Head Office
Jodie Underhill - Co-Founder
Jodie is the co-founder of Waste Warriors and has started and worked extensively in both the Dehradun and Dharamsala project locations, as well as at multiple large events around India. Born in Great Yarmouth, England in 1976, Jodie became better known as 'Garbage Girl' here in India because of her tough and uncompromising work towards clean-up drives and waste management solutions. Jodie has more than eight years of waste management experience and will always represent the spirit and strength behind our organization. She is now back in the UK but still supports our head office team through her partnership development and fundraising work.
Avinash Pratap Singh - Chief Executive Officer
As a student of Computer Science, Avinash first got in touch with Waste Warriors in late 2012 with a motive to volunteer and do his bit. Over the last seven years, Avinash has been involved in Waste Warriors and its mission in different capacities in the fields ranging from Project Management, Training, Consultancy, and to Strategic Organizational Development. Today, through the guidance of his mentor, Jodie, Avinash is now the Chief Executive Officer and works on restructuring the project management to have better systems in place for data-driven decision-making and impact assessment, bringing the organization one step closer to its dream – A cleaner India. When he is not cleaning up a mountain trail or brainstorming with other team members, he can be found trekking up another mountain peak or cycling to the nearby city for his favourite snack.
Sakshi Singh - HR Talent & Culture Manager
Sakshi is a MBA (PG) with major in Human Resource and Personnel Management. She has 4 years of corporate experience where she worked two years in NCR and later came back to Dehradun which is her hometown and worked with Oppo mobiles Pvt. Ltd. in their core HR generalist team. Her core skills include recruitment, induction and orientation, documentation, attendance management, payroll system, business communication and interpersonal skills.
Chirag Mahajan - Communications Manager
Chirag grew up in Hyderabad, India, and went to the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, to do his Bachelor of Arts. He then spent three years in various positions at a Vancouver radio station, CiTR 101.9 FM, including News Director of News 101, Web Editor of Discorder Magazine, Technical Producer of Terry Project Podcast, Producer and Host of Discorder Radio, and Campus Coverage Coordinator. After exploring the radio world, Chirag completed a diploma in audio engineering and post-production from Nimbus School of Recording Arts & Media, Vancouver. After freelancing as a multimedia editor (graphics, sound, and web), he left North America in November 2016 to travel as a backpacker across India, where he saw this country and the issues it faced with garbage from a new perspective. Chirag found out about Waste Warriors and in June 2017 he joined us as a full-time volunteer, eventually becoming our Dharamsala Project Manager. In July 2018, he joined the head office as Communications Manager.
Sandeep Balachandran - Content Manager
Sandeep grew up in Calcutta and later moved to Bombay to write for a technology magazine called CHIP. His ability to breakdown products and list out their USPs, with respect to the competition, is what helped him transition from reviewing and writing about technology to marketing and promoting tech based products. However, after spending 11 years climbing the corporate ladder, he decided to take a break and ride to Himachal. It was here where he heard about Waste Warriors and decided to work for an NGO. He wants to spread awareness and keep the mountains free of garbage. Sandeep is also an Interior Photographer and Videographer and has a keen eye for detail. His love for two wheels and the mountains is probably second to none.
Manaswita Verma - Associate Manager, Marketing
A graduate from Symbiosis Centre for Media and Communication (Pune) with a major in advertising, Manaswita worked with Grey Worldwide Pvt. Ltd. in Mumbai for 2 years as a Digital Account Executive. She handled clients like Cipla, ITC Tobacco, Cadbury Silk, Bournvita Biscuits, Duracell etc. during her stint. She envisions herself as a social marketing professional with a core skill set that includes digital marketing, communications and social impact strategizing.
