Fords on Friday is an opportunity for students to chat with alumni about their career path and industry trends. Alumni offer career advice and field questions from students. Join us for an informal chat over Zoom!
Saumya Varma ‘18
Project Director, Calcutta Foundation
Sociology Major
Co-sponsored by the Center for Peace and Global Citizenship, Health Studies, the Department of Sociology, the Microfinance and Impact Investing Initiative (MI3), and the Peace, Justice, and Human Rights Program
Saumya graduated from Haverford College in 2018 with a major in Sociology, minor in Health Studies and a concentration in Peace Justice and Human Rights. After working for a year in a law firm in Philadelphia, she returned to Calcutta to start Project Mayuri, an initiative under her grandmother's foundation, Calcutta Foundation. Project Mayuri is working in suburban and rural West Bengal to increase access to healthcare for women and children through monthly rural outreach clinics. It aims to highlight issues faced by women concerning their health that are often overlooked or unaddressed because they are considered taboo. Due to the start of the pandemic in March 2020, Mayuri redirected its efforts to provide COVID relief, sending dry rations, cooked food, masks, and other material to daily wage workers in the villages in the Diamond Harbor and slums in and around Kolkata. While these efforts were still underway, the catastrophic effects of Super Cyclone Amphan required Mayuri to shift gears and begin relief efforts for the thousands of people left without shelter, food, and safety.