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.

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.