Bhuwan Kapri - Growth Specialist
Bhuwan grew up in the small Himalayan town of Pithoragarh, Uttrakhand. When he completed his B.Tech. Computer Science degree from an engineering college, he was the first in his family to do so. After working for three years in a couple of IT sales and marketing companies in Pune and Delhi, Bhuwan joined our Dehradun team in January 2018 as a Growth Assistant. He constantly tries to lend his widening skills to organise proper waste management systems with new establishments across Dehradun, and also works on additional activities including event waste management, waste consultancy, and project planning. Bhuwan works hard to prepare reports and proposals, do site surveys and waste audits, and takes the time to talk to our stakeholders to help them understand and overcome their waste problems. In his free time, Bhuwan loves to read and to listen to all kinds of music.
Jyoti Jugran - Finance Assistant
Jyoti was born and brought up in Dehradun with a family of five. She has 4 years of experience in accounting and is currently working with us as the Finance Assistant. She has done her graduation in B.Com and her post-graduation in M.Com. It was when she was travelling to Rishikesh that she noticed individuals littering their area, some of whom were educated and still littering and others who had lacked any awareness of what they were doing. Jyoti took it upon herself to do something and joined Waste Warriors. She has been working with our team since February 2018.
Vijayshwari Rawat - Admin Assistant
After working with Punjab National Bank for two years and the PAN card office for five years, Vijayshwari joined Waste Warriors in January 2017 as an Admin Assistant. She feels very proud to be working with Waste Warriors, as it has enhanced her knowledge about waste management. We are happy to have her with us as she is very responsible and undertakes all her office duties very efficiently.
Dharamsala
Shomita Bhattacharya - Project Manager
Shomita was born and raised in Bhopal, the City of Lakes and also home to the world’s 2nd worst industrial disaster. Growing up in a family of environmentalists in a city with ongoing environmental issues, it became clear that this is the field she wants to serve. She pursued her passions through her education in Environmental Studies and has worked in the field of solid waste management on various regional and nationwide projects assisting cities and businesses diverting and reducing waste. Shomita is excited to continue this journey through Waste Warriors in identifying solutions to resolve the incredible and growing problems surrounding waste. Besides “talking trash”, one can find Shomita traveling, reading, catching up on favorite shows, and making conversation with a stranger.
Etosha Chatterjee - Manager, Outreach & Partnerships
Born and brought up in Kolkata, an engineer by education, an avid trekker and mountaineer by heart and profession, Etosha is in total love with the Himalayas. She has been travelling and trekking across the Himalayas for the past 10 years and made people travel along, just with sheer intentions of making every individual understand the importance of taking care of our nature and natural resources. She feels it's the urgent need of the hour to spread this message across to as many individuals as possible and hence, Waste Warriors. Apart from traveling, she is in love with books, and is a badminton player, a passionate dancer, and loves making crafts, and especially junk art makes her the happiest.
Mitali Rawat - Associate Manager, Outreach & Partnerships
Mitali grew up in Pithoragarh, which is one of the hilly districts of Uttarakhand. During her Master’s in Urban Planning from NIT Calicut, she got the chance to do her research on the hilly regions of the country. This was the time when she realised how badly these areas are being neglected and also the huge potential they have for their own development. Now she wants to work towards this. For her, joining the Waste Warriors team is one of the stepping stones to achieve this goal. Other than this, she is working on living a zero-waste lifestyle. She loves reading books and is growing her interest in politics.
Arpit Dhiman - Assistant, Outreach & Partnerships
Arpit grew up in Dharamshala and he first got in touch with Waste Warriors in mid-2018 as an Intern. He did his post graduation degree in Social Work. Arpit is an adventure enthusiast and a nature lover from the beginning. He joined Waste Warriors as a Trainee (Outreach and Partnerships). Apart from this, he is an amateur photographer and is on Instagram by the name @youngwild.n.free where he shares what he explores.
