ANJALI RIMI
Board President
Anjali Rimi (She/They) is San Francisco Bay Area based award winning Global South Asian Indian API “Kinner” immigrant Transgender woman activist. Anjali is the co-founder and the most recent CEO/President of ParivarBayArea. Anjali led the global disaster relief program of Parivar Bay Area helping save over 90,000 Transgender lives globally raising close to a million dollars. She currently oversees the world’s largest transgender entrepreneurship program with over 26 small businesses owned and led by Transgender Kinner Hijrah people across India. She is the first of her intersectional identity to be recognized by California Legislative Assembly and Senate as a California LGBTQ+ champion, first Indian trans immigrant to be recognized by the city and county of San Francisco’s OCEIA department focused on Immigration rights, first trans person in America to lead the pledge of allegiance at a US Citizenship ceremony, first US-based Transgender Indian Leader to be named as PathBreaker Award by National Council of Transgender Person of India, first SouthAsian Transgender Woman to be recognized as Women of the year by the U.S Congress along with many awards and honors.  ​

ANISHA PAI​
Secretary

Anisha Pai (they/them) is non-binary, and grew up in Doha, Qatar. They are from Bangalore, India and currently living in Orange County, CA. Anisha spends their time healing through art, movement, and writing. They are a poet, and a data scientist.

GULHAN YUZGEC
Treasurer

Gulhan, has over 10 years of experience in language management for various Silicon Valley corporations including Apple and Meta. An advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, Gulhan has been engaged with the LGBT Asylum Project since its inception, initially contributing to corporate relations and later taking on the role of Treasurer.

AMIR JAFFER
In 2020, Amir 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 is also a filmmaker with over 15 years of experience in producing features, documentaries, short films and web-series. Some of his work is streaming on Amazon and was released on PBS and MTV. He believes in telling stories that are meaningful and consequential. Most of his movies transcend cultures and shed a light on folks living on the periphery of society. He doesn't shy away from subjects considered taboo or risqué.

CHISIMDI OGBODO
Dr. Chisimdi Ogbodo is a Nigerian Physician.  He immigrated to the United States in December 2017. He was part of the NIH Funded Implementation Science Study of HIV Care and Prevention with men who have sex with men (MSM) in Nigeria. He managed a research/health clinic which carried out quarterly physical and clinical evaluation of MSM, testing and counseling on HIV (HCT). The positives were placed on anti-retroviral (ARV) and encouraged to bring in their partners to access health care. While the negatives are further evaluated, and encouraged to accept Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) if found eligible. Currently, he lives in East Bay California and work with Gilead Sciences Clinical Operations, Late Phase HIV.

JETHRO PATALINGHUG​
Jethro Patalinghug is a Filipino non-binary documentary filmmaker, visual artist, and activist. They were the featured artist for the 2023 Oaklash Drag Festival in Oakland, California which featured their sculptural works “Disco Balling Heads”, “The Performer” and “Gabriela Rising”. Their works were also featured in the 2022 Trans Aware Art Exhibition in San Francisco.  Jethro was a fellow for the 2022 Film Independent's CNN Docu-Series Intensive and DOCNY’s Storytelling Incubator. Their first feature documentary film 50 Years of Fabulous was opening film at QDocs 2018 Film Festival and an official selection to Frameline42. Jethro was a fellow for BVAC’s National Media Maker 2016 for his documentary film #MyNameIs. Jethro is also known as the drag persona “Virginia Please” on TikTok and teaches indigenous, black and brown queer and trans representation media and pop culture. They also serve as one of the Board of Directors for the GLBTQ+ Asian Pacific Alliance, Oaklash and EyeZen.

JUAN HERRERA
​Juan G. Herrera was born and raised in Colombia before moving to the United States in 1998. Juan came to Miami, Florida to study Aviation and International Business at Florida Atlantic University.  For the past 15 years, Juan has held several positions at banking making a career in the Financial Industry. He is now an Academy Manager for a financial institution where he develops and delivers training to Relationship Managers across the country. He has vast experience in financing, learning & development, project management and education. Juan understands the asylum process as he was a recipient of political asylum back in 2005.

LANA PATEL
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 two 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.