kirin nigam

As a co-founder of AORTA, and then as a worker-owner, kiran nigam was instrumental to envisioning and building our organization starting from its very first days in 2009. In her eight years with AORTA, kiran worked with hundreds of organizations and businesses and impacted thousands of workshop participants. kiran resigned her role as a worker-owner with AORTA in December 2017 to move back to Oakland, CA and launch a new business focused on nutritional therapy and facilitation for healthy communities. Below is kiran’s bio from their days at AORTA:

Hello! I am kiran. For over 15 years I have made a life and a living helping people talk to each other about topics that are often uncomfortable, awkward, or taboo, grounded in a politics of liberation, and love.

I have an academic background in brains, neuroscience, education, and art that I find informs my facilitation on a daily basis. Complementary to my work with AORTA, I make potions, draw, cook, and study nutrition, food, plants, and meditation as medicine, and know a fair amount about bodies. I have increasingly been integrating these skills and areas of study into my facilitation and consulting: utilizing visuals to map information and maximize group effectiveness, integrating space for reflection and introspection in workshops, centering my work in love and compassion, using body-based tools to support learning and ease group decision-making, and in general welcoming our whole, messy selves into political work.

After 15 years of involvement in the cooperative economics movement, I have developed a particular passion for working with cooperatives and democratically-run groups, as well as supporting hierarchical groups transitioning to horizontal structures.

For those who are interested, I am South Asian, mixed race, queer, and a gender fluid shapeshifter who comes from an upper middle class upbringing. I have an invisible disability that has largely fueled my health and healing interests listed above, out of a physical imperative.