Aashima Takkar

Strategic Designer & Innovator

Phone:

Email:

+1 551-376-8930

Where complex systems meet human lives — that is the work. Eight years across governments, health systems, and disaster response. Now at Parsons School of Design - The New School - MS Strategic Design & Management, Class of 2027, combining systems thinking, strategic design, and participatory methods to address questions across technology, governance, climate, and care — with communities, not just for them.

EDUCATION

Parsons School of Design

Aug’25 - May’27

Master of Science — Strategic Design & Management

GPA - 4.0/4.0

Maharshi Dayanand University

Aug’13 - May’17

Bachelor of Technology - Computer Science and Engineering

Rank 2/240 with 80.9%

SKILLS

Strategy & Design

Human-Centered Design
Service Design
Systems & Strategic Design Thinking
Journey & Stakeholder Mapping
Product Design & Management
Policy Analysis
Workshop Facilitation
Strategic Storytelling
Empathetic Leadership

Research & Impact

Qualitative & Quantitative Research
Systems Analysis
Program & Project Management
Climate & Sustainability Strategy
Grant Writing & Program Design
Monitoring & Evaluation
Stakeholder Engagement
Creative Problem Solving
Conflict Resolution

Tools & Collaboration

Figma
Adobe Creative Suite
Miro
PowerPoint
Excel

ACADEMIC & RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

Carelab - Prof. Michelle Kahane
Parsons School of Design, The New School

Spaces of Care | Workshop Facilitator

Mar'26

Designed and facilitated a participatory co-design workshop exploring care-centered systems with a multicultural and
multi-gender group of participants.
Guided collaborative exercises on participatory design, care-centered design, and pluriversal design frameworks while
facilitating reflective discussion and peer learning among participants.
Facilitated structured dialogue and synthesized participant insights into design concepts addressing equity, care
systems, and social infrastructure.

Director’s Office of Prof. Darrick Hamilton
The New School

Institute of Race, Power and Political Economy | Specialist Student Assistant

Feb'26 - Present

Support research coordination and synthesis for projects examining structural inequality and political economy within
the Director’s Office of Prof. Darrick Hamilton.
Assist in preparing research materials, documentation, and project workflows supporting interdisciplinary policy and
academic initiatives.
Translate complex research and policy insights into accessible materials for diverse audiences.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

EXPERIENCE

Dhwani Rural Information Systems | Engagement Manager – Founder’s Office

Jul’23 - Jul'25

Led participatory strategic consulting for Amazon India’s $18M philanthropic portfolio, including climate risk & resilience programs, co-designing scalable frameworks for disaster response, & multi-sectoral impact reporting initiatives

Synthesized grantee reports from 150+ partners into SDG-aligned slide decks for executive leadership, surfacing trends across health/WASH/climate programs.
Engineered an impact reporting system advancing data-driven decision-making and alignment with UN SDGs, translating complex findings into visual, accessible formats for both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Designed & launched a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) to coordinate disaster response and relief efforts across India, Japan & Australia enabling real-time stakeholder engagement & decision making.
Co-designed & facilitated participatory workshops with communities and stakeholders to elicit behavioral insights, co-developing and launching five resilient public health and WASH programs in response to natural disasters.

Ernst & Young LLP – Government and Public sector | Consultant

Aug’22 – Jun’ 23

Consulted Government of India’s Department of Science & Technology on digital transformation, developing a national strategy to modernize public data infrastructure.

Co-led digital transformation for Survey of India, the country’s premier map-making institution to deliver a roadmap that modernized geospatial data infrastructure enabling better land-use, infrastructure, & climate resilience planning.
Facilitated diagnostics & participatory, human-centered policy design workshops for the National Geospatial Policy, identifying & resolving 15 key process bottlenecks, resulting in adoption of open-source data & workflow standards.
Storyboarded PowerPoint briefs distilling complex diagnostics into executive recommendations, accelerating cross- sector policy adoption 30% via 50+ govt/industry partnerships

Swasti – The Health Catalyst (The Catalyst Foundation, Delhi) | Program Manager

Jul’21 – Jul’22

Directed the strategic design & implementation of primary public health initiatives in partnership with UBS Optimus Foundation and the Government of India, strengthening public healthcare delivery at scale.