Nidhi Sharma - Education Associate
Born and brought up in Shimla, Nidhi recently joined the team of Waste Warriors Dharamsala. Being a postgraduate in Social Work from Himachal Pradesh University, she has always been passionate and willing to serve society. The growing amount of garbage piles in and around the city and especially in the rural areas, made her realise that this problem has to be solved at the earliest and this is why she joined Waste Warriors, to make a difference. Apart from social work she loves reading books, poetry, and music.
Yogesh Shukla - Operations Manager
Yogesh is an experienced Operations Manager, and is known for helping, educating, supporting Green Workers, volunteers and interns. He’s driven by a passion for a better and greener India. He is a positive thinker and innovative in handling complexities and challenges. He started his career as a Technical Security Adviser after completing various Microsoft certifications, but left after few months as he felt sitting in front of a computer is not exactly what he was looking for. He then joined a R&D firm and worked there for 4 years and traveled all over India working on different projects. During his tenure, he got the opportunity to work with global institutions such as GiZ, IARD, MFO, UCLA, Columbia University, Harvard University, Duke University, New York University etc. Working with academics and policy makers from around the globe helped him develop and enhance his interpersonal skills. Yogesh now spends his time on the managing the Dharamsala project's operations, advocacy, and volunteer/intern management.
Vinay Kumar - Associate Manager, Operations
Vinay was born in the foothills of the Himalayas. Having been brought up in a multicultural aura, he respects and has imbibed the diversity around him. He believes that with right intentions and right path, nothing is impossible in life. He strives to live fearlessly and harmoniously. Among his favourite activities are hiking, exploring the world, road-running, soccer, cricket and adventure sports.
Vikas Kapoor - Project Assistant
Vicky, as he is known in our office, used to work at a shop at Bhagsu Waterfall and was volunteering with Waste Warriors with their clean-up drives. He officially joined the team as a Project Assistant in the year 2017 and since then has worked with a single aim, to keep the Bhagsu, Galu, and Triund areas clean and devoid of litter and garbage. Vicky was born and brought up in the Dharamsala region and has seen how tourism has affected the ecology of the place. According to him, even locals have not been very interested or even aware of the effects of irresponsible garbage disposal but this issue can be curbed through proper awareness programs, and he can now see them changing.
MEET OUR DHARAMSALA GREEN WORKERS
Dehradun
Outreach & Partnerships Team
Naveen Kumar Sadana - Manager, Outreach & Partnerships
Naveen joined the team in October 2016 and was initially handling our daily operations for a year. He is now in charge of our Outreach & Partnerships, where he works hard to reach out to local community members, including bulk generators such as RWAs and institutions, and develop our relationships with local government authorities that our vital to the development of our projects in Dehradun. He is dynamic, vibrant and innovative in tackling all the complexities of new challenges. He is patient and calm which makes him the ideal person to interact with everyone, from staff to active citizens to the local municipality. In his personal life he has a small happy family with two children and he enjoys spending time with them and bringing them close to nature.
Sulagna Sivprava - Associate Manager, Outreach & Partnerships
Sulagna hails from Odisha but has moved cities every three years. Her interests include everything under the sun, for she sees everything as inter-connected and inter-disciplinary. She has an undergraduate degree in Accountancy and a diploma in Human Resources from UNSW, Sydney. She believes her education has taught her objectivity and structure without which she would be an emotional fool! She has worked for a children's policy advocacy campaign, and undertaken a variety of volunteering and social-business projects in the field of environment, gender and poverty during her studies. Her idea of life is to make an impact, while having a breadth of experiences; and this is what brings her to Waste Warriors. She enjoys cooking, eating, poetry and Bollywood, and is constantly on the lookout for good coffee and new books!
Ashish Negi - Associate Manager, Outreach & Partnerships
Ashish was born and brought up in Dehradun. He did his B.Sc. IT from DAV (PG) college in Dehradun. He has previously worked as Quantitative Aptitude Content Developer in ixamBee.com which is an online coaching platform. Ashish likes to play cricket and table tennis, and travelling and exploring places is also his hobby.
