The how-to guide for everything in the Ekta platform.
(Pronouns: He/him/his)
I was first exposed to the desi competitive circuits when I started as a freshman at the University of Texas at Dallas. There was only one team on campus at the time, and no competitions. I was in choir and had a knack for music, so with the help of some friends, started a South Asian A Cappella group called Dhunki and an A Cappella competition called Awaazein the following year. During my team at UT Dallas, I also helped start a Bollywood Fusion dance team called Sharara and helped out with a few other dance teams with various projects. After graduating from UT Dallas, I partnered up with a few alum of the South Asian A Cappella circuit and created the Association of South-Asian A Cappella (ASA) and started the first chamionship competition of the circuit: All-American Awaaz (A3), of which I was the director for two years. I also served as the Digital Media Chair for Bollywood America 2017, and as an advisor for Bollywood America 2019. I was the Director of ASA for 4 years (2016-2020), and now, I continue to serve as a senior advisor on the steering committee at ASA. For my day job (and sometimes night!), I am a physician and currently doing a cardiology fellowship at Wake Forest Baptist Health along with graduate school in Translational and Health System Science at Wake Forest University. I am passionate about the integration of artificial intellgience in cardiac medical device research and I enjoy spending my free time traveling and exploring the outdoors, spending time with friends and family, and learning new things!
(Pronouns: He/him/his)
Sarang Joshi is a software engineer and music enthusiast hailing from Seattle, WA. He attended the University of Washington, Seattle, where he was a member of UW Awaaz and was musical director for the last 2 years. He joined ASA in 2018 and was a director from 2019 to 2021. He is the co-founder and CTO of Ekta and has been working on the platform since 2019. In his free time, he likes to sing, learn the drums, play video games, and play tennis.