs of collective action across 5 countries, and set-up and headed Communications. Show less

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  Brown Buddies

  Sept 2023 - now

  Founder

  Brown Buddies is an instagram community that identifies, champions, and enables brown women in the ocean space, starting with India, Maldives, & Sri Lanka. Brown women are marginalised and are presented with a unique set of challenges to claim their rightful space in the oceans as SCUBA Divers, ocean conservationists, boat captains, open water swimmers, marine biologists etc. Through the power of real life stories, Brown Buddies elevates the realities of women who have overcome hurdles and continue to persevere through cultural, patriarchal, post-colonial, and racial challenges, inviting more women into the waters creating a safe, brave space for women to organise and push for better infrastructure, policy, and culture shifts.For now, I lead team building & management, relationship management, storytelling, program development, community building, and business development along with my team. I am excited about eventually building a collective-led community that requires less of me (or any one individual). Show less