Our Panelists

Fah Sathirapongsasuti

Fah Sathirapongsasuti, PhD, is a Director of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology at Alloy Therapeutics where he leads the target evaluation process for the company's venture studio arm. He was Director and Head of Bioinformatics at MedGenome's Genomic Medicine Division, which focuses on translating the wealth of South Asian genetics into novel therapeutics targets. Previously he served as a Senior Scientist in Computational Biology at 23andMe Research and was a founding member of 23andMe's Therapeutics Division. He authored several scientific articles in the field of genomics and serves as an expert reviewer for high-impact journals such as Genome Research, Bioinformatics, and Nature. Fah received Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Computer Science form Stanford University and PhD in Biostatistics from Harvard University.

Clarissa Laguardi (she/Her)

Clarissa is a queer, Latinx, indigenous immigrant. She grew up in El Salvador during a Civil War and migrated to the United States after high school. She navigated the immigrant experience much on her own. She swiftly mastered the language and developed a keen curiosity for cross-cultural communication. As an immigrant and former Limited English Proficient individual, she’s passionate about language access and social equity work. She was appointed Language Access Manager by Gov. Brown for the CA Complete Count - Census 2020. She served on the Language Accessibility Advisory Committee at state and county level. At the peak of the pandemic, she launched a grassroots organization, Rethink Language Access. She managed the Newman Civic Fellows program, of which she is an alum, nationwide for Campus Compact. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Intercultural/International Communication and master’s in Public Policy and Administration from Sacramento State University. For over a decade, Clarissa has devoted her time to advancing civic action as a community advocate and organizer. She’s been recognized by the League of Women Voters, Sacramento Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and participated in numerous civic leadership programs. As Executive Director, she hopes to expand civic participation programs to engage ALL youth statewide, especially those belonging to historically oppressed groups. On her spare time, she loves hot yoga, going on hikes, gardening, making jewelry, and spending time with her dogs.       

Anjali Rimi (She/They)

Anjali Rimi (She/They) is San Francisco Bay Area based Global South API immigrant Transgender brown woman belonging to South Asian diasporic Kinnar Hindu transgender identity and experiences. With roots in India, she blossomed in Canada and belonging in the United States. Anjali is the president & co-founder of ParivarBayArea, America’s only transgender-led and transgender-centering organization led by Global South Asian transgender individuals with the intent of cultivating a community of light, love, and acceptance and strives to serve as an organization for Transgender economic justice, Health care equity, Intersectional unity, social inclusion, and LGBTQIA+ Immigration Equity centering the Global South Trans Immigrants and Asylees and uplifting the culturally diverse Hijrah, Kinnar, Thirunangai, Khwaja Sira and all transgender identities of the South Asian Diaspora. She leads the California Coalition of Transgender Immigrants. During the pandemic years, Anjali led the global disaster relief program of Parivar Bay Area helping save over 90,000 Transgender lives across San Francisco Bay Area, Texas, India, Bangladesh and Guyana. Anjali has helped build the world’s largest transgender entrepreneurship program with over 26 small businesses owned and led by Transgender Hijrah people across India known as SITALparivar. Anjali serves on the boards of LGBT Asylum Project and San Francisco Pride & on the Transgender Advisory Committee with the Office of Transgender Initiatives, San Francisco Mayor’s office. Anjali remains the first southasian transgender kinnar person to be recognized by California Legislative Assembly as a state LGBT leader in the Senate as well as the Assembly as a California State LGBTQ community champion. She is the first South Asian Kinnar Trans woman to be awarded the Grassroots Immigration leader award by the City & County of San Francisco for her commitment and community advocacy for transgender immigrant equity. Becoming the first SouthAsian Trans Kinnar Immigrant to be invited to the White House for Pride celebrations, Anjali is greatly recognized by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senator Scott Wiener, and San Francisco Mayor London Breed along with the Board of Supervisors for her work uplifting Transgender, SouthAsian, Immigrant and Women-centered identities.

Makaila Nartea (they/them)

My name is Makaila Nartea. I'm non-binary, and my pronouns are currently they/them. I'm Thai/Filipino and grew up in Mission Viejo, CA. I currently work for a non-profit STRTP in Placerville that helps at-risk youth in a residential setting in therapeutic rehab groups and individual sessions. I also started my company's first-ever LGBTQ+ program. I'm a Sac State graduate with a Bachelor's in Sociology and was in the Queer Union club back in 2016-2018 and helped organize the counter-protest when the Westboro Baptist Church came to protest against the LGBTQ+ community. A few of my hobbies are playing musical instruments (currently joined the Sacramento Taiko Dan), learning about my Thai culture and language at Wat Thai Sacramento, as well as engaging in art projects (painting and sketching), playing video games, learning K-pop dances when I have time, and exploring new restaurants. 

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