Ankita Chamola - Assistant, Outreach & Partnerships
Ankita grew up in Dehradun. During her last year studying MBA, TERI – an organisation which works towards sustainable living – visited her college for an interaction, after which she really started questioning and observing her surroundings. After the completion of her MBA, she worked in the corporate field for 3 months but then realized that a desk job was not what she wanted to invest her time on. So she quit her job and, while taking a course on banking, she volunteered at Waste Warriors as an intern for one year. Ankita, in the process of the internship, felt that the field of waste management is where she wanted to work, and now she works with us full time as our Assistant in our Outreach and Partnerships work. You will regularly find her in Dehradun's Ward 21 MKP, talking to community members to raise awareness on source segregation and running the Young Warriors clubs.
Operations Team
Aman Grover - Operations Manager
Aman has experience in process management, quality and training. He is a science graduate, a GNIIT-ian and an MCA dropout. Lived in Delhi NCR and after having worked in a corporate environment for more than 9 years, he felt he should add some value to his life by doing something meaningful rather than just working for money. Aman joined Waste Warriors as Operations Manager and heads the direct action team in Dehradun. Aman considers himself a nature lover and admires how the simplest of things can be so beautiful and deeply respects our surroundings. He likes travelling in nature, trekking, taking photos, interacting with people and discovering new places. His hobbies are music, gardening, travelling, photography, sports, and reading. Aman has an Instagram page by the name of Naturebawa which he feels describes his thoughts.
Amritansh - Associate Manager, Operations
Amritansh grew up in Patna and has seen his city dying. An engineer by education he wanted to solve environmental problems. He joined a small organisation in his hometown and worked there for two years. Eager to learn more, he moved to Delhi and volunteered with few organisations. He got an opportunity to work in the field of waste management in Pune where he learned, researched, and implemented his ideas on Solid Waste Management. He did his post-graduation diploma in environment and sustainable development while working in Pune. Now he wants to learn and research more with Waste Warriors and resolve the growing problem of waste.
Ajeet Singh - Operations Assistant
Ajeet joined our team in mid-2019 and is the only one at Waste Warriors whose parents also work at our organization. He is the proud son of two of our Green Workers, Seema and Sunder. Ajeet is in charge of supervising a team of Green Workers at our zero-waste tourist destination project at Sahastradhara waterfalls, and he works hard everyday to make sure that the area is clean and maintained. Whenever he is back at the office, he is trying his best to learn as much as he can from the team.
Siddharth Gurung - Operations Assistant
Siddharth recently graduated with a Bachelors in Business Administration from Institute of Technology and Management. He is preparing for competitive exams but also wanted to do social work so he decided to join Waste Warriors. Born and brought up in Dehradun, Siddharth has a passion for music and instruments and also does vocals for a rock band which sings about social issues. He also love animals and nature, and plays football for local clubs, and participates in cyclothons and marathons every now and then.
UNDP & Coca-Cola's PRITHVI Programme
Mithinga Basumatary - Program Manager
Born and brought up in Assam, Mithinga has always spent her growing years surrounded by nature, be it in the lush green campus of NIT, Hamirpur or Joka land of IIM Calcutta. Although she worked for more than 4 years (on & off) in the corporate world, she always felt there was a higher calling that she wanted to follow. Eventually fed up with the chaotic and unfulfilling city and corporate life, she took a chance and decided to follow her heart. Travelling from Spiti valley in the north to Auroville in the south, she volunteered in the launch of Zostel Kaza, a forest regeneration project in Sadhana Forest and Solitude Farm, which follows the philosophy of Masanobu Fukuoka. The experiences not only changed her outlook on life and work, but made her believe in sustainable and conscious living. You can call it a beautiful coincidence or destiny that she became a part of Waste Warriors and she's loving every bit of it. If not working, she can be found planning her next solo trip on her Splendor, learning how to swim to be like Michael Phelps, or in hibernation with a ‘Friends’ marathon.
