The Team
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Payal Kadakia
The Boss
Payal stands at 4’11” tall, but don’t let her size deceive you—she’s got BIG dreams. It’s how an Indian dance troop was created while attending MIT, how The Sa Dance Company in NYC was founded, and of course, how Classtivity was born. However, if she wasn’t sitting at her desk with a cup of green tea in hand right now, she’d be directing her own Broadway dance production (think Cirque du Soleil goes Bollywood—big). And as our CEO, it’s a good thing she dreams big and executes; to make things work, you need a visionary who isn’t afraid to guide a company and push it forward. To learn more about Payal, check out this interview.
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Sanjiv Sanghavi
The Business Man
You know those people in the street who seem to take curiosity in something, stick their nose into it for a brief second, only walk away and move on without making the slightest stir? Well, that’s not Sanjiv. When something strikes his interest, he pursues it. It’s how he found himself here, leaping from the shores of stable investment banking onto a rickety boat roughing the waves in the world of stormy start-ups. So why is he so sure that leaving a full-time, paid job won’t fail him? He’s not, but the uncertainty won’t make him back down. Sanjiv’s favorite quote sums up his life’s motto, and what keeps him dauntless: “Whether you fear it or not, true disappointment will come but with disappointment comes clarity, conviction and true originality” (Conan O’Brien).
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Atul Ohri
The Architect
Atul is our tech guy; he has over 15 years of interactive and mobile development experience, along with design and digital technology to boot. In fact, he’s the co-founder of his own company, the Gelo Factory, a web and mobile development and design shop. As if that wasn’t enough, Atul is also an established DJ (perhaps you’ve heard his stage name, Zakhm?)
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Rashi Birla
The Eye
Rashi always knew what she wanted; from the day she graduated UCLA, Rashi entered the design world, eventually making her way up to becoming an Art Director at an interactive ad firm. So what made her leave and take up freelance design?—the ability to really own her projects. However, her eye for beauty isn’t simply limited to web and graphic design, as she also is a floral designer and likes to dabble in all that’s crafty… but lucky for us she fell in love with the idea of Classtivity and decided to stick around as the brain behind our site’s look.
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Kristi Chen
The Voice
You know the stereotypical business student, shaded in grey and black? Well, like The Nanny, Kristi is the “lady in red when everybody else is wearing tan.” Despite attending NYU’s Stern School of Business, she hates numbers and much prefers to write; it’s how she found herself here. Kristi started out as our summer intern but decided to stay for the ride as Classtivity’s current Copy Editor—and boy, are we glad she did. Born and raised in NYC, her spunky voice can be found throughout the content of our website.
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Catalin (Cat) Stefanovici
The Simplifier
Although Cat hails from Romania, he’s the coder who speaks our kind of language… the one non-coders can understand. As our Front-End Web Developer, he takes care of what users actually interact with. If you’ve navigated through our site without any trouble, you can thank Cat for that. But aside from making sure Classtivity looks presentable (and usable!), Cat enjoys plowing through bottles of Naked Juice—particularly of the Green Machine variety. Cheers to the juice and high-five for making our lives easier.
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Shiloh Goodin
The Class-oisseur
Shiloh is an expert at classes—finding them, taking them and giving them. She has traveled far and wide (teaching underprivileged children in India, performing on stage in Japan and still constantly searching for new adventures!) but lucky for us, all her talents and ambitions has led her to Classtivity. Knowing more than a thing or two about what makes for a great class experience, from the initial search to the final learning, Shiloh is here to ensure that we offer everything a class taker would need to find the perfect class; with Shiloh around, we’re confident in saying, “Don’t worry. You’re in good hands.”