Aarati Kasturirangan

I’m an immigrant kid who has spent my life bridging worlds and reading everything I can to understand why we, as humans, do what we do. I believe systems of oppression have stifled a vast amount of human potential for connection, creativity, and collective brilliance. At Dragonfly Partners, I’m passionate about helping client-partners recognize how oppression shows up in our hearts, minds, and organizational cultures, and offering the tools and support needed to shift those patterns.

My work has been shaped by deep roots in movement spaces. I’ve served as a rape crisis counselor, an interpersonal violence prevention educator, and an organizer with INCITE! Women and Trans People Against Violence. I’ve organized for climate justice with 350.org, supported community-led change as a grant maker and capacity builder at Bread & Roses Community Fund, and facilitated strategic planning with American Friends Service Committee. These experiences ground my commitment to healing, solidarity, wealth redistribution, and transformative strategy.

I earned a Ph.D. in Community & Prevention Research in Psychology from the University of Illinois at Chicago. What matters most to me is helping people recognize the patterns, habits, and internalized messages that shape how we relate, so we can make different choices and build something better.

I’m also a poet, singer-songwriter, and former theater director. Creativity is at the heart of my work.