Our Team

Soraya Fouladi - Founder & CEO

contact: soraya @ joinjara.com
Soraya Fouladi is an international entrepreneur, leading a multi-national team to achieve Jara's goals of empowering children in under-resourced communities to receive a quality education anytime, anywhere. An electrical engineer by training, Soraya combined her robotics experience with her global education at the United Nations International School to bring a multifaceted approach to the start-up world that is based in improving the livelihoods of those in need through tangible products. Her invention, the Jara Unit, is a solar and crank-powered education device that provides children offline access to curriculum-aligned educational content. This innovative combination of hardware and software can mimic a workbook, personal tutor, a textbook, a quizzing tool, and more.
Soraya founded Jara after gaining experience in designing and implementing systems and programs through writing curriculum for K-12 robotics, directing the largest technology-education camp of 500 campers and 60 staff members at Stanford, creating a fundraiser for disaster relief called Jamming-for-Relief, and designing and implementing effective systems as Supervisor for an electrical engineering innovation laboratory. Soraya also was a business management consultant for a government technology commercialization organization that had 72 portfolio companies.
Soraya is a Forbes 30 Under 30 awardee, Cisco Global Problem Solver, Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus Fellow, United Nations Keynote Speaker, SOCAP Fellow, Skoll Delegate, Gratitude Network Fellow, and One Young World Ambassador, and Deloitte SDG4 Scholar Awardee.
Her strong leadership, management, engineering skills, paired with her commitment to Jara’s mission, ensures that Soraya and her phenomenal team will see Jara to its maximum impact.

Oluwatobi Oyinlola - CTO (Chief Technology Officer)

Oluwatobi Oyinlola is an award-winning Nigerian born inventor, famous for his implementation of providing Internet of Things solutions in Africa - He is widely known as "Internet of Tobi”. With over 10 years of experience as an embedded hardware and systems engineer, he is most famous for pioneering pay-as-you-go solar energy systems in Nigeria. Among many of his achievements, he was also on the engineering team working on Elon Musk’s Hyperloop. Growing up, Tobi did not have access to a computer, so he taught himself C programming from a textbook with just a pen and paper, and has invented and brought to mass production over 15 IoT enabled hardware products - many with a mission to change the world. Tobi is also an Intel Advisory Board Member for IoT.
Tobi has been awarded one of the Most Influential Young Nigerians in 2018 and 2019 and has been invited to speak on many grand stages. Tobi wants to continuously impact people's lives with his creative mindset and more importantly using technology to solve educational challenges to empower children everywhere, through Jara.

Dibyashree Shah - Global Programs Director &
Country Director - nepal

Born and raised in Nepal, Dibyashree Shah understands the diversity among the communities that exists due to social, political, and geographical context. Dibyashree Shah is a strategic thinker and a strong communicator who is passionate about development. She brings purpose to the work she leads that includes developing strategic policies in the themes of transitional education and participatory models for developing innovative education programs. Ms. Shah holds a MBA with specialization in Finance and Project Management in her undergraduate studies. As a development professional, Dibyashree has worked at grass root level as Project Coordinator at The Small World (TSW) which helped her understand the unique needs to girls to continue education in remote parts of hills. She has managed complex assignments for donor funded projects ranging from DFID, EU and UN agencies. She has led in developing and implementing projects after the 2015 Nepal earthquake supporting the development of transitional learning centers to support vulnerable children. She has managed projects after the 2017 floods in the Terai that included working with the local and provincial governments in Nepal to support the upliftment of adolescent girls from marginalized communities as Programs Manager at Street Child of Nepal. She has been part of impacting lives of more than 50,000 children through education. Dibyashree has proven experience in research and has conducted participatory action research and need assessment of the marginalized communities and schools. She was involved in multi-country real time evaluation of UNICEF gender-based violence in emergencies programme. She brings fresh, intuitive and ingenious ideas to the Jara team which is just starting a new phase in Nepal. Her role would be to engage with partners, stakeholders, government and NGOs on low cost but high impact education models.

