Pro Bono Consultant Profile
Shivani Ganguly
San Francisco Bay Area
| Background: | Shivani is a Principle at Friday Consulting, where she helps start-ups and small companies create effective, sustainable business models and infrastructure. Shivani has also served as a Senior Director of Human Resources and Business Operations at OQO, Inc., where she helped build and manage the team that created the world’s smallest personal computer. | |
| Taproot Role: | Human Resources Strategist | |
| Pro Bono Client: | Reading Partners | |
| Project: | Human Resources Capacity Build | |
The Project:
“Reading Partners is dedicated to empowering students through literacy and
investing community members in underserved public schools through one-on -one
reading support. They needed professional consultation to guide them through a
period of growth and establish a firm foundation of HR procedures for the
future.”
The Team:
“Our team communicated well, and got along personally as well as
professionally. Our Account Director did great job of choosing people who had
different areas of expertise, which was really helpful in completing the
project. I learned a lot from the team and I’m still in touch with a number of
them.”
The Work:
“The Human Resources Capacity Build project was more fulfilling than other
types of volunteer work I’ve done because it used skills that are unique to me.
I also enjoyed the flexibility of the project structure, since I could work on
the project whenever I had time to do so.”
Challenges:
“Setting expectations both on the team and between the client and the team was
tricky. There was definitely some work that needed to be done around making
sure that everything being undertaken was in scope and that we were
prioritizing the right things for the organization.”
Cross Sector:
“As a pro bono consultant on this project, it ended up strengthening my company
as well as the nonprofit because I got more experience in areas that I
otherwise might not have.”
Personal Growth:
“I was able to develop a number of great relationships and strong contacts to
build my personal network. Professionally, I found a way to utilize skills that
I might not have in any other avenues of my life.”
Outside Taproot:
“I’m a student and a consultant, so I don’t have a lot of free time. I like to
cook, read, travel, and swim when I have some.”
