Safdar has been working in between education and cinema for more than a decade. His wrote and directed Chippa, which was acquired by Netflix in 2020, prior to which he was an Executive Producer on a number of films including Ronny Sen's Cat Sticks. 

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Before foraying into films, Safdar was a teaching fellow at Teach for India. Through the process of co-creating a feature film with teenagers, Safdar realised that films could be used as incredible tools for learning and impact - an enquiry that led to the birth of Lighthouse. 

Nivritti worked with Teach for India for 8 years across verticals including helming TFIx- Teach for India's education entrepreneurs track. In 2020, while the pandemic was all rage, Nivritti decided to create a film project with her students whom she had mentored for ten years. She contacted Safdar to direct the film, and thus - in a way- Lighthouse was born.

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She currently leads the India Program at Acumen. Nivritti serves on the Board of Directors at Lighthouse.

Riya spent five years at one of India's leading advertising agencies Schbang - where she helped build Schbang for Good, a vertical that told stories 'for good'. After doing a project with Teach for India whilst at Schbang, she recognised a pull towards grassroots work and decided to take the leap and joined the fellowship - where she led a high-school classroom in Bengaluru for two years. 

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Riya leads the Academy at Lighthouse.

Sharif is an engineer-turned filmmaker, with a degree in Literature from FLAME University Pune. 
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Most films at the Academy of Light are exported from his machine. The bedrock of the Academy, Sharif can be seen on most days loitering around with students shooting something with a bandanda around his head. 

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Surabhi has close to a decade’s experience in the legal field including her stint in law firms such as Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (CAM) and MZM Legal, where she worked across sectors in dispute resolution and corporate law.  She has also worked in human rights law and social impact. In 2023, she created  an academic podcast called So Skewed, a series consisting of audio essays - working with storytelling - to make the case for the decriminalisation of sex work.

 

At Lighthouse, she handles partnerships and outreach for the Academy and Studio.

Shreya is a Teach for India alum with a background in communications and film. She has a Masters from Monash University, Australia in Educational Leadership. She has a special interest in curriculum building at the intersection of arts, education and the socio-emotional learning.

 

At Lighthouse she helps develop our curriculum and program including our teacher training modules.