​

Growing up as a lonely closeted trans child in a conservative middle-class Christian home in Southern India, Celia writes and speaks passionately about her mental health, gender incongruence, and social challenges that she faced in her family, work, school, and community both in US and India.

​

Professional Background: She is a management consultant with over 25 plus years of demonstrated success in operating, growing, and spearheading media, healthcare, and life sciences engagements for Fortune 100 companies like Amgen, Genentech, United Health, BlueCross, and Americhoice. As a senior regional executive with companies like IQVIA, Capgemini, Cognizant, and Dun & Bradstreet, she has managed global cross-functional teams, and implemented enterprise strategies, maximizing ROI for multi-billion dollar clients. She has been consistently recognized for customer satisfaction and employee empowerment. She has a Bachelor's and Master's degree in computer science.

​

She advocates for the LGBTQ+ community with Providers, Payers, Pharmaceuticals, and Policymakers in the U.S. and South Asia. She strives to make LGBTQ+ communities, particularly the trans community, feel welcomed and accepted in all facets of society, from the bathroom to the boardroom.

​

She reaches across divides to navigate fraught and divisive topics to build consensus among various groups from Legal, ERGs, DEI council, IT, HR, and Corporate Communications to Senior leadership. She courageously uses her personal story to build bridges, challenging her clients to go beyond mere performative gestures. 

 

Celia advises on global strategies and workshops to implement Leadership Trust, Inclusive hiring practices, Allyship programs, DEI Metric reporting, Pronouns, and Self-ID. She addresses the current challenges in health equity, and clinical trials for transgender and gender-expansive patients within Black, Asian, Hispanic, Native American, Caucasian, and LGBTQ+ intersections.

​

Community Advocate: Celia brings an intersectional blend of ethnicity, creativity, religion, and corporate experience in her “trans-evangelism”, as she likes to call it. She offers freelance consulting for small to large-size companies and volunteers for a few non-profit organizations, churches, institutions, and community resource groups in the United States and India. She is passionate about supporting marginalized communities and individuals by providing them with a safe space to address various issues relating to bullying, gender discrimination, medical, behavioral, mental health, and suicidal ideation.

​

She is currently focused on writing policies, educating, and building allies with local communities, businesses, churches, police dept, therapists, doctors, and organizations that fight for civil rights and economic empowerment.

​

Achievements & Engagements :

 

• Endpoints News's Top 20 LGBTQ+ Leaders in the Biopharma Industry 

​

• Top 100 trailblazing LGBTQ+ women making a difference in the diversity, equity, and inclusion space around the world. 

​

• Serving in the Syneos "DEI and Health Equity Advisory Council" advancing the rights of underrecognized communities.

​

• LinkedIn's 2022 Top 10 LGBTQ+ Voices in the U.S. and Canada.

​

• Received the "Social Justice Award" during the progressive awards event for 2022 from the Ventura County Democratic Party. 

​

• Received the “Certificate of Recognition as Friend of the Port” in honor of the 2021 Women’s history month from the Oxnard Board of Harbor Commissioners in Ventura County. California.

​

• Received the 2019 Human Rights Campaign’s equality award for “Outstanding commitment and service to our community”.

​

• Serving on the Executive Board for Trans Can Work, an organization that focuses on Economic Empowerment for the Transgender and Gender Non-Binary community in North America.

​

• Serving as the Vice President of Stonewall Democrats of Ventura County. 

​

• Served on the community advisory board for Fordham’s HIV and Drug Abuse Prevention Research Ethics Training Institute (RETI), funded through the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

​

• Served as the International Ambassador for Sahodari Foundation in 2018–2019, an India-based transgender organization that empowers the transgender and gender non-binary community through education and training in creative arts.

​

• Contributed to the policy changes in 2019 along with TransLatino Coalition in LA to make recommendations to the State for the trans and gender non=binary community in California.

​

•Received the “2017 Visionary Award” from Satrang, a southern California south Asian LGBTQ+ community to honor the vision, bravery, and for speaking strongly against injustice in this political climate against the Transgender community.

​

• She currently leads the Indivisible: Conejo LGBTQ+ ( Civil Right organization ) and is an active volunteer with Diversity Collective-Ventura, Toastmasters, PFLAG, and FFLUID support groups in Southern California.