Board of Directors
ID: A South Asian cisgender woman, Maria is smiling cheerfully through her black rimmed glasses. She has a tiny diamond nose stud and her long black hair is tied back into a ponytail. Her friend's arm can be seen around her shoulder.
Maria Thomas
Co President Board
Maria (she/her) is a Product Manager by profession and a dancer by passion. Born disabled, Maria started dancing from the age of 4 to improve her gross motor skills. She is a trained classical Bharatanatyam dancer and also enjoys Bollywood and western styles. Whether it be being part of her college dance team at IIT Madras during her undergraduate years or now vlogging dance videos on Instagram, dance has always remained a constant love in Maria’s life. She even got to represent Indian culture through a solo dance performance in-front of a global audience at a Harvard-Asia conference. Having faced discrimination herself growing up, she hopes to empower disabled individuals around the world.
Jia Wilson
Board Secretary
ID: Jia stands in front of a large green fern with her hands behind her back. She’s wearing a black band t-shirt, a black and white coat.
Jia Wilson (she/her) is a dancer first, everything else second. She first started out as an ice skater before moving onto ballet, contemporary dance, and jazz. Although she took a brief break from dance to become a runner, she quickly came back as a ballroom dancer and now avid swing dancer. Any time off she gets, you can find her at the dance hall or studio, dancing as much as she can.
Beyond dance, Jia is also a landscape designer passionate about inclusive design and accessibility. She’s worked with the neurodivergent community for over a decade and studied disability studies at university. Her greatest hope is to create a world where the built environment is accessible and inclusive to everyone no matter their ability.
When Jia isn’t dancing or designing landscapes, you can find her walking her dog or knitting in her favorite rocking chair. One day, she hopes to live on a farm with sheep so her dog can live his working dog dreams.
ID: A South Asian cisgender woman, Ishita stands on a balcony with a guardrail and building in the backdrop. She wears a pale pink shirt and stands with her arms crossed, smiling widely through her light brown glasses. Her black hair is shoulder length and curly.
Ishita Rustagi
Co President Board
Ishita (she/her) is an artist, a big thinker, and a determined problem solver. Dance is an integral mode of creative expression and personal growth for her. She learnt Odissi (an Indian classical dance form) for ten years, had a brief stint with swing dance, and is liable to break into dance at any opportunity even today.
Ishita cares deeply about positively impacting individuals and bridging inequities. By profession, she is a Senior Analyst at a non profit that strives to drive inclusion in and through the business world. Her work involves creating strategies, educational resources, and tools to drive inclusive cultures, product development and product outcomes.
ID: Alif stands among branches of a tree, wearing a white and yellow dress. She has long light brown hair with blonde highlights. There is a lot of greenery surrounding her.
Alif Laila Tisha
Board Treasurer
Alif Laila Tisha (Tish) (she/her) is a highly accomplished professional in business and education. Tish is a passionate educator, having successfully executed projects to improve accessibility to Math education and physical therapy for children with neuromuscular disorders. Tish's academic research focuses on creating implementable solutions to social justice issues, particularly exploring how bodily autonomy impacts the power dynamics of underrepresented groups within communities.
Beyond academics, Tish is an international Kathak and Manipuri dancer and drummer, a competitive Bhangra dancer, and a lover of Philosophy and Literature. She is actively involved in the Performing Arts communities in Seattle, San Francisco, and Pittsburgh. Tish is a seasoned dance teacher and performer.
When she's not busy with work or dance, Tish adores spending time with her 5 cats and 1 puppy. She dreams of living on a farm next to the Pacific ocean someday to open an animal sanctuary that rescues cats, dogs, goats, and donkeys.