Kavita Rai is an energized activist, journalist & cancer survivor. As founder & executive director of Justice in the Classroom, a student-powered organization mobilizing all education stakeholders to prioritize racial equity in public schools across Southern California, Kavita is focused on bringing structural rather than symbolic changes. Justice in the Classroom has introduced significant policy into school districts while doing grassroots work by providing mutual aid & educative awareness to communities. Kavita was a Teen Advisor for UN initiative Girl Up, working on communication & advocacy strategies. She remains a fierce advocate for global gender equality, now serving on The Female Quotient’s inaugural NextGen Board of Advisors. As a politics contributor for Brown Girl Magazine, Kavita gets to use journalism as a storytelling platform for her activism. Her dedication to advocacy led her to become the Grand Prize Recipient of the 2019 GenShe Entrepreneurial Makeathon for her social innovation work around technology and humanitarian aid. She has lobbied on Capitol Hill with the ACLU and Girl Up for bills ranging from immigration reform to protecting girls abroad, and then became the youngest person to develop policy for LA City Council Member Nithya Raman. Kavita has been invited to speak on behalf of organizations including Los Angeles City Hall for the 70th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Day and Girl Up, hosting their Annual Global Leadership Summit in Washington D.C. Her advocacy work is featured in publications like Vox News, Business Insider, TeenVogue, Elite Daily, & HollisterCo. She was recently nominated for 2021 Woman of the Year by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society at age 19. Currently a sophomore at University of Southern California studying Public Policy, Law, & Film, Kavita has aspirations to attend law school one day and continue her activism!