Aslam Khan - Senior Operations Assistant
Aslam is one of our youngest office team members and he joined Waste Warriors in September 2016. After working with Maxwell for five months he decided to look for a more challenging role and something that would enable him to get out in the field. Aslam’s energetic nature and good sense of humor always brightens the day-to-day office work. He is engaged in all kind of operations activities but his specialties are now with building relationships with scrap dealers to trade recyclable waste with them and channel it to our Swachhta Kendra near ISBT for further segregation and processing. Aslam is now really good at entering data and maintaining spreadsheets on his operations work.
Jaya Hariyani - Project Assistant
After completing her formal education in Architecture, finding out ways to how she can serve the society - Jaya landed up in India Fellow program which helps young people become socially conscious leaders of tomorrow. She believes that it is her moral obligation to give back to the society which moulded her to become the person she is. She has always had this driving question: “What use is the education that you’ve received if you can’t serve the greater good?” On her journey to working towards change, she has been a part of Waste Warriors's UNDP programme team and has worked with a wide range of stakeholders, especially households and schools. Jaya wants everyone to know waste better and change the perspective towards waste and how it can be managed.
Shubham Mishra - Project Assistant
Shubham is a Post-Graduate in Social work from MNNIT Allahabad. Driven by the motive of serving the society better by leveraging his understanding of the social sector, he joined the India Fellows, a social leadership program. Being a fitness enthusiast, he genuinely believes that 'A healthy soul rests in a healthy body'. He is excited to be part of Waste Warriors's UNDP programme team and has worked extensively with engaging different communities, especially households and waste pickers, with whom he has spent time forming self-help groups to improve their livelihood. Shubham aspires to create a healthy society by aligning his beliefs with our vision.
Education Team
Randeep Kaur - Education Manager
With a decade of experience in the education industry, Randeep wants to work at the grassroots level. She wants to help the teachers of Government schools to work effectively and create a positive impact in the education system of the country. Her core skills are in communication, networking, partnership, team-management, organization and training. She enjoys travelling and loves the opportunities it brings for personal development.
Amar Preet Kaur - Education Assistant
Amar's unconscious journey of becoming an environment enthusiast started from being a kid where the family’s concern to save resources became a passion for her. While doing her undergrad in Chemistry, she chose to take a step towards her aspirations by pursuing her post-graduation in Ecology and Environment Studies from Nalanda University. Leaving no opportunity behind, she did projects, organized workshops for different stakeholders for proper solid waste management in her university and a school in Rajgir. She has a passion to work for the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) sector in marginalized sections of society. Still on her way to exploring life, she is looking for work that would leave her with a sense of satisfaction at the end of the day. She believes that her new journey with Waste Warriors would help her achieve it. Besides this, Amar is a sports enthusiast, loves dancing and has an admiration for theatre and poetry. She is already out on her exploratory mission!
Sakshi Sharma - Education Assistant
After graduating in Economics, Sakshi wanted to work with an organization that gives her the satisfaction of her work at the end with an extension in her knowledge, skills and better output. Traveling to various places for developing different ideas to put in and to play her role enhanced her knowledge regarding the issues in India. Born and brought up in Dehradun, Sakshi has witnessed this city's transformation. But by being away from home for her studies and thinking of ideas on her role in the development sector, she always aimed to stay and work in Dehradun. As an Education Assistant, Sakshi is realising that through teaching and guiding students on waste management, a little contribution from a single person can create ways for better change, which gives her confidence, enthusiasm, and dedication. She aspires to have a positive impact in our communities through her contribution.
Anjali Saklani - Education Assistant
Anjali hails from the Garhwal region of Tehri and moved to Dehradun later. She has studies various areas of law. Her work experiences include trainings in District courts and High courts. She has a keen interest in Environmental law and the constitution, and is very inclined towards preserving nature and working for a social cause. Anjali's hobbies include dancing, singing, and making doodles. She is ambitious, energetic, and dedicated, and has a long-term goal of setting up an institution of her own, and is very inclined towards preserving her city and bringing about change in society.
