India Currents gave me a voice in days I was very lost. Having my articles selected for publishing was very validating – Shailaja Dixit, Executive Director, Narika, Fremont
India Currents Foundation is the first nonprofit South Asian media organization in the United States. Our mission is to tell critical, relevant, and investigative stories for and about the South Asian diaspora. As conveners of the community, we play a distinctive role in connecting Indian Americans to each other, transcending cultural silos, and promoting civic engagement to support broader social justice issues.
The year 2021 began as a year of cautious optimism. It marked our steady recovery from the brunt of the pandemic years – an upswing that gave us hope. We won funding to support our content development and to build out our infrastructure. Our small but mighty team delivered award-winning stories about Covid19 and its impact, immigration changes, South Asian culture and so much more!
We examined mainstream issues from a cultural perspective and gave our community a voice. This unique angle to our storytelling got the recognition it deserves. Judges at the Cal Journalism Awards had this to say about our content:
“This tri-faceted look at how the Indian-American community faced the pandemic with uncertainty and determination was fascinating and represented voices not often heard in other media. I loved that it looked at things from economic, artistic, and cultural lenses that enriched each account.”
and
“Revealed little-known aspects of life in the Indian American community. Strong reporting with loads of detail.”
Our key takeaway from 2021 is that India Currents is back on track. We are firmly beating the odds. We obtained funding and donors to help to close revenue gaps, and invested in technology to transition into a fully digital 5013c. We created and delivered meaningful and relevant stories for and by our community and anchored our place as a trusted messenger and media player in the community. Most importantly, we built the foundation for a tenacious editorial team that delivers. In 2021 we implemented invaluable lessons we learned on how to navigate the digital media ecosystem, and our commitment is paying dividends.
Highlights of 2021
Impact
- Growth in readership:
- In 2021 our website reached 317,500 unique readers, a 7% growth in readership
- Recognized in Silicon Valley Community Foundation’s first Cohort of Local Journalists
- Growing Community Collaborations:
- Ethnic Media Services: wrote 60 stories informed by briefings
- DingDing TV: Co-sponsored a Video & essay contest
- Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI) – Cosponsored the Growing up Asian in America essay contest
- Domestic Violence Orgs – Developed the Chai with Sahelis podcast
Editorial Impact
- Built a community of storytellers and worked with:
- 297 Community journalists
- 20 Youth writers
- 6 Interns
- Editorial focus: 596 stories
- Covid-19 Vaccinations
- Recall Election
- DV during a pandemic
Awards & Recognition
- 10 Awards from SF Press Club in 2021
- 11 Awards from California Journalism Awards in 2021
- Awarded 2 Investigative Fellowships from USC:
- Masala Heroes – the role of Ethnic grocery stores in the wellness of a community
- Desi Dost Project– Transnational Abandonment: The new face of domestic violence when perpetrators abandon dependent spouses domestically or abroad
Fiscal Year 2021 Summary
Our Funders
- Silicon Valley Community Foundation
- Ethnic Media Services
- Miami Foundation
- Voter Outreach Campaign
Donations
Several individual donors supported us during our Giving Tuesday campaign. These donations became eligible for matching funds from Newsmatch.
- 141 individual donors
- 9 donors over $1,000
- 14 donors between $250 and $1,000
Our Staff
Vandana Kumar serves as Publisher & CEO. As a new immigrant, she co-founded India Currents magazine in 1987 and published an award-winning print magazine from April 1987 to Dec 2017. Fully digital today, India Currents has the largest following among Indian Americans in the United States. Vandana has won awards for Overall Excellence at the Greater Bay Area Journalism Awards hosted by the San Francisco Press Club over the past several years.
Vandana has won the Asian American Hero Award from the County of Santa Clara and the Leadership in Business award from the California Legislature Assembly. Vandana is a Senior Fellow, Class XXXIX, American Leadership Forum.
Vijay Rajvaidya serves as Chief Financial Officer and Managing Director. He is a veteran of the high-tech and Information Technology industry of Silicon Valley. He has an MBA in Finance from Santa Clara University and multiple degrees in engineering. Vijay has 30 years of experience in global marketing and sales. As a member of the Rotary Club of Evergreen, Vijay is involved in various community initiatives.
Sunita Sohrabji serves as our Managing Editor. She is a veteran reporter, most recently covering the Indian American community for India-West newspaper. She has received 15 local and national awards for excellence in journalism.
Sunita is a graduate of CSU Sacramento, with dual degrees in government and journalism. She has also completed six reporting fellowships, including a project with the International Center for Journalists, for which she investigated the disposal of electronic waste in India’s slums.
Priya Lava: Serves as Operations Manager. She is passionate about cooking and gardening and loves to travel. As a new immigrant, she enjoyed reading India Currents as a print magazine and is proud to be a part of the organization now.
Sree Sripathy serves as our community Photojournalist. She is a writer, photographer, and disability advocate based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is a 2022 CatchLight Local Fellow and part of the California Local Visual Desk program. Sree also co-founded the Women’s Parkinson’s Project as a platform to raise the voices of women with Parkinson’s Disease.
Meera Kymal serves as Contributing Editor and creates multimedia content on social issues that impact the South Asian community. She covers broader public topics like immigration policy and reform, public health, voting rights, the census, and aging.
Meera is a 2021 and 2022 grantee from the USC Center for Health Journalism, reporting on domestic violence in the South Asian community. She has received Journalistic Excellence awards from the San Francisco Press Club (2021 & 2020) and Cal Journalism Awards (2021).
Rasana Atreya serves as Contributing Editor. Her debut novel Tell A Thousand Lies was shortlisted for the UK-based Tibor Jones South Asia Prize (2012). She declined a publishing contract because she wanted to explore this newfangled phenomenon known as self-publishing.
In another life, Rasana was an electrical engineer/Unix systems administrator.
Nina Mohan serves as the Social Media Manager. She has worked as a staff reporter and social media manager at India West newspaper. She also served as the social media manager and as a contributing reporter at Ethnic Media Services and is now very happy to continue her work in community journalism at India Currents. In her spare time, she enjoys dancing and creative writing.
Anu Shree manages the Events section of India Currents. She is passionate about art, painting, gardening, and traveling. She volunteers at India Currents to create awareness about her community.