The Impact Producer from Jackson Heights: Shivani Parikh’s Audacious Dream for South Asian Justice
Shivani Parikh, a 2025 Bolder Futures Fellowship alum, is dedicated weaving storytelling with policy advocacy for the South Asian Communities. For her BFF community impact project, she partnered with the South Asian Legal Defense Fund to address invisibility and data gaps in working-class, immigrant, and undocumented South Asian youth in the foster care system. Shivani’s work is inspired by her strong New York roots and valuable mentors who have paved the way for her own inspiring work.
Honor the Past: Share a photo (from childhood or some other time) that embodies this motto and share a bit more about the story behind the photo.
Being a New Yorker means multiple things to me. Here, my parents were paying rent to live in the second floor of a home in Nassau County. Before that, they were living in Jamaica, Queens – where I was born. After growing up in Rockland County and attending Cornell University in rural Ithaca, I moved to Hell’s Kitchen for law school at Fordham before making a return to the borough where it all began. Now, I live in the South Asian ethnic enclave of Jackson Heights. My past is a part of my future.
The “Spark” Moment: Bolder Futures is rooted in the belief that personal narratives drive change. Can you share a specific moment or experience from your life that fundamentally shaped your path as a changemaker?
Before embarking on a multi-city study abroad program in the fall semester of my junior year of college, we spent two weeks learning about urban marginalization in New York City. Sonny Singh introduced us to the hosts of our labor-organizing site visit, the New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA). Meeting the union’s co-founder Javaid Tariq, a Pakistani immigrant with his staunch politically militant critiques of exploitative capitalism and the struggles of the working class, put a lightning bolt against my spine. I had never seen someone look like me speak truth to power and unflinchingly demand economic and immigrant justice.
The Audacious Dream: Bolder Profiles highlights leaders who dare to dream big. What is the “bold idea” or future possibility that inspires you?
My bold idea is to establish the United Nations Permanent Forum on People of South Asian Descent. This would be a necessary predicate to recognize the legacies of indentured labor, colonialism, and the ongoing kafala system. It is inspired by the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent, a consultative mechanism for people of African descent and other relevant stakeholders as a platform for improving the safety and quality of life and livelihoods of people of African descent, as well as an advisory body to the Human Rights Council.
My bold idea is to establish the United Nations Permanent Forum on People of South Asian Descent. This would be a necessary predicate to recognize the legacies of indentured labor, colonialism, and the ongoing kafala system.
Intergenerational Wisdom: How has working across generations influenced your approach? What is one lesson you’ve learned from a mentor or a younger peer that changed how you lead?
I had the opportunity to witness and organize under all of my incredible mentors during the 2025 New York City mayoral election when we all took on various leadership roles to get out the vote and drive narrative change. They are all pioneers in the South Asian American civil rights and racial justice movement. I learned how patience, flexibility and compassion are cornerstones to effective coalition building; how to balance between keeping core central values while also building a large, inclusive grassroots base; and how to stay firm on your principles when people are committed to misunderstanding you or your cause.
The “Why” Behind the Work: Describe a specific project, model, or idea you are currently leading. What community challenge does it address, and what was the catalyst for this specific approach?
I am the impact producer for a feature-length documentary that follows five New York City cab drivers fighting for survival and economic justice in the wake of the predatory taxi medallion debt crisis. The project addresses a deeper community challenge: how immigrant workers, after building the infrastructure of this city, are abandoned by financial systems designed to extract from them and political systems slow to repair the harm. My approach grew out of my work as a tenant defense lawyer, where I see how debt, housing insecurity, and family strain are intertwined. Film became a way to pair storytelling with organizing, policy advocacy, and concrete pathways toward relief.
A Call to Action: What is one piece of advice you would give to someone who wants to “dream audaciously” but doesn’t know where to start?
Start by getting close to the work itself. Learn how the system actually functions, who holds decision-making power, where the bottlenecks are, and what skills you can meaningfully offer. Audacity is not the same as ego; it grows stronger when paired with discipline, observation, and service. Be humble enough to learn from the generation before you, including what they built under harder conditions, but do not confuse respect with passivity. Let their lessons sharpen you, not contain you.