Growth Team
Megha Sharma - Growth Associate
A Computer Science engineer by chance, Megha has a corporate experience of almost 3 years. Before joining Waste Warriors, she worked as a Client Relations Manager with AON Assessment Solutions in Gurgaon. She is an environmental enthusiast with a keen interest to learn more about the solid waste management systems as she understands that waste is a prevalent issue.
MEET OUR DEHRADUN GREEN WORKERS
Corbett
Minakshi Pandey - Initiator & Advisor
Fun-loving, warm, and friendly, Minakshi Pandey is from Uttarakhand, but spent her formative years in Shillong, in the northeast of India. After a long stint in the hospitality industry, she finally settled by the edge of Corbett Tiger Reserve, where she and her husband owned and managed Camp Forktail Creek, a small jungle camp, for over 12 years. Minakshi has been witness to the massive tourism boom in Corbett and the problems of improper waste management brought along with it. She is now advising the Waste Warriors chapter in Corbett.
Puspendu Mandal - Project Manager
A Mechanical Engineer turned Green Manager, Puspendu has recently joined Waste Warriors Corbett as a Project Manager. After studying Development Management from Indian Institute of Forest Management, he has worked in the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department as a Tourism Manager for Satpura Tiger Reserve, and later with a Dehradun-based NGO. He believes working with Waste Warriors will give him opportunities to bring real change to the planet, while guiding him in his personal growth. Puspendu is into wildlife and nature photography and is excited to advance this hobby at Corbett Tiger Reserve.
Pawan Kumar Khulbe - Operations Manager
Pawan joined us in December 2014 as a field assistant. He worked incredibly hard on field before quickly rising up to a managerial position, due to his strong desire to learn and willingness to take on responsibility. Originally from Dagkadakoti village in the Almora hills, he lives in Ramnagar. He now looks after all the field operations work as well as government and community outreach and liaisoning of the Corbett program.
Navin Kumar - Operations Supervisor (Training & Implementation of SWM)
Navin is a resident of Sunderkhal and has been is also an employee who has been with us for over two years! He is currently in charge of the Teda village and Sitabani Temple complex and FRH. He also oversees all the composting activities at all our program locations.
Jitendra Prasad - Operations Supervisor
Jitendra aka Jeetu, is a resident of Garjia Village. He joined us in June 2018. He has been of great help to the team as well as sunshine in the office. He aspires to complete his studies in Masters of Social Work and to work for the community. He is in charge of monitoring the work being done by SHGs, organizing clean-ups, adult awareness programs.
Bhuwan Chandra - Assistant Manager, Accounts & Operations
Bhuwan is a local resident of picturesque Sunderkhal village, which is one of our member villages. He joined us as an Assistant manager Admin Hr & Accounts in June 2019. With an experience of eight years in the hotel industry, Bhuwan seeks to learn and grow himself with the team and take his learnings to enter the government sector.
Pradeep Kumar - Assistant, HR & Admin
Pradeep is a local from Ramnagar. He has done his Bachelor's in Science (Zoology, Botany, Chemistry) from Kumaun University, Nainital. He loves nature and wildlife, and volunteered with Waste Warriors first in late 2018, and enjoyed being a part of it, and decided to join the team. He has learnt a lot about how to manage waste and all the different types of categories, and wants to spread this message wherever he goes. He is now helping the team and the Corbett project with their HR and administrative work.
Geeta Dhyani - Awareness Supervisor
Geeta Dhyani a postgraduate in botany. She likes fresh and waste free green environment. She hopes every person should understand the usefulness of the environment and protect the natural resources. She joined us in August 2018. She is also known as our encyclopaedia for her vast knowledge of current affairs. On the way to office you’ll often find her with the newspaper or earplugs with news playing in the background.