Our Community Leaders
Dedication. Expertise. Passion.
At ParivarBayArea, we believe in grassroots community building. Our dedicated staff, consultants and advisory board members expend their efforts with limited resources in creating and sustaining our critical work to save, support and build Global South Transgender Immigrants and Refugees of San Francisco and indeed globally.
Jupiter Peraza (she/her)
Jupiter Peraza (she/her) is a San Francisco-based transgender and immigrant rights advocate, community organizer, and thought leader who has recently joined Parivar Bay Area as Community Outreach Strategist!
Earlier this year, she was elected to serve as a delegate to the California Democratic Party representing Assembly District 17th. In 2021, she wrote and spearheaded legislation that recognized August as Transgender History Month in the city and county of San Francisco. She currently serves on the board of the San Francisco Women's Political Committee. In 2022, State Senator Scott Wiener honored her as Senate District 11th 2022 Woman of the Year for her contributions and leadership as a transgender advocate.
Amit Patel He/Him
Amit Patel(He/Him) is a dancer, choreographer, teacher, and artistic director, living in the San Francisco Bay Area (unceded lands of the Ohlone people) He has toured all over the world teaching classes and creating safe spaces for the LGBTQ+ community. Co-founder of ishamidancecompany, his work has also been recognized digitally on YouTube hitting over 25+ Million views around the world. As an artist, and first-generation born Indian American, Amit strives to create spaces to explore gender, cultural and sexual identities through the lens of the performing arts. Amit believes that through art we have the power to make people think and actively engage with new perspectives. His goal as an artist is to create work and community that has the potential to unite, inspire, and empower people across generations and cultures.
C. Huiling Qian
C. Huiling Qian (they/them) joined us as the senior fundraising manager. Since last fall, they have been doing grounding break work in uplifting our efforts.
They are a nonbinary Chinese person raised in Shanghai and Hong Kong and educated in New England. A longtime writer and musician, their passion is creating loving communities in which art can flourish.
Anjali Rimi
(She/They)
Anjali Rimi (She/They) is San Francisco Bay Area based Global South API immigrant Transgender brown woman belonging to South Asian diasporic Kinnar Hindu transgender identity and experiences. With roots in India, she blossomed in Canada and belonging in the United States. She was recognized by California Legislative Assembly as a state LGBT leader in the Senate as well as the Assembly. She was awarded the Grassroots Immigration leader award by the office of community engagement and immigration affairs, City of San Francisco along with congressional recognitions from Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senator Scott Wiener, and San Francisco Mayor London Breed.
Lana Patel
(She/her)
Vice-President
Chief Diversity Officer
Lana Patel (she/her) is an Afro Indo Caribbean woman from New York City and a transplant to Southern California. Lana is currently the Sr Community Coordinator for Plume, a digital Healthcare company for trans people made by trans people. Prior to her role at Plume Lana worked in non profit with a focus on LGBTQ Healthcare and Transgender Services in the Southern California region. Lana studied music and psychology at Florida State University where she holds yo bachelor degrees that have served her in her professional career and career in entertainment as a singer for the trans chorus of Los Angeles. Lana is passionate about uplifting trans, black and brown communities to ensure that equitable access to resources is attainable for all.
Anisha Pai
(They/Them)
Advisory Board Member,
ParivarBayArea
Anisha Pai (they/she) is non-binary, and grew up in Doha, Qatar. They are from Bangalore, India and currently work in Western MA, USA as a data scientist in the cybersecurity space. Anisha spends her time healing through art, movement, and writing.
Amir Jaffer
(He/Him)
Advisory Board Member,
ParivarBayArea
Amir is an award-winning filmmaker and content producer with over 15 years of experience. He has produced documentaries, features, short films, music videos, branding videos, and several web series. He currently focuses on documentaries, series, and music videos.
Besides creating his own content Amir has collaborated with several award-winning directors and producers as Director of Photography and Editor. Some of his work was broadcast on PBS and MTV, and some of his films have been screened at film festivals in the U.S. and abroad.
In 2020 he co-founded the SF Queer Film Festival, which is the 2nd LGBTQI+ film festival in San Francisco, that offers an alternate platform for under-represented queer storytellers and out-of-the-box thinkers. The inaugural festival took place in San Francisco in July 2021 with a good turnout despite of the pandemic.
Amir became a filmmaker because he wanted to tell stories and capture people's unique experiences through narratives and documentaries. And because he wants to inspire through ideas and visuals that can have a lasting impact on people.