Pumla Maswanganyi - Chief Strategy Officer

Pumla Maswanganyi is a South African entrepreneur, development strategist and innovator from South Africa, working at the intersection of design and global development. As a global citizen speaking 7 languages, and having lived and worked on 5 continents, she is committed to disrupting conventional development approaches, such as traditional education and employment norms through innovation.Pumla pioneers innovative tailored, and context-based solutions for disenfranchised populations: from a vocational training program that offers micro-loans and mentorship to equip young women to start and sustain their own businesses, to forging global partnerships that empower youth from low-income backgrounds through greater accessibility to non-traditional learning.Amongst many accolades, Pumla is a Most Influential People of African Descent (MIPAD) 100 under 40 Nominee for 2019, and her work has earned her the Forbes Fellowship; the Resolution Fellowship; a seat in the African Women Leaders Network; and an invitation as a 2019 UNLEASH Sustainable Development Innovation Lab Talent, creating solutions in SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, to name a few. Her commitment to youth development in Africa has also been recognised by the African Union Youth Envoy, Ms. Aya Chebbi, who has appointed her to be a member of the Envoy Expert Network. Pumla’s passion for changing the world, alongside her deep background in impact, equity, and inclusion enables Pumla to apply world-changing strategy to Jara.

Bunmi Eyiaro - Education & Operations Director

Bunmi believes that, “Quality Education should not be a luxury” but instead, a basic right for every child. Her belief has led her into choosing the path to become an educator and a psychologist contributing greatly to Global Education. She founded a social enterprise “Career Centre” formerly “Teen Africa Academy” in 2017, where K-12 students are prepared for the future of work disruption and global opportunities through the provision of quality career education & guidance, higher-order cognitive skills & life skills training, world-class internship placement and mentorship irrespective of their background. She has trained over 50 educators across Africa in the use of education technology tools to enhance knowledge impact and delivery to students in an advanced technological driven society. Bunmi is currently the Product Manager of the largest digital tutoring startup in Nigeria “Tuteria “ with over 10,000 tutors and 5,000 students. She manages and design the learning experience of students and support tutors with tools and materials needed to effectively tutor students and help them achieve their goals. Bunmi has a Bachelor Degree in Microbiology from the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta Nigeria. She’s a trained educator with a Professional Diploma in Education, a certified teacher trainer by Why Blue Sky Organization, in Poland and currently pursuing her Masters Degree in Education in the University of People, USA in Partnership with the International Baccalaureate (IB). Bunmi resides in Lagos, Nigeria.

Synclaire Warren - Associate Director of Global Communications

Synclaire Warren is a published author known for her editorials, DoSomething.org’s Menstrual Equity Ambassador, United Nations Speaker, and a Wilhelmina Model. Synclaire's previous work includes making impact at UNICEF USA in Public Safety and Child Protection, being Global Citizen’s Global Corporate Partnership Associate, and also Intersectional Environmentalist’s Social Media Coordinator, all of which she has published editorials. Synclaire’s love of words led her to dedicate her life to social impact as she believes that our words manifest into actions. She is also the Junior Olympics Gold Medalist in Taekwondo. She uses her knowledge of linguistics to dismantle archaic decisive narratives and create new ones that further progressive movements. Synclaire is excited to use her co-creation and communication skills to help the world learn about Jara’s mission, so that Jara can continue to disrupt the disparities in education through co-creation with communities globally.

