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
NIKHIL JOGLEKAR
Nikhil Joglekar is an Indian American, born and raised in the suburbs of Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is a Commodity Analyst for a major agricultural conglomerate, focusing his research and analysis on corn, soybeans, and the different classes of wheat.
Nikhil has been politically active since volunteering for the Wellstone campaign as a junior in high school. At the University of Wisconsin – Madison, he was a student council member and chaired the Student Services Finance Committee. Since moving back to Minnesota in 2008, Nikhil has been involved with Democratic campaigns in numerous roles, from door knocking, literature dropping and phone banking to running the phone banks, organizing a congressional district for statewide races, and recruiting/directing interns and volunteers. More recently, Nikhil has been analyzing voter data to help campaigns better target their resources. From 2014-2016 he served as Chair of the Minnesota Asian Indian Democratic Association (MAIDA), a Community Caucus of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL). Most recently, Nikhil helped lead Minnesota’s South Asians for Biden get-out-the-vote efforts for both the Presidential election and the Georgia runoffs.