Board

Nowshin Ali (she/her) is the co-founder and Executive Director of People In Need Inc. and the co-owner of the popular Indian restaurant, Jalsa located in Brooklyn. 

As a new immigrant, Nowshin faced many challenges adjusting to American culture. While serving as an interpreter and the Parents Association Co-President at PS217, she witnessed the many obstacles her fellow immigrants faced due to their lack of information and language barriers. It was these obstacles that inspired Nowshin to begin programs to cater to the needs of limited English-speaking immigrants through various youth after-school programs and women empowerment initiatives under the umbrella of People In Need, a 501C3 non-profit organization.

Nowshin loves to share food & festivals reflecting the rich heritage of India through her restaurant, Jalsa.

During the pandemic, from March 2020 to December 2021, the dine-in area of Jalsa was converted into a food pantry. With the support of over 450 volunteers and 1,200 donors, her team served over 6,000 families in Brooklyn to fight the increasing food insecurity with home food deliveries & open to all food distributions. 

Anurag Shrivastava (he/him) is the co-founder of People In Need Inc. He is also the co-owner and chef of Jalsa, a renowned Indian restaurant in Brooklyn.

Anurag started PIN to love, feed, and care for the unhoused people he would see every day walking to and from work. His mother, when he grew up in Bhopal, always fed and supported hungry people, victims of disasters, patients in hospitals, and individuals grieving loss. This inspired him to open PIN to offer free programs and services to anyone in the neighborhood in need of support through K-5 afterschool tutoring and summer enrichment programs, clothing drives, fresh produce distributions, and home food deliveries. Anurag is also blessed to have organized anti-hate rallies, and the annual Unity March in Flatbush/Ditmas Park/Kensington, Brooklyn.

Anurag immigrated from India to New York City in 2013 from Bombay, India with a background in banking, Master's Degrees in Business Administration, Marketing & HR, and Labor Law. He has been honored for his civic work, including by the Borough President Eric Adams, and the City of New York Office of the Comptroller Scott M. Stringer.

Gregory Cohen (he/him) brings to the PIN board over 40 years of nonprofit management experience, including from each of the 14 nonprofits he has helped to create. Currently, he is the Executive Director of Philanthropy Leaders, which promotes collaborative philanthropy between the U.S. and China. Greg has strengthened over 650 local and global organizations by building organizational capacity through fundraising training, engaging boards, elevating public awareness, and aligning mission with program outcomes, particularly for 15 years, as Associate Director at Cause Effective. He has directly raised millions of charitable dollars, notably as the founder of Comprehensive Youth Development (CYD), a nonprofit associated with Manhattan Comprehensive Night & Day High School. His work at CYD was the focus of a front page story in the New York Times and a special edition of PBS' NOW With Bill Moyers. Greg also serves on the board of Hands on Sierra Leone, which he co-founded and which supports educational opportunities for civil war amputees and their families.

Lisa Khandhar (she/her) brings to People In Need a long-standing commitment to social justice and advocating for women's empowerment. Prior to joining PIN, Lisa served on the board of Sapna NYC, an organization that provides services to Bangladeshi women in the Bronx. Lisa also created the Women's Committee for the South Asian Bar Association of New York. Lisa is currently a compliance attorney for the United States Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, where she investigates complaints of discrimination filed against school districts and colleges/universities. Lisa is a graduate of Binghamton University and holds a JD from New York University School of Law.

Lisa is an avid crocheter and lives with her husband and son in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn.

Sweta Gupta (she/her) is a writer and editor, who brings to the PIN board nearly 15 years of experience in media and publishing. She emigrated from India at the age of eight and saw firsthand the difficulties her parents encountered adjusting to life in a new country. While she helped both her parents navigate this new world, she learned about the added layer of cultural complexities when advocating for her mother to be self-sufficient, even in a simple task such as learning how to drive a car. PIN’s mission of women empowerment and education, helping individuals like her mother, is what inspired her to join the PIN board in October 2021.

Sweta is a graduate of Rutgers University and holds a BA in English literature and a minor in psychology. She currently works as an editor for Sterling Project Development.

She also loves to educate the public about the benefits of composting through her community garden in Kensington, Brooklyn.