Kanica Sabharwal - Director of Global PARTNERSHIPS

Kanica is a global partnerships professional from the corporate world who has managed multi-million dollar deals, and is now on a mission to apply those skills for the greater good with Jara.
Born and raised in the UK, Kanica has utilised her opportunities to break into the world of tech. She has experienced the challenges of an inclusive environment, as she is a women of Indian heritage with a disability. She has worked to create more awareness of diversity in STEM industries, across global companies, by creating forums, mentorship programs, fighting for young girls educational right and building schools. All this has been recognised by One Young World, in which she is now a One Young World Ambassador.
Kanica has a BEng degree in Product Design & Manufacture Engineering, she describes this as ‘When tech meets creativity, powerful products are produced’. She also has certifications in Front-End Development, Responsive Development and React Development, whereby she can create engaging websites and applications.
Kanica has had the exposure and used her extensive network to progress in worldwide corporations, whereby she has gathered a wealth of knowledge. She is currently specialising in Data & Analytics, as she understands the power and influence data has on the world today, in order to make real positive impact. She has thorough experience in stakeholder management, user engagement, governance, budget management, consultative selling and negotiations. Kanica also has an extensive network of leaders which she uses to make the world a better place.
As a woman of colour in the tech industry, Kanica strives to create a safe space to ensure everyone has an equal level playing field in regards to education and opportunity, which can be achieved through Jara.

Sravya Chary - CFO (Chief Financial Officer)

Sravya is a multi-faceted leader who uses her finance, supply chain management, marketing, and ethics background to close the inequity gaps in this world.
She holds an M.S. and M.B.E and is also a pharmaceutical industry professional. Sravya previously earned a master’s in bioethics from Harvard Medical School and a master’s in supply chain analytics from Rutgers Business School. As someone who is passionate about education and health equity, Sravya frequently conducts and presents original research to advocate for underserved populations. Most notably, in August 2021, she presented bioethics and public health ethics curricula to inform ethical decision-making during the creation of a COVID-19 wastewater surveillance program in Hyderabad, India. In April 2022, she gave her talk titled, “The Organizational Barriers to Enhancing Patient Trust in the Pharmaceutical Industry” at the Science, Technology, and Trust event hosted by Harvard Medical School’s organizational ethics consortium in response to COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. Furthermore, Sravya was selected to present her work titled, “Establishment of a Medical Supply Chain Framework: Distributive Justice, Contraceptives, and Public Health Crises” at the American Public Health Association’s annual 2022 conference - research motivated by racial inequities in access to contraceptives during the pandemic.
From 2020 to 2021, Sravya was a student fellow at the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School. As a fellow, Sravya conducted original research to assess the comprehensiveness of the risk/benefit assessment prong within section 564(c) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act as a means to evaluating the emergency use authorizations issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration during COVID-19.
She also contributed regularly to Harvard Law School’s Bill of Health blog to shed light on the barriers that prevent low-income communities from accessing medicines and to propose solutions. Prior to this, Sravya was the marketing lead for Caretalk, a non-profit geared toward assisting Type 2 Diabetes and Alzheimer’s patients in enrolling for clinical trials while upholding patient autonomy.
Sravya is on a mission to support Jara in addressing worldwide education inequities that prevent low-income children from having an empowered future. As CFO, she aims to generate solutions rooted in research and ethics as steps forward in establishing education as a human right.

Koji Gardiner - Chief Engineering Architect

Koji Gardiner is a hands-on engineering leader and innovator who has designed and launched products ranging from consumer electronics to autonomous vehicle systems. His expertise spans the domains of electrical, optical, mechanical, manufacturing, and firmware development, with a focus on developing high-performance sensing systems. His innovations have led to eight patents granted to date, with several applications pending.
Koji started his career at Apple, where he was the lead camera designer for over a dozen products, including multiple versions of iPhones, iPods, iPads, and Macs. He next joined Jaunt VR as its first hardware engineer, and went on to build out the team that designed and launched the award-winning Jaunt ONE cinematic VR camera, which saw use worldwide in the production of premier content for VR headsets. Most recently, Koji led sensor development and next-generation architecture at Argo AI, an autonomous vehicle startup partnered with Ford and Volkswagen. Koji holds Bachelor’s and Master's degrees in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University.
During the pandemic, Koji volunteered as an instructor for an online introduction to programming course facilitated by Stanford, called Code In Place. During the program, he led a group of international students in learning basic programming concepts in Python.
Koji is thrilled to join in Jara’s mission of providing quality education to under-resourced children and using his technical prowess to make a positive change in this world.

