2020
RINA
MADHANI
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR & CO-FOUNDER
START LIGHTHOUSE ORGANIZATION
Rina Madhani has been serving as Executive Director and Co-Founder of Start Lighthouse
Organization. She started her career in education at Reading Partner��where she witnessed
the impact of community volunteers implementing an in-house curriculum to equip students
with critical reading skills.��She began a teaching fellowship with Blue Engine where she taught
10th grade English at a public high school in the South Bronx.
Madhani transitioned into elementary education where she taught for several years. Her
desire to begin Start Lighthouse was born out of her experiences as an educator in the
South Bronx where she noticed that a lack of access to books was further perpetuating the
educational inequities within our system. Madhani graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Global
Liberal Studies from New York University and a Masters in Education from the University of
Pennsylvania.��
Start Lighthouse has been an organization led by three women of color: Rina Madhani, Anya
Morales, and Brittany Kramer. They launched in March 2020 as school and library closures
made it increasingly difficult to get reading materials in the hands of all students. They
sought to address the underlying issue that existed within the south Bronx: access. As an
organization, they have been committed to redistributing book wealth and helping children in
the South Bronx community grow their libraries.
Since March, they have accomplished the following milestones: 975 brand new books
collected for our customized literacy kits, 276 literacy kits distributed with culturally
responsive texts, bilingual comprehension guides, and reflective activities. 385 families
have been impacted through their community workshops and distribution events, and 120
educators, administrators, students, and practitioners joined them for their two-day virtual
decolonizing education hackathon.
POWER WOMEN BRONX