The Team

Voices of Rural India has been founded by a core team of passionate travellers, responsible tourism pioneers and digital empowerment advocates.

Shivya Nath

Shivya Nath is the founder of Climate Conscious Travel, an impact consultancy that works with the tourism industry to centre climate action in tourism, with a focus on local communities. She is the author of a bestselling travel memoir, and runs one of India’s most widely read responsible travel blogs, The Shooting Star. Her words have appeared in BBC Travel, National Geographic Traveller, The Washington Post, and other leading publications. She is currently pursuing a graduate certificate in Sustainable Cities and Communities at Harvard’s DCE, and holds a professional certificate in Sustainable Tourism from the Global Sustainable Tourism Council. Connect with her on Instagram / Twitter: @shivya 

Shivya is one of the co-founders of Voices of Rural India.

Malika Virdi

Malika Virdi is the founder-director of Himalayan Ark, a community-based tourism organization in the Munsiari region of Uttarakhand, that has been awarded the Best Tourism Village of India by the Government of India in 2023. She has twice been elected the sarpanch of the Sarmoli-Jainti Van Panchayat. She is also the founder-member of Maati Sangathan, an autonomous women’s collective that works in areas of domestic violence, agriculture and conservation.

Malika is one of the co-founders of Voices of Rural India, and heads the Himalayan States Storytellers Fellowship Program under Himal Prakriti at VoRI.

Osama Manzar

Osama Manzar is a global leader on the mission of eradicating information poverty from India and global south using digital tools through Digital Empowerment Foundation, an organisation he founded in 2002. He is a social entrepreneur, author, columnist, angel investor and mentor, and sits on several government and policy committees in India and outside, working in the areas of Internet, access and digital inclusion. He is a British Chevening Scholar and an International Visitors Leadership Program Fellow of the US State Department. He writes a weekly column in Mint and tweets at @osamamanzar.

Osama is one of the co-founders of Voices of Rural India.

Richa Dwivedi

Richa loved listening to her grandfather’s stories as she grew up in Ayodhya. Her love for travel brought her to the mountain town of Munsiari.  Richa likes to explore her creativity and do things that adds value to her life. She has worked  with All India Radio with Yuv Vani, as a teacher, a textile designer and has done a book illustration course at Children’s Book Trust.  

Richa is working with Himal Prakriti in Munsiari, coordinating the Voices of Rural India Project to bring in stories from villages of the Himalayan states of the country. 

Sumukh

Sumukh is a cinematographer and a wanderer, constantly in search of trails and tales. He also finds his muse in music, books and exploring alternative photographic techniques. From town-hopping with indie bands as a concert photographer to working as an independent filmmaker and a photographer, he enjoys covering stories of impact through powerful visual narratives. 

At Voices of Rural India, Sumukh works with storytellers, assisting in learning visual storytelling skills and in navigating the digital world through Himal Prakriti.

Namrata Shah

After working for over 20 years in the IT industry, Namrata decided to leave the corporate world last year and now volunteers with a non-profit organization. She is a travel lover, amateur singer, books lover, yoga learner and movie buff. She blogs at The Bimble Bee

Namrata volunteers with translations and had earlier overseen editing and wordpress at Voices of Rural India.