As my year with the American Indian Foundation (AIF) Banyan Impact and Atlas Corps Fellowship at Cultural Vistas draws to a close, I’m reflecting on a journey that has been both transformative and humbling. Serving as a Fellow at Panorama Strategy, a woman-owned and -led social impact consultancy, gave me the opportunity to grow professionally, adapt personally, and build a sense of belonging in a new environment.
As I prepare to leave Seattle and return to India, I carry with me a wealth of experiences, lessons, and memories that will continue to shape my path. While my time here is coming to a close, the skills and insights I’ve gained will remain with me. Here are the top lessons I’m taking away:
1. The Power of Curiosity
During my fellowship I worked on a variety of projects across issues areas, conducting landscape analyses, informing grantmaking strategies, interviewing issue area experts, and more. No matter the project or issue area, my time at Panorama Strategy reinforced that curiosity is the foundation of impactful work. Asking thoughtful, intentional questions allowed me to dig deeper into complex challenges and uncover meaningful insights.
This was especially evident during a project to understand the U.S. maternal health landscape. To gain deeper perspectives, we conducted interviews with experts across the field. I developed facilitation guides with questions tailored to each interviewee’s expertise. These targeted questions not only bridged gaps in our understanding of the maternal health landscape, but also revealed critical on-the-ground insights and highlighted fundraising challenges. By centering curiosity and listening intently, we were able to strengthen our understanding of the landscape and funding gaps.
2. Turning Insights into Actionable Strategy
At Panorama Strategy, I gained firsthand experience in translating insights into clear, actionable strategies to drive change. I learned to connect the dots between research findings, stakeholder needs, and project goals, ensuring that our recommendations were informed by real-world insights and aligned with long-term vision and ambition.
I conducted a landscape mapping to identify funders likely to support a collaborative funding opportunity. We developed a rubric to evaluate the likelihood of partnerships with each funder and created a stakeholder map to visualize funders based on alignment and potential for collaboration. This analysis helped the stakeholders