Image description: on a wavy gradient green and blue background is a photo of Shivani, a South Asian person with short black hair and a grey sweater smiling at the camera. The header in black text reads “Welcome Shivani!” and on a red and orange banner reads “APIENC’s New Leadership Development Coordinator.” APIENC’s yellow circle logo is in the corner.
Image description: on a wavy gradient green and blue background is a photo of Shivani, a South Asian person with short black hair and a grey sweater smiling at the camera. The header in black text reads “Welcome Shivani!” and on a red and orange banner reads “APIENC’s New Leadership Development Coordinator.” APIENC’s yellow circle logo is in the corner.

Welcome APIENC’s New Leadership Development Coordinator!

January 26, 2022 — By Lavender Phoenix

Dear APIENC Community,

We are thrilled to announce Shivani Chanillo (they/them) has joined APIENC as our new Leadership Development Coordinator! Shivani is an incredible educator and organizer who brings years of leadership development experience. They demonstrate a passion for building relationships, supporting others to share their stories, creating spaces for collective growth, and developing the leadership of young people.

Shivani first joined APIENC as a leader of the Trans & Non-Binary South Asian Asking for Help workshop series. Later, they joined a grassroots fundraising team, participated in our 2021 Summer Leadership Exchange (LEX), and co-founded the new Community Safety Committee.

Image description: Colorful and bright graphic that reads "Welcome Shivani!". In the middle is a photo of Shivani outdoors and smiling. Bottom text reads, "APIENC's New Leadership Development Coordinator" with the yellow APIENC logo in the bottom left corner.
Image description: on a wavy gradient green and blue background is a photo of Shivani, a South Asian person with short black hair and a grey sweater smiling at the camera. The header in black text reads “Welcome Shivani!” and on a red and orange banner reads “APIENC’s New Leadership Development Coordinator.” APIENC’s yellow circle logo is in the corner.

Now, as APIENC’s first-ever Leadership Development Coordinator, Shivani will help ensure all APIENC members are equipped with the skills, knowledges, and mindsets we need to achieve our collective visions. They’ll lead our annual Summer Leadership Exchange, support the Summer Organizer Program, and create new trainings on facilitation, QTAPI histories, and more. They will also collaborate with APIENC’s movement partners to exchange valuable lessons as we grow more leaderful, skilled communities together.

When asked how they’re most excited to grow in this role, Shivani said:

I am incredibly grateful and honored to step into this LD Coordinator role! I feel like it’s exactly where I need to be in my life right now, professionally and personally. Supporting people in developing skills to be stronger leaders, more compassionate community members, and confident organizers is something I’ve implicitly done as an educator and I feel excited to step more fully into this work with APIENC.

Interdependence, abundance, and accountability are values that are deeply important to me and I look forward to diving into how we strengthen our movements and ourselves with these values in mind. This past year of volunteering with APIENC has also demonstrated how much wisdom each of our members brings to our community and I’m thrilled to be in a position to build deeper relationships with and learn from each of you!

Please help us radically welcome Shivani as they transition into their new role! If you want to build your relationship, learn more about their role, and develop new generations of trans and queer API leaders alongside Shivani, you can reach them at shivani@lavenderphoenix.org. 

With hope and solidarity,
Yuan Wang
Director