Piloted & scaled nationwide rollout of Call4Svasth, a hybrid tele-triage and primary care initiative, reaching 100 vulnerable and climate-affected communities across 8 states & improving access to essential health services for low- income and climate‑affected communities.
Developed the program’s strategy and expansion roadmap, supporting an 18-month scale-up into additional countries and underserved, climate-vulnerable communities.
Devised and instituted knowledge management playbook that improved operational efficiency by 25%, standardizing data capture & enabling cross-functional learning among community & medical professionals.

Chief Minister’s Good Governance Associate, Haryana | Associate Consultant

Aug’20 – Jun’21

Selected from a top 1% applicant pool for the Chief Minister’s Office to lead cross-functional teams and drive measurable improvements in efficiency, transparency, and accountability within public service delivery.

Led diagnostic reviews across 12 government departments, generating data-backed reforms that increased efficiency, transparency, and public service quality by 25% over a year.
Led statewide medical grade oxygen supply chain strategy and real-time monitoring, boosting emergency response
capacity 35% across 100+ hospitals.
Redesigned citizen grievance redressal systems statewide, driving 80% improvement in transparency and accountability KPIs through data-backed process reforms for state administrative officers.

DMart (Avenue E-commerce Limited, Mumbai) | Program Manager – CEO’s Office

Served on the CEO’s Program Management and Orchestration team, driving business and impact KPIs through cross-
functional collaboration and strategic execution.

Sep’19 - Aug’20

Reduced warehouse item damage rate from 1.5% to 0.05% of total ~50K orders delivered per day by implementing optimized packaging and process design protocols.
Designed and launched the "Store on Wheels", an innovative mobile grocery store program in 10+ cities in 3 months, maintaining retail operations during national lockdowns in the pandemic and ensuring business continuity.
Co-facilitated root-cause analysis, redesigned packaging protocols, and trained staff on process improvements, increasing process efficiency by 20% over six months to integrate climate-informed packaging practices.
Led product development and streamlined operational execution for customer satisfaction initiatives, achieving a 30%
improvement in customer satisfaction score within six months.

Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, Mumbai | Associate Product Manager

Aug’17 - Sep’19

Product Manager specializing in service design and digital product strategy, delivering user - centered mobile and web solutions that optimize experience, streamline service delivery, and drive adoption at scale.

Managed end-to-end development of a service delivery mobile application and platforms, integrating product, design, and engineering teams to improve digital customer experience.
Designed user feedback loops and feature iteration cycles for a service delivery mobile application, translating user insights into product improvements that increased adoption rates at scale.

Aashima Takkar

EDUCATION

Parsons School of Design

Master of Science — Strategic Design & Management GPA - 4.0/4.0

Maharshi Dayanand University

Bachelor of Technology - Computer Science and Engineering Rank 2/240 with 80.9%

SKILLS

Strategy & Design

Research & Impact

Tools & Collaboration

ACADEMIC & RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

Carelab - Prof. Michelle Kahane Parsons School of Design, The New School

Designed and facilitated a participatory co-design workshop exploring care-centered systems with a multicultural and multi-gender group of participants.

Guided collaborative exercises on participatory design, care-centered design, and pluriversal design frameworks while facilitating reflective discussion and peer learning among participants.

Facilitated structured dialogue and synthesized participant insights into design concepts addressing equity, care systems, and social infrastructure.

Director’s Office of Prof. Darrick Hamilton The New School

Support research coordination and synthesis for projects examining structural inequality and political economy within the Director’s Office of Prof. Darrick Hamilton.

Assist in preparing research materials, documentation, and project workflows supporting interdisciplinary policy and academic initiatives.

Translate complex research and policy insights into accessible materials for diverse audiences.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Dhwani Rural Information Systems | Engagement Manager – Founder’s Office

Led participatory strategic consulting for Amazon India’s $18M philanthropic portfolio, including climate risk & resilience programs, co-designing scalable frameworks for disaster response, & multi-sectoral impact reporting initiatives

Synthesized grantee reports from 150+ partners into SDG-aligned slide decks for executive leadership, surfacing trends across health/WASH/climate programs.

Engineered an impact reporting system advancing data-driven decision-making and alignment with UN SDGs, translating complex findings into visual, accessible formats for both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Designed & launched a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) to coordinate disaster response and relief efforts across India, Japan & Australia enabling real-time stakeholder engagement & decision making.

Co-designed & facilitated participatory workshops with communities and stakeholders to elicit behavioral insights, co-developing and launching five resilient public health and WASH programs in response to natural disasters.

