Community Conversation
with Farooq Mitha
NEHA DEWAN
Neha has long been active in both local and national politics. Most recently, she founded and served as the National Director for South Asians for Biden, an organization dedicated to engaging, educating, and mobilizing the South Asian community to elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. In 2016, Neha served as the National Co-Chair for South Asians for Hillary and was appointed by Hillary Clinton to the National AAPI Leadership Council.
Previously, in 2015, Neha was appointed as a guest of honor by the Consulate General of India in New York City where she was selected to speak about gender equality for International Women's Day. During the 2012 presidential campaign, Neha chaired the New York Chapter of South Asians for Obama and also served on the steering committee for Lawyers for Obama in New York. For several years, Neha served as an Officer of the New York Democratic Lawyers Council, an organization affiliated with the National Lawyers Council of the Democratic National Committee and comprised of Democratic lawyers and voting rights activists. Similarly, for many years, Neha served as an advisory board member of New Leaders Council, a national organization focused on training and supporting progressive political entrepreneurs. She has also been active in her local community board and political clubs. Neha served as the President of the South Asian Bar Association of New York in 2012, and now sits on the organization’s Board of Directors.
Mobilizing the South Asian Community & Building Political Power
SHYAMALI HAUTH
Shyamali is a US Air Force veteran and a Northern Virginia based grassroots organizer and AAPI Leader. She currently serves as the 1st Vice Chair of Democratic Asian Americans of Virginia (DAAV), which is the AAPI caucus for the Democratic Party of Virginia. She’s also the Chair of the Veterans and Military Families Caucus for the Fairfax County Democratic Committee (FCDC) as well as the co-Vice Chair of Diversity and Outreach for FCDC. She is a former candidate for Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and served as a Women Veterans for Biden leader.
Her equity and equality advocacy work includes working on transgender rights, veterans issues including addressing military sexual trauma, and women’s rights. She was instrumental in the effort to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment in Virginia and continues to work to ensure Equal Rights are enshrined in the US Constitution. She serves on the Board for Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions, an inclusive interfaith non-profit which develops local solutions to the climate crisis.
Shyamali currently is the Legislative Director for Multimodal Transportation, Public Safety, and the Arts for the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, Hunter Mill District. She has a MS in Human Resource Management and is an Emerge Virginia, Virginia Progressive Leadership Program, and UVA Sorensen Institute for Political Leaders graduate. Shyamali is married to Christopher Hauth, Col, Ret, and has four children and five grandchildren. In her spare time she enjoys teaching and playing the Celtic harp.