Seema Bhandari - Data Analyst

Originally from Chitwan, Nepal, Seema Bhandari is currently located in the heart of Ohio, Columbus. With her ever-since passion for technological evolution, Seema completed her Computer Engineering degree in 2017 and quickly moved to the USA for her higher studies in Data Analytics. From the time she remembers her academic journey, she has found herself creatively playing with mathematics, numbers, computers, and statistics. Seema has always been an influential leader looking to make a positive change in this world. With that, she introduced herself to the large community of Rotary International in 2017 where she now has her history of bringing harmony, support, and light to her community in Nepal.
Seema’s prior experience as a Computer Science teacher completely drove her to support Jara in its mission as she believes in the fact that “Knowledge has no ownership and should be available to everyone”. She truly feels proud for being a part of the excellent mission-driven society of Jara.

Shilpa Bhandari - Data Analyst

Originally from Chitwan, Nepal, Shilpa Bhandari is an international student at the Youngstown State University (YSU), United States, pursuing a major in Mathematics and Computer Science. Shilpa is passionate about empowering underprivileged women and children by providing quality education to them through proper technology usage. Being an honors student, Shilpa has undertaken projects, focused on social-impact measurement and market research, for leading companies and local non-profit organizations. Now a junior at YSU, Shilpa has been inducted to Pi Mu Epsilon, an honorary national mathematics society, for her strong academic performance in Mathematics. Outside the classroom, as a student academic senator for the College of STEM of YSU for the academic year 2018-2019, Shilpa helped build policies that improved college experience of around 16,000 YSU students. Additionally, Shilpa is a Young Innovator for International Connector (IC), an innovation and experiential marketing agency based in San-Francisco. As a Young Innovator, Shilpa has experience collaborating with youth from all around the world to co-create a vision of the future of work, while also gaining 21st-century skills such as remote working, cultural understanding and design-thinking. Being a travel freak and an explorer, Shilpa has widened her horizon by traveling to India and 20 states of the United States, 12 of which she road tripped during Summer 2018 as one of the four winners of the Your Big Year trip launched by International Connector. Shilpa is also a StartingBloc Fellow, an internationally recognized fellowship focused on developing the leadership for future. Shilpa has well-equipped herself with technical skills and knowledge of the Nepalese and international education system to effectively contribute to Jara’s mission of providing education to all using technology. As a data analyst intern at Jara, Shilpa not only brings her ability to quantitatively and qualitatively analyze the data, and a passion to make education accessible to all the Nepalese kids, but also brings a better understanding of the global education system, which she has experienced herself by studying in the United States and Nepal.

Patricia Yabut - Global Director of Communications & Design

Patricia is a Filipino-Canadian multidisciplinary designer, brand strategist, painter, poet, and entrepreneur with nearly a decade of experience working in various industries and a diverse range of clients worldwide. She studied Architecture in the Philippines, and Design in Canada, and has experience working with brands like Getty Images (media), Dueck Cadillac (automobile), AromaTech Inc. (consumer goods), FREQUENC (web3), VFW Management Inc. (fashion & events) and more. Patricia has a track record of bridging gaps between industries and disciplinaries to deliver unique and effective solutions for both local brands and global enterprises.

Born and raised in the Philippines, she started attending school at age 2, spent time growing up learning the works of her grandmother’s clothing manufacturing business, ran a blog ten years ago with a 2k-11k daily views, and had an early start to her career when she moved to Canada with her family. She loves spending a lot of her time exploring other passions like physics, anthropology, books, technology, traveling, and art, collaborating with non-profit organizations and donating her paintings to raise funds. She believes that her love for learning is her greatest skill, this along with her formative years growing up in the Philippines and witnessing how scarce education is in most parts of the world is what drives her to Jara’s cause.

