The Rotary Club of Edina recently presented Sayali Amarapurkar with its 2025 Chrysanne Manoles Women In Leadership Award. Amarapurkar received flowers, a plaque and a Paul Harris Fellowship from the Rotary Club of Edina.She created a non-profit organization called AshaUSA to help end the stigma of mental illness in the South Asian Community. Now the organization also helps recent immigrants adapt to life in the United States. They also have a seniors group and plan activities for them. Sayali and AshaUSA have started race talks for all ages to encourage the South Asian community to think about systemic racism and how they can help make the world a better place. Sayali is a member of the board of the Indian Association of Minnesota (IAM) and works as the South Asian cultural liaison for Edina Public Schools.
Sayali's was nominated by Rotary Club of Edina member, Feroza Mehta. Click "Read More" to learn more about Sayali through Feroza'a nomination profile.
Dear Rotary Club of Edina,
I am writing to ask you please consider Sayali Amarapurkar for the Chrysanne Manoles Women In Leadership Award. Sayali has been a resident of Edina for more than 20 years. She created a non-profit organization called AshaUSA to help end the stigma of mental illness in the South Asian Community. Now the organization also helps recent immigrants adapt to life in the United States. They also have a seniors group and plan activities for them. Sayali and AshaUSA have started race talks for all ages to encourage the South Asian community to think about systemic racism and how they can help make the world a better place. Sayali is also a member of the board of the Indian Association of Minnesota (IAM) and helps organize the annual party in St Paul at the legislature every August. She also started a new event two years ago called the Pink Gharba. It is a breast cancer awareness event and fundraiser for local charities such as Hope Chest. There was a panel discussion about breast cancer diagnosis and treatment, talking about the stigma of the disease and how the community can come together and feel more comfortable talking about cancer. The event was also a Gharba dance (the nine nights of dancing before Diwali/The Hindu New Year is called Navratri.) People in attendance wore pink and the sticks for the Gharba dance were also pink to raise awareness for cancer.
Sayali also works as the South Asian cultural liaison for Edina Public Schools. She helps teachers learn about the many Indian Subcontinent cultures and traditions. She also helps parents navigate the school system. With AshaUSA she has monthly YouTube panel discussions with the theme of Breaking the Stigma. Topics have been about autism and early intervention, domestic violence, infertility and more.
She also started a podcast that’s in Hindi about parenting.
Her boys are also amazing. Om is a successful graduate of Edina Public Schools and a graduate of Stanford and now goes to Yale for medical school. Atman is was homecoming king at EHS, attends Stanford, and created Admit Yogi, a business that helps high school seniors find the college of their dreams. It was so successful that Crimson Education bought it. Even with all their accomplishments, both young men have their own nonprofit called Omnisight that collects glasses from here and delivers them to underprivileged kids in India. Philanthropy and charitable work are in Sayali’s blood. Every part of her is dedicated to community service, equality and love of fellow human beings.
On May 5, AshaUSA officially merged with SEWA-AIFW, a similar nonprofit to AshaUSA and Sayali joined their executive team. This is a link to an article about her: https://edinamag.com/these-edina-moms-are-fighting-stigma-mental-health-south-asian-community This is a link to the AshaUSA website https://www.ashausa.org She also did incredible work getting the word out about Covid 19 and encouraging the community to get vaccinated. She is always at every event in town. Just in the last month, I’ve seen her at Edina Give & Go’s annual fundraiser, she’s been a part of the Edina Asian American Alliance’s multicultural initiative at 50th and France.
Thank you for considering Sayali.
Reflecting society in 1905, the Rotary organization was limited to male members and remained so officially until 1989, when the Council on Legislation, Rotary’s parliament, voted to eliminate the male-only provision, opening up membership to qualified women across the world. However, the forward-thinking Rotary Club of Edina welcomed its first female member, Chrysanne Manoles, a year earlier in 1988. Manoles continues to be active in Rotary.
In Manoles’ honor and to celebrate the work of women in the community, the Rotary Club of Edina established an annual women’s leadership award in 2008. Previous winners include Ann Byrne, Kim Foote, Lexi Reed Holtum, Kris Marshall, Laura Hope Melton, Lauren Morse-Wendt, Betsey Nimmo, Kathy Rendleman, Dr. Terrie Rose, Ann Swenson, Katey Taylor, Donna Tilsner, Ruth Valgemae, Dr. Laurel Wills, Melody Zhou and Betsy Nimmo.
For more information about the Chrysanne Manoles Women In Leadership Award, contact club Past President Jennifer Bennerotte, 612-201-3467 or jbennerotte@EdinaRotary.org.