Team

About Him

Kanishka has a Bachelor of Commerce (Honors) from Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi University, and a Master of Arts in Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University. He recently completed his Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from Harvard University. His research is about how caste and class relations in India, particularly in elite educational and corporate workspaces, are being reshaped by the growth of free-market economic discourses. Before beginning his PhD, Kanishka worked as a research analyst at a private company in New Delhi, India, where he focused on the energy sector in India and abroad.

He has received several academic awards and grants. These include the Cora Du Bois Fellowship in 2022, and the Teschmacher Award from the Department of Anthropology for summer research in Cuba in 2015. Additionally, he received the South Asia Institute Summer Research Grant in 2014 and the LN Mittal South Asia Institute Summer Research Grants in 2018 and 2021.

In 2019, he was an Associate at the Weatherhead Center's Research Cluster on Comparative Inequality and Inclusion. He has also been a Teaching Fellow at Harvard University. He has taught various courses such as Case Studies in Global Health (2015), Sociology and Economics (2017), Stories from the End of the World (2020), Folklore of Food (2021), and Race and Caste (2022).

Expertise

• Kanishka assists his students in questioning and challenging their habitual modes of thinking, beliefs, and assumptions.
• He fosters a friendly and supportive environment that encourages students to explore their own lives, ultimately aiding them in discovering their true purpose, motivations, and strengths, and impactful moments that effectively demonstrate these qualities.
• Kanishka believes in the power of storytelling and sees a successful application as a good story. One’s qualifications, experiences, and achievements serve as props and plot devices to tell a clear and compelling story.
• Understanding the mindset and attitudes that help one succeed at top research universities and programs. Using this to craft your applications and prepare for your interviews.
• He particularly enjoys working with “long shot” applicants on their moonshot.

Have a degree from a top tier college? Join our Team of Experts!

Garima Rana

Senior Counsellor
MPP, University of Oxford
B.Sc. IT – Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University

Ananya Jain

Senior Counsellor
M-Fin, University of Cambridge
B.Com, Delhi University

Kovid Gupta

Senior Counsellor
MBA, Cornell University
BBA, BS, BA, UT-Austin

Archana Rao

Senior Counsellor
MBA from Darden, University of Virginia
B.Tech, University of Pune

Suman Barua

Senior Counsellor
M.Ed, Harvard University
B.E, Mumbai University

Madhav Pathak

Senior Counsellor
MBA, Indian School of Business
MS, Carnegie Mellon University

Gaargi Desai

Senior Counsellor
MS, Harvard University
BA, Tulane University

Ameya Bhangle

Senior Counsellor
MBA, Harvard Business School
B.Sc., St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai

Niyati Dave

Senior Counsellor
MA, Smith College, Northampton

Aashay Doshi

Senior Counsellor

MBA - Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business,

BSc. Finance & Marketing - University of Maryland College Park

Kanishka Elupula

Senior Counselor
Ph.D, in Social Anthropology, Harvard University
Master of Arts in Economics, Jawaharlal Nehru University Bachelor of Commerce (Honors) – Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi University

Akshay Navaladi

Pharma Professional
MBA, Harvard Business School
Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering , BOSTON University