Richa is an Electronics & Communication Engineer by academics and also has a Business degree in Marketing, Leadership & Strategy. She has spent over a decade of her professional career in strategically enabling ecosystems that use technology for problem solving. Her inherent understanding of technology integrated with her executionary experience working across diverse organisations that include corporates, government and social enterprises at leadership positions puts her in a unique position of creating value from interdisciplinary perspectives.

In her current role as a Director at Maker’s Asylum, Richa drives strategic collaborations, partnerships and community building. She believes that the future of learning is evolving and alternative spaces will be significant in customising people’s learning journeys. Maker’s Asylum is India’s first community makerspace focussed on fostering innovation through purpose based learning focussed on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Over the years it has graduated from being a “DIY” space to working at the intersection of education and open innovation through its programs and social impact work. With alumni and partners in over 30 countries, Maker’s Asylum has enabled a plethora of open source projects and even startups in the areas of hardware, design and sustainability. Nurturing the culture of innovation it has been on the forefront of creating a culture of hands-on learning and making in India.

Richa was awarded the prestigious Vogue Woman of the Year Award in 2020 for her work at Maker’s Asylum via the M19 Initiative for helping make over 1 million face shields for front-line and essential workers in 49 days during the first lockdown in 2020 by enabling makers to use their open source designs in 42 cities, towns and villages of India. She has also been featured in Channel News Asia’s international documentary series “A League of Extraordinary Makers” and was part of the seven public interviews at the Geneva Health Forum in 2022. In her personal time she loves exploring adventure sports and the outdoors and is also an advanced scuba diver and paragliding pilot.