Ernst & Young LLP – Government and Public sector | Consultant

Consulted Government of India’s Department of Science & Technology on digital transformation, developing a national strategy to modernize public data infrastructure.

Co-led digital transformation for Survey of India, the country’s premier map-making institution to deliver a roadmap that modernized geospatial data infrastructure enabling better land-use, infrastructure, & climate resilience planning.

Facilitated diagnostics & participatory, human-centered policy design workshops for the National Geospatial Policy, identifying & resolving 15 key process bottlenecks, resulting in adoption of open-source data & workflow standards.

Storyboarded PowerPoint briefs distilling complex diagnostics into executive recommendations, accelerating cross- sector policy adoption 30% via 50+ govt/industry partnerships

Swasti – The Health Catalyst (The Catalyst Foundation, Delhi) | Program Manager

Directed the strategic design & implementation of primary public health initiatives in partnership with UBS Optimus Foundation and the Government of India, strengthening public healthcare delivery at scale.

Piloted & scaled nationwide rollout of Call4Svasth, a hybrid tele-triage and primary care initiative, reaching 100 vulnerable and climate-affected communities across 8 states & improving access to essential health services for low- income and climate‑affected communities.

Developed the program’s strategy and expansion roadmap, supporting an 18-month scale-up into additional countries and underserved, climate-vulnerable communities.

Devised and instituted knowledge management playbook that improved operational efficiency by 25%, standardizing data capture & enabling cross-functional learning among community & medical professionals.

Chief Minister’s Good Governance Associate, Haryana | Associate Consultant

Selected from a top 1% applicant pool for the Chief Minister’s Office to lead cross-functional teams and drive measurable improvements in efficiency, transparency, and accountability within public service delivery.

Led diagnostic reviews across 12 government departments, generating data-backed reforms that increased efficiency, transparency, and public service quality by 25% over a year.

Led statewide medical grade oxygen supply chain strategy and real-time monitoring, boosting emergency response capacity 35% across 100+ hospitals.

Redesigned citizen grievance redressal systems statewide, driving 80% improvement in transparency and accountability KPIs through data-backed process reforms for state administrative officers.

DMart (Avenue E-commerce Limited, Mumbai) | Program Manager – CEO’s Office

Served on the CEO’s Program Management and Orchestration team, driving business and impact KPIs through cross- functional collaboration and strategic execution.

Reduced warehouse item damage rate from 1.5% to 0.05% of total ~50K orders delivered per day by implementing optimized packaging and process design protocols.

Designed and launched the "Store on Wheels", an innovative mobile grocery store program in 10+ cities in 3 months, maintaining retail operations during national lockdowns in the pandemic and ensuring business continuity.

Co-facilitated root-cause analysis, redesigned packaging protocols, and trained staff on process improvements, increasing process efficiency by 20% over six months to integrate climate-informed packaging practices.

Led product development and streamlined operational execution for customer satisfaction initiatives, achieving a 30% improvement in customer satisfaction score within six months.

Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, Mumbai | Associate Product Manager

Product Manager specializing in service design and digital product strategy, delivering user - centered mobile and web solutions that optimize experience, streamline service delivery, and drive adoption at scale.

Master of Science — Strategic Design & Management

GPA - 4.0/4.0

Bachelor of Technology - Computer Science and Engineering

Rank 2/240 with 80.9%

Carelab - Prof. Michelle Kahane
Parsons School of Design, The New School

Designed and facilitated a participatory co-design workshop exploring care-centered systems with a multicultural and
multi-gender group of participants.

Guided collaborative exercises on participatory design, care-centered design, and pluriversal design frameworks while
facilitating reflective discussion and peer learning among participants.

Facilitated structured dialogue and synthesized participant insights into design concepts addressing equity, care
systems, and social infrastructure.

Director’s Office of Prof. Darrick Hamilton
The New School

Support research coordination and synthesis for projects examining structural inequality and political economy within
the Director’s Office of Prof. Darrick Hamilton.

Assist in preparing research materials, documentation, and project workflows supporting interdisciplinary policy and
academic initiatives.

Led statewide medical grade oxygen supply chain strategy and real-time monitoring, boosting emergency response
capacity 35% across 100+ hospitals.

Served on the CEO’s Program Management and Orchestration team, driving business and impact KPIs through cross-
functional collaboration and strategic execution.

Led product development and streamlined operational execution for customer satisfaction initiatives, achieving a 30%
improvement in customer satisfaction score within six months.