Our Advisors

Mingjing Huang

Mingjing Huang is a world-renowned electrical engineer and artist working in the medium of light and a system architect/electrical engineer who builds consumer electronics products. She has worked at some of technology’s most iconic companies, including Apple, Cisco, Lab126/Amazon, and Nokia. Mingjing has shipped products with > 1million units in volume, and filed fifteen patents (12 granted) with topics spanning electromechanical interconnect, human computer interaction design, and algorithms. Her engineering consulting firm, Essence Engineering, has helped clients in consumer electronics, wearables, and medical devices fields create polished prototypes. Since 2017, Mingjing has brought her insatiable curiosity and creative energy to building large scale art. She collaborated with Symmetry Labs to bring their sculptural work Sea of Light to New York City, and Light Garden - 1000 Year Bloom to Honolulu, Hawaii. She helped light the Rainbow Bridge by Josh Zubkoff with 25,000 LEDs at Burning Man 2018 and Art Basel Miami Beach 2018. She is currently lead artist on Yomigae, a light art installation on the exterior of the Temple of Direction to be debuted at Burning Man 2019. Mingjing’s ongoing personal spiritual journey through insight meditation has lead her to the understanding that the role of technology in molding our world is firmly in the hands and hearts of those of us who bring it into the world. With this, she is very excited to support Jara’s vision as a mentor and advisor.

Dipta Shah

Born and raised in Nepal, Dipta has recently relocated home after approximately two-and-a-half decades abroad. Dipta's career has spanned a range of industries and organizations, across the private and public sectors, including management consulting, banking, and venture capital. He is passionate about the possibilities that digital technologies present for emerging and frontier markets and the outsized impact that tech-enabled business solutions can generate in these environments. He has made deep impact at Morgan Stanley, KPMG Consulting, PwC Advisory, World Bank, International Finance Corporation and more. Dipta created IFC’s first seed stage investment program - IFC Startup Catalyst. While he was at IFC, Dipta was also Advisor to the Executive Vice President and CEO where he supported on the overhaul of IFC’s strategy and organizational structure. Has been on the Advisory Board for 500 Startups Latin America and more. He is now the Founder Partner at 54i Ventures in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Abhi Rele

Director, Internet of Things (IoT) at Samsung

Abhi leads the product direction for Samsung’s ARTIK IoT cloud platform. Prior to joining Samsung, Abhi led product management and product marketing for all things IoT at Apigee (now part of Google Cloud). Before Apigee, Abhi worked at eBay (Magento commerce), Microsoft Tellme (voice recognition), A.T Kearney (management consulting), and Oracle (CRM and enterprise software). He holds an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley, a master’s degree in computer science from Texas A&M University, and a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from the University of Mumbai.

Vishnu Karki

Dr Karki recently worked as National Education Advisor in the National Department of Education in Federated States of Micronesia, from June 2017 to September 2019. While in Micronesia, Dr Karki contributed in developing School Accreditation System (2018), National Qualifications Framework (2018), Higher Education Directives (2019), Education Data Digest (2018); Technical and Vocational Education Program (2018), and Education Sector Strategic Development Plan (2020-2024).
Prior to this engagement, Dr Karki worked as Chief Technical Advisor to USAID supported Early Grade Reading Program in Nepal; and as Country Director of Room to Read in Nepal office. Additionally, he has also worked as the principal writer in several national education plans and policies of Nepal’s Ministry of Education, such as School Sector Reform Plan (SSRP 2009-15), National Capacity Development Framework (2010), National Early Grade Reading Program (2014/15-2019-20), and also provided technical roles and facilitations for the development School Sector Development Plan (2016-22) which is currently in implementation in Nepal.
Vishnu Karki acquired his doctoral degree from The George Washington University in Education Administration and Policy Studies with a concentration in International Education. Dr Karki has contributed in Global Monitoring Report, 2015 by assessing the impact of EFA in Nepal’s education, with an article titled “Forces of educational policy change since 2000 in Nepal”, and provided technical inputs in the South Asia Companion Report for the World Bank’s World Development Report-2018. Dr Karki has also gained substantial experience of working with INGO in Nepal and abroad like Save the Children, Room to Read, Research Triangle International, Winrock International, American Institutes for Research, and Macro International.
Dr Karki has over 30 years of experience in education sector including experience as visiting faculty to Kathmandu University (School of Management, and School of Education) for teaching MPhil and PhD students and teaching in MPhil Program of Tribhuvan University.

