Meghna Bhat, Ph.D

I am Meghna Bhat, Ph.D. (she/her), an independent gender and social justice consultant, feminist scholar, trained storyteller, and educator based in Sacramento, CA. I am a proud desi first-generation immigrant woman from India who has lived in the USA for the past 18 years. In November of 2022, I was honored to be one of the 45 recipients of the 2022 Seeding Creativity Artist Grant funded by the Office of Arts and Culture in the City of Sacramento. As the Seeding Creativity Grant recipient, I am thrilled to launch this one-year storytelling project centered on South Asian immigrant identities across all diasporas and generations. 

Drawn from my own experiences with gender violence, chronic pain, and other unexpected health struggles accompanied by feelings of isolation, shame, and depression, I aim to create and strengthen a culture of visibility, acceptance, compassion, and collective care around these topics that are considered taboos in South Asian communities and diasporas with storytelling. My intent is to build on existing and ongoing extraordinary work on gender, immigrant, health, and racial justice carried out by South Asian direct service organizations within our immigrant and refugee diasporas. Most importantly, dreaming of designing and launching this storytelling initiative about healing wouldn't have been possible without acknowledging the profound role, legacy, and contributions of Black, Brown, and Native American and indigenous storytellers, circle keepers, educators, and healers who have paved the path for us and our generations. I am deeply moved by their wisdom, and compassion and hope to learn, evolve, and also be accountable to shift the narratives using an ethical and decolonial lens.

Heartfelt Gratitude: A big shoutout to the mentors and peers at Capital Storytelling and StoryCenter for motivating me to be a storyteller, but mostly, a deep listener and a better human being! Last but not the least, a big thank you to our wonderful team for their valuable time and meaningful and caring insights and advice.

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Thanks again for your time and interest.