Joy of Reading was envisioned and is driven by a 100% women-led board based in the US and India. We are grateful to have an amazing team of volunteers and donors to help us achieve all that we have set out to do.

MADHU GADDE

I dreamed of traveling the world.  I crossed many hurdles before realizing my dream of coming to the US. I worked in the computer industry till my son turned one. I then decided to give him a gift of mom being home.  I love the world of books and plants.I could be outdoors forever.

Joy of Reading’s journey started in 2010 through a child’s eyes. When my 4 year old noticed that children in India didn’t have any books to read. His question for me was “How do they sleep without reading a book?”. For little Arya, in his world, mom & dad always read books to him and his baby brother, Arav, before sleeping, bedtime was story time.

In my little one’s mind, every child on this planet had their beautiful world filled with books that filled their life with Joy.

YOGITA MANGHNANI

Some of my best childhood memories involve reading books from our neighborhood and school libraries – Nancy Drew, Agatha Christie, Hardy Boys, etc. As a reward for running errands, my mom would buy me used comic books which I used to cherish and share with friends. It is very heartwarming to see my own kids completely engrossed in reading books in their free time.

I’m thrilled to be part of this journey to nurture curiosity, imagination, and opening doors to a whole new world.

STEPHANIE ALLGOOD

Much of my life includes working with children. I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Art, a Master’s Degree in Education, and have taught art classes to adults and children for over 20 years. Literacy development inspires me to connect globally. I am a mother and grandmother who enjoys reading, biking, hiking, and all things creative. 

Here is a memory of a teacher who ignited my love of reading and the gift of imagination. 

Mrs. Jarret took her place in front of the class as we found our seats after lunch and play in the hot sun. We were quiet with anticipation as she opened the book, her voice low and soft. She began where she had left off from the day before and the words swept us up and away to a cool place with salt water spray. I remember the boy riding his horse on the beach. I felt the power of story to create a place for us to imagine, to think, and to feel.

HARINI RAGHAVAN

I have been involved in social causes focusing on children as much as I can, volunteering for organizations like Asha, CRY, and mentoring youth in technology since my post graduation. In my previous avatar till 2017, I was leading the engineering side of product development at Microsoft.

Reading has always been an integral part of my life. I do not remember how I started but I do remember I used to read in stealth, late into the night during school days because I was totally engrossed 🙂 I was blessed to have a library in walking distance from my house during my growing years. What better way than to combine both my passions and work towards spreading the pleasure of reading amongst children as I journey along the next phase of my life.

AMRITA KALKURA

I have a day job in IT Healthcare but like to spend my free time with my family, friends, hobbies and volunteering for various organizations.

Growing up, I remember cherishing the few books that I had by reading them over and over again. One of the greatest pleasures was going to a book fair and picking out one book to buy. My favorites were the Pop-up and colorful story books. These were one of the first books that I read to my kids as well. They had so much joy reading and interacting with these books, especially the pop-up ones. I want to help bring this joy of reading to other kids as well.

SAI SAJJA

Hello! I am Sai, and I am so excited to be a part of the Joy of Reading family. I am a career technologist, and I am looking forward to applying my skills to this work. My passion for reading began when I was little. I would read anything and everything that I could find – books, newspapers, magazines. I used to feel the happiest when I was reading. I can confidently say that reading has transformed my life in many ways – the way it improved my knowledge on various topics, changed my perspective on things and made room for creativity and imagination. Books have that power! I always had the privilege of accessing the books I wanted to read. Through Joy of Reading, I hope that every child has that same access to where they can read any book they desire and experience the true JOY of reading.