Sergio Mello

Sergio is an Italian entrepreneur who started his first company while studying EE as an university freshman. The IT consulting enterprise he built from zero to a successful exit proved to be a better school of life and business than the actual schools he’s ever attended.

After a few years of jetting between Europe and Asia seeking business and personal challenges, he spent a year learning to integrate himself into the unique society of Korea then landed himself in the fragrant harbor of Hong Kong. There, he launched Satisfly, his second venture which combined his life-long passion for aviation with the newly emerging trend of social media.

As the recognized inventor of social seating, Satisfly helped airlines around the world to serve their customers better by understanding them better. Satisfly was later acquired by Travelstart, Africa’s largest online travel agency. As Head of Innovation, he set up a team in Taiwan to spearhead the company’s pivot into mobile through innovative consumer experiences such as Flapp, the world’s first mobile app to book a flight in only two taps. As a member of the management committee, he played a key role in preparing Travelstart to receive a significant investment from MTN and Amadeus Capital.

He now lives in San Francisco and advises several startup companies and charitable foundations. He is currently advising a croudsourced bluetooth IoT network (nodle.io) and launching a stealth project.

Thami Schweichler

Working on projects of co-creativity and social venturing since 2012, Thami Schweichler is a social entrepreneur focused on design for social innovation. After obtaining a Master’s degree at ENSCI – Les Ateliers in Paris, Thami participated in the development of Koneksie, a social enterprise aiming to improve road safety and provide entrepreneurship opportunities for motorcycle taxi drivers in Kenya. At the end of 2015, Thami co-founded Makers Unite, a social enterprise producing sustainable accessories to provide employment opportunities for newcomers with a refugee background in The Netherlands. Makers Unite has be awarded the Refugee Challenge winner from UNHCR and What Design Can Do competition, as well as winner of the prizes ABN AMRO Social Entrepreneurship and EU Innovation - Amsterdamers, Maak Je Stad.

So far Makers Unite has benefited directly more than 70 newcomers in Amsterdam providing their social inclusion program and the awareness workshops of their process have been provided to more than 600 people in 5 different countries.

Andi Coombes

Andi Coombes believes that thoughtful inquiry is the basis for designing, implementing, and refining high-quality programs that address pertinent challenges. Since completing an MSc in Development Studies at the London School of Economics, Andi has made a career out of conducting qualitative research and working with implementers to use the results to guide their work. Over the past 10 years, she has worked with UNICEF, USAID, DFID, and UNHCR, among others, to evaluate the implementation of development programs related to education, social protection, and livelihoods strengthening in Bangladesh, China, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Kenya, Lebanon, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. Andi is excited to work with the Jara team to help formulate questions that can enable ongoing, adaptive learning.

Laura Traxler

Laura is a Founding Limited Partner of How Women Invest, a Board Member for Jara Global and The Gratitude Network and a renowned Chief Connection Officer. She has held multiple board roles in the education industry including Teach for America and the Education Foundation of Orinda. She has an impressive track record of identifying opportunities and scaling: mature companies, as a Managing Director of Bank of America), start-ups, as COO of Insight Resource Group and Board Member of Jara Global, and two social impact organizations as Board Member of The Gratitude Network and Families Without Borders).
Laura’s banking career included the role of Managing Director at Bank of America (BofA). She was a key member of the leadership team and worked with the Executives of the Global Corporate and Investment Bank in guiding the inaugural year of Hoshin Planning and Six Sigma. Prior to BofA, Laura worked for several years at Wells Fargo Bank in their Real Estate Lending Division.
Laura’s Board Member roles employed her skilled mentorship and relationship building. She guides CEOs and builds boards to stimulate growth for social impact organizations. Joining the Gratitude Network Board, Laura enabled the organization’s growth and sustainability by advising its Founder on proven business strategies, including establishing financial and impact goals, a disciplined measuring and reporting process and developing a business model concentrated on revenue generation. In Laura’s board role at Families Without Borders, she championed the buildout of infrastructure to enable the organization to scale with proper business disciplines including: annual business planning and reporting, impact measurement, financial reporting and governance, and marketing strategy.
Laura’s greatest personal accomplishments are raising her two stunning sons, climbing Half Dome twice, finishing two marathons, kicking colon cancer’s butt, and coaching some pretty amazing social entrepreneurs to continue their dreams of changing our world for the better. Laura loves to tell a good story to share her values and life-lessons - a skill she has honed for her various public speaking opportunities.

Sharia Huda_Jara.png — Sharia Huda

Based in New York City, Sharia Huda is a leader in the EdTech space and a life-long learner. She has dedicated her time in coaching startup founders, corporate professionals and venture capital about the education ecosystem, digital trends, strategic partnerships and global impact design. Sharia completed her B.A. in Speech and Hearing Sciences from SUNY University at Buffalo, concentrating on accessibility research.
Prior to the corporate world, she began her career as a EdTech specialist at a school for students with learning disabilities. Sharia researched customized applications based on curriculum needs and designed the EdTech roll-out, including speech to text applications. Some of the companies she has supported are BrainPOP, Clever, Google for Education, OVR Technology, Integrate Tech, inc and Prisms VR. Current projects include co-hosting the largest EdTech community of over 9k members, startup pitch judge and bridging mesh network for students in Haiti. Sharia is passionate about bridging access to resources in underserved communities through partnerships. "Authentic conversations, fine chocolate, family time and spontaneous adventures is what keeps me balanced" - Sharia Huda

Ryan Vinyard

Ryan has a background in energy, transportation, and consumer products, with experience ranging from early development to manufacturing. Ryan was previously VP Manufacturing at Molekule, Director of Engineering at the Highway1 hardware accelerator, and is the co-author of *The Hardware Startup.* He has done development work in multiple countries in Africa and helped startups doing impact work in solar, vaccine protection, and feminine hygiene. He currently works as an independent consultant helping hardware startups through development.

Fay Coad

Fay Coad has earned her position as a Senior Engineer having worked in myriad capacities within the Electrical Engineering arena for over 25 years. She programmed systems to remotely control and operate a power plant, managed substations for daily operation and maintenance for a Utility company covering the Northeast region of the US.
Her engineering skills, strong leadership, and unquenchable drive, led her in the path of the Audio Industry, becoming a leader in the Research and Development center for one of the largest global recording companies, Sony Music Corporation. There, she designed and integrated systems for audio signal enhancement and audio production for recording industries used by companies such as Warner Brothers, Virgin Records, BMI and David Geffen Records. She became a strong voice and a member of the Recording Industry Association of America. Her vigorous efforts not only supported but shaped the industry for Audio recording and manufacturing for the consumers.
Fay’s commitment and passion for driving Green Energy toward a more progressive environmental science, paired with her unparalleled engineering and managerial skills, prompted her involvement in the Solar and Renewable Energy Technology. Today, she is a licensed Solar Engineer, and practices and designs solar systems - having installed thousands of Photovoltaic systems for commercial and residential project. Currently, she is a top manager leading her own team of Solar Roof at Tesla.
Artistically, Fay studied Classical ballet for 18 years and performed in several dance companies and now teaches children.
Fay is honored to use her engineering, solar energy, audio, and education background to act as an advisor for Jara’s team and to support its mission.

Volunteers