We are excited to have dedicated Mental Health advocate, Pooja Mehta lead our next Speaker Series! On Wednesday, August 20th, we will be discussing mental health in the South Asian community from 6 to 7 PM on Zoom. You can register today at bit.ly/augspeaker25.

Speaker Bio: Pooja Mehta is an outspoken South Asian Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Advocate, and has been driving change in communities across the United States for the last 10 years. As a professional with direct lived experience and a suicide loss survivor, she is eager to further the dialogue around the role public health and personal perspective plays in mental healthcare, while leading conversations that change the way we think and talk about mental health as a society.

A child of Indian immigrants raised in Raleigh, North Carolina, Pooja’s values of community, compassion, and challenging norms carry through everything she does. Pooja holds a Masters in Public Health from Columbia, and is a leading voice in AAPI mental health advocacy thanks to her firsthand experiences ranging from psychiatric hospitals to town halls to Capitol Hill. Her work has been featured in a variety of platforms, podcasts, and articles, including NPR, ABC, WebMD, and TEDx. Pooja leads North Carolina’s AAPI mental health education initiatives, serves as the President of the National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association, and is the proud founder of the Raj Mehta Day of Good, an international day of doing good hosted annually on her late brother’s birthday.

In her spare time, Pooja enjoys making stained glass, line dancing, and catching up on TV shows with her cat, Pepper.