New Delhi2006
Senior Correspondent · CNN-IBN (now CNN-News18)
Started in national television news, covering the Ministry of External Affairs and Delhi's crime and court beats.
The journey
Three chapters, one thread: getting reliable information to the people who need it.
Newsrooms
2006 – 2011
Srinagar2009
Senior Correspondent & Bureau Head · Times Now
Ran the Kashmir bureau, reporting on security, civil unrest and politics from the region I grew up in.
Srinagar2010
Project Coordinator · Mercy Corps
Led a UK FCO-funded leadership project that trained 60 young journalists and convened 10,000+ young Kashmiris at the One Young Kashmir summit.
Platforms
2012 – 2019
New Delhi2012
Director of Communications, India · Change.org
Employee #4 in India. Grew the user base from 5,000 to 1.5 million in 18 months and led the platform's largest global campaign at the time.
On assignment2013
Field Producer · VICE on HBO
Field producer on the series' first season.
Primetime Emmy nominationNew Delhi2014
Head of News, Politics & Government · Twitter, South & Southeast Asia
Employee #4 in the region. Built #TwitterSeva, a live grievance system used by the Prime Minister's Office and 21 ministries to resolve over a million citizen complaints a month. Ran disaster-response efforts through floods in Kashmir, Assam and Chennai and the Nepal earthquake.
Cambridge & New Haven2017
Knight Visiting Nieman Fellow & Yale World Fellow
Worked on micropayments for news at Harvard and studied adaptive leadership at Yale, where I co-taught a seminar on fake news.
New Delhi2018
Country Expert, India · Snap Inc.
Snap's first in-market employee in India, leading its entry into the market.
Builder
2019 – 2026
Cambridge, MA2019
Co-founder · anthro.ai
Co-founded an AI and social sciences firm and oversaw a custom insight-parsing language model, delivering research for clients including the World Bank.
Toronto2020
Co-founder, Head of Growth · Laminar
Took an AI-powered streaming platform from idea to 50+ people, $6.8M raised and $5M in revenue, launching six streaming services for 10M+ viewers.
Acquired by APMC · 2024Toronto2024
Head of Victory+ News · SVP, Platform Partnerships · APMC
Built victoryplusnews.com, a data-first newsroom running on AI-assisted content systems, with a team across Canada, Poland and India. Led partnerships with Snap, Meta and TikTok.
Now2026
Writing and building at the intersection of AI and information
Trust in new technology is earned, not assumed. That was true for Twitter during elections and disasters, and it is the central question for AI now.
In the media
Coverage, interviews and talks from 2014 to today. Every link opens the original source.
“We are always organizing data at Twitter. It just seemed to me to be the most obvious thing to do.”
Interviews & commentary
- Rest of World“If you find the right allies, you can still make headway”2020
- Outlook BusinessTwitter’s ability to uphold free speech in India will take a hit, warns former India news chief2022
- Inc42“Many saw it coming”: former Twitter India news chief on the layoffs2022
- MisaalHow did a journalist co-found a tech startup? From Kashmir to HarvardPodcast
- Yale University2017 World Fellow Raheel KhursheedPodcast
Career news
Kashmir floods, 2014
- The New York TimesEmbrace of social media aids flood victims in Kashmir2014
- NPRSocial media get the right stuff to India’s flood victims2014
#TwitterSeva
- Ministry of External Affairs, IndiaMedia briefing on the launch of the Twitter Seva application2016
- Business StandardHome Ministry to launch Twitter Seva to address public grievances2017
- The Economic TimesHome, telecom, power, HR and health ministries to adopt Twitter SevaNews
- Twitter blog@Uppolice, the world’s largest police force, adopts Twitter Seva2016
- FactorDailyHow Twitter is helping India reboot public services, publiclyNews
Talks & courses
- Asia Society Policy Institute · Washington, D.C.Asian democracy in the shadow of the information age2018
- Yale Law SchoolOnline governance delivery in India and Southeast Asia: are platforms succeeding where governments are failing?Talk
- Yale Information Society ProjectIn conversation with Monika Bickert on free speech and security in the age of social media2017
- Stanford CDDRLDraper Hills Summer Fellows Program presentations2018
- Online News AssociationSpeaker, ONA152015
- Network CapitalBuilding Global Tech ProductsCourse
Laminar
- YourStoryThis Twitter alum’s startup can help content creators launch their own Netflix-like platform2020
- Inc42Former Twitter news chief’s PaaS startup Laminar bags $5 million2022
- Entrepreneur IndiaMedia tech company Laminar raises $5 million in seed funding2022
- Broadcast & CableSatLaminar bags $5.1 million to help media firms build streaming services2022
- Garuda VenturesLaminar: powering the streaming revolutionInvestor note
- Yahoo FinanceLaminar Global brought within the A Parent Media Co. group in a strategic acquisition2024
Recognition
Fellowships and honours for work on news, technology and democratic participation.
Knight Visiting Nieman FellowNieman Foundation, Harvard University · 2017Announcement →
Maurice R. Greenberg World FellowYale University · 2017Announcement →
Draper Hills Summer FellowCenter on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, Stanford · 2018Announcement →
Asia 21 Young LeaderAsia Society · Class of 2017Announcement →
Aspen FellowAspen Institute · Class of 2021
Primetime Emmy nominationOutstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series, as Field Producer, VICE on HBO · 2013IMDb →