about.

Hi there! I’m Shivani.

I'm a maker and a mender, a queer disabled brown femme, an eldest immigrant daughter, and an equity and justice consultant. I work to nourish my communities and heal our systems of care, in pursuit of health equity and racial, disability, and reproductive justice.

I'm currently based in New York City, where I live with an overflowing sewing basket, a cherished community garden, and a sourdough starter that’s been alive and fermenting since the late 1800s.

Over my career, I’ve been a health equity expert for the COVID pandemic response, a leader in maternal mortality prevention, an innovation consultant, a crisis counselor for sexual violence survivors, a full-spectrum birth and abortion doula, a trauma-sensitive hatha yoga teacher, a sex educator, and a cognitive neuroscience researcher studying the effects of music education on brain plasticity.

I went out on my own in 2022 after a few months of rest and recovery, a few years of transformation, and a decade of dreaming. I saw a need for equity and justice work that bridges the personal and the political, the embodied and the embroiled, the human and the systemic.

Today, I help BIPOC folks radically care for themselves in the face of ongoing -isms, so we can grow in pleasure, abundance, and joy. I help white people use their privilege to interrupt bias and discrimination, so our environments and our programs become stronger, more sustainable, and more equitable.

My approach to diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice work is unapologetically intersectional and deeply rooted in healing and nourishment.

I love the elegant and imperfect chaos of our identities, our glorious riotous revolutionary ancestries. I believe that joy is the most vulnerable emotion, that the antidote to violence is resonant and relational connection, that queer and disabled and bipoc people and survivors have each other — that we have us.

Ready to get started? Send me a consultation request to set up a free 30-minute inquiry call.

talk soon!

Are you looking for a more formal version? Click below for my professional bio.

  • Shivani Mehta Bhatia is the founder of Tulsi Strategies, an equity and justice studio for people at the intersections. With a background in public health and a passion for human-centered systems design, she is a facilitator of bold vision, data-driven strategy, and sustainable implementation.

    Over her career, Shivani has advised boards of directors, tech startups, small businesses, community organizations, and government agencies. As a strategy and innovation consultant in New York City, she spearheaded organizational development and supported clients on complex multisector projects, from a $10M public-private diagnostics partnership to a $1B federal challenge for equitable economic development. She is adept at designing ambitious strategy while balancing business priorities, navigating delicate political shifts while executing resilient projects, and facilitating seamless client management while solving problems deftly.

    During the COVID-19 pandemic, Shivani led health equity policy for Colorado’s pandemic response from 2020-2021, designing a cross-government strategy that addressed all facets of inequity, from implicit bias trainings for contact tracers to a long-term disability-led economic resilience strategy. She previously served as the principal investigator and program director for CDC-funded maternal mortality prevention work. Her testimony, policy advising, and programmatic efforts led to the passage of a landmark bill package to support birth equity, as well as expanded Medicaid coverage under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) for postpartum Coloradans. Shivani’s public health work was nationally recognized for its cutting-edge strategies to address the structural and social determinants of health, and she was awarded the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs’ 2020 Emerging MCH Professional Award for Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming.

    Shivani has been an equity-informed conflict mediator, a crisis counselor for sexual violence survivors, a full-spectrum birth and abortion doula, a trauma-sensitive hatha yoga teacher, a sex educator, and a cognitive neuroscience researcher. She designed, implemented, and evaluated public health programs in Boston, Denver, New York City, and Mumbai, India.

    Shivani holds an MPH from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and an AB from Dartmouth College. She is the writer and host of intimate practice, a newsletter and podcast on relational skills for systems change. Outside of work, Shivani is a textile artist, a queer disabled brown femme, and an eldest immigrant daughter. She loves rose gardens, fragrant cups of chai, and late summer rainstorms.