Formerly an engineer and a lawyer, Aparna is a writer, speaker, agitator, and advisor at the confluence of movements for equity and justice and the outdoor, environmental, and conservation sectors. An Indian immigrant and mother, Aparna longs for an outdoor, environmental, and conservation movement that works for everyone. Aparna has made it her life's work to catalyze the radical reimagination of human relationships to land, water, and wildlife to center values of humility, interdependence, solidarity, intergenerational obligation, dignity, and reciprocity. Aparna writes, speaks, teaches, coaches, and facilitates workshops for the outdoor, environmental, and conservation community. She also holds space for Black, Indigenous, Latine, Asian, and other people of color in the sector. Aparna is founding partner of The Avarna Group and has spearheaded initiatives that amplify BIPOC outdoor and environmental voices, including Expedition Denali: Inspiring Diversity in the Outdoors and People of the Global Majority in the Outdoors, Nature, and the Environment. She serves on the board of the Living Oak Center for Applied Decolonization, Brown Girls Climb, and Dirt Maidens. She also serves as OCAPIA's representative to the Oregon Environmental Justice Council.
When not nerding out reading books on the topics such as the complex and intertwined histories of people and land, you can find her hiking, running, climbing, and biking in the homelands of the Kalapuya people, where she lives with her husband and son. Listen to more from Aparna on Rebooting Capitalism Ep #8: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion with Ava Holliday and Aparna Rajagopal, co-founders of The Avarna Group, The Caroline Gleich Show Episode 30: Disrupting Implicit Bias in the Outdoors with the Avarna Group, and She Explores Episode 13: Diversity, "Beyond the Buzzword". Read more by Aparna at www.Aparnarajagopal.com and her substack Aparnarajagopal.substack.com.