ReWorld Volunteer Spotlight: Meher Deepika
Since ReWorld was founded in 2022, the organization has grown from a small team of co-founders to a staff of over 30 volunteers. For the second installment of our Volunteer Spotlight series, we speak with ReWorld’s very first volunteer, Meher Deepika, who now primarily handles the organization’s fundraising efforts. She discusses how volunteering has been a source of professional growth and personal fulfillment and shares some stories from ReWorld’s humble beginnings.
Tell us a little about your professional journey and how it led you to volunteer with ReWorld.
I moved to the Bay Area from India about two years ago, in May 2022, and I work as a software engineer at Google. My day job involves writing docs, coding… It’s pretty dry. When I started with ReWorld, I was struggling a bit to find meaning in my work and was looking to find meaning outside of work instead. That’s when I got connected with ReWorld founder Prudhvi Dharmana. We went to the same college — the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur — and I happened to meet him at an alumni event here in the Bay Area. We immediately connected, and I really started getting involved in ReWorld through that friendship. Little did I know my work with ReWorld would end up elevating my sense of meaning and purpose at work as well!
What are your roles and responsibilities at ReWorld?
When I got involved with ReWorld around February 2023, we were a team of literally five or six people. I was actually the very first volunteer with ReWorld. It was so small that I was basically doing a little bit of everything. I was doing social media, I helped plan a fundraising event in April 2023, and I helped set up the team structure. I actually wrote one of the very first articles for ReWorld, too. It was all very new, so I was doing anything and everything that ReWorld needed. Eventually, when the team started forming, and we started creating a little more structure in the organization, I moved into fundraising, and now that’s predominantly what I do.
On a daily basis, it involves handling campaigns, handling fundraising events, and looking out for fundraising opportunities or opportunities to collaborate with other nonprofits. I send a lot of emails. I would say the day-to-day is not that exciting, but if you care about the end goal and the results, that’s where the magic lies.
It sounds like what you do for ReWorld is very different from your day job. What has that experience been like?
It’s definitely very different. I’ve learned a lot of people skills at ReWorld that I apply at my job, and I would like to think that my job gave me a very strong work ethic. That’s very, very useful when you’re volunteering: setting clear deadlines, doing project management, managing the team and timelines, etc. All of that has been very useful in my role at ReWorld.
I’m learning a lot about human psychology, honestly, and learning a lot about management in general — specifically, how to run a volunteer organization where people are not paid to do the work. It’s very important to make sure people understand what we are doing, why we are doing it, and why we are doing it the way we are doing it. You also need to keep them motivated, and make sure it’s a symbiotic relationship that’s mutually beneficial to the volunteers and to ReWorld as well. I didn’t have any experience leading projects or managing teams before, so I’ve learned a lot of transferrable skills that are also useful at work.
Two crucial skills I’ve learned at ReWorld are big-picture thinking and ruthless prioritization. Big-picture thinking means understanding our mission and making sure my efforts align with the broader goals. And ruthless prioritization is something I learned from our very inspiring founders: identifying the most important things, and aggressively eliminating the rest.
What made you want to get involved with ReWorld in the first place?
I would say there were three major factors. Around the same time I got involved with ReWorld, the tech companies were announcing massive layoffs. Feeling demoralized, I started looking for a purpose outside of work. I wanted to get involved in something meaningful in order to ground myself.
Two, I was looking for something outside of my comfort zone of software engineering. And three, through the founder, Prudhvi, I enjoyed learning a lot about environmental sustainability and biodiversity conservation. I believe that the people involved in the organization are as important as the idea behind the organization itself. I found all of our founders, Prudhvi, Christie, Chris, and especially Rosamira Guillen (the Executive Director of Proyecto Tití) very inspiring. I wanted to contribute to their vision and their cause.
Of the work you’ve done with ReWorld, is there anything you’ve enjoyed the most or that you’re most proud of?
One of the first big events we did was an event called Tamarin Tales in April 2023. It was an intimate fundraising event with 30–40 people, very small scale. We wanted it to be personal and intimate, so we only invited our donors and a limited selection of people. Rosamira was flying in from Colombia that day, and we got her to speak in front of everyone and share her vision and what we were doing — the numbers as well as the human stories. The work they’re doing on site in Colombia is just incredible. Organizing that event was a fun collaboration. It was one of our very first projects as a small volunteer team. I remember all of us sitting together at 11 or 12 at night, trying to brainstorm a creative name for the event.
The second thing that I’m most proud of is recently, we did an internal fundraiser at Google for Proyecto Tití. Every year during the holidays, Google helps employees donate to any cause they care about. Any donation made by employees is peer-matched by the company so it doubles the impact. We have a strong climate community here at Google, so I reached out to a lot of people to encourage them to donate their money to Proyecto Tití during the holiday campaign week. We ended up raising $20,000 for Proyecto Tití in just two weeks!
What motivates you to keep dedicating so much time and energy to ReWorld? What do you get out of this experience, either personally or professionally?
The first thing is that I care about ReWorld a lot. Even though I don’t have much experience with environmental sustainability in general, I developed a passion for environmental issues much more after joining ReWorld.
As for what I’m gaining professionally, I would say it has helped me hone my managerial skills and communication. I also identify as an introvert, and my work with ReWorld has helped me get better with people and social situations.
What do you like to do outside of work and volunteering? Anything that might surprise people?
One thing that might surprise people is that I like watching crime documentaries and serial killer documentaries. It’s just a weird niche interest of mine. I like reading about human psychology, so I’m fascinated by that aspect of it.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
I feel like more women need to be involved in decision-making processes and leadership roles. As you go up the corporate ladder, the percentage of women just keeps decreasing. It has been difficult for me to find a female mentor or role model growing up. I want to change that.
Connect with Meher on LinkedIn