SHUBHA BALA
  • Home
  • About Me
  • Contact
  • Home
  • About Me
  • Contact

More about me.

My academic background probably summarizes my skills best - I have an Electrical and Computer Engineering Undergraduate degree from the University of Toronto, and a Masters in International Affairs from Columbia University.  The majority of my career has been spent in the social sector - most recently leading the Technology department of a 600 person non-profit organization, where I've learned what it's like to be on the side of hiring the technology consultants.  

My technology work has been a thread through everything I've done.  My first corporate tech job out of school I quickly found myself managing a team of developers for our largest grossing client.  My main task was to understand complex, changing requirements, and find solutions.  Simultaneously I was a founding member of Engineers Without Borders Canada, developing their program to send engineering students to developing countries.  There we collectively learned, first hand, how little technology's role is in creating meaningful change as compared to communication and relationships.

I am also an artist with a specific passion for helping others share their voice.  While my own art ranges as much as my career has, I'm most proud of the magazine I started for women of color writers - Kalyani Magazine - and my time as a co-director for YKR (aka Yoni Ki Raat), an annual performance where South Asian artists, and non-artists, come together to share their stories on stage.

Experience-at-a-glance

Primarily Technical Roles:
  • Director of Technology Innovation at the Center for Court Innovation
  • Technology consultant with Blue Ridge Labs and Open Society Foundation on technology in shutting down jails
  • Technology lead at the start-up Wiggle Room, meeting the childcare needs of low-income New Yorkers
  • Technical Sales Lead, Business Analyst, and Team Lead for Workbrain's Time and Attendance platform with large corporate clients including Limited Brands and the City of New York
Other Roles (using technology in addition to my primary focus):
  • Director of the SIJS Project and Program Coordinator for SIJS at the New Sanctuary Coalition, providing young people with paths to immigration status
  • Public radio producer at The Takeaway, the Brian Lehrer Show, On Being, and the Splendid Table
  • Program Manager at Media Development Investment Fund
  • Founding member and Director of Overseas Sending for Engineers Without Borders Canada
Artistic Roles:
  • Founder of Kalyani Magazine - a literary magazine for women of color
  • ​Co-Director and Board member for Yoni Ki Raat - an annual performance where South Asian artists, and non-artists, come together to share their stories of gender on stage
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.