Dhara Shah was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. Her formal education is in biomedical engineering, but she has spent the last 10 years practicing skills of community development, capacity building and co-design through international work with organizations in Haiti. Dhara has recently been involved in community organizing work in Chicago around anti-racism, anti-oppression and other pressing issues affecting communities of Chicago. From her learnings in Haiti and Chicago, she would like to deeper explore the co-creating systems and policies that work for marginalized populations while centering voices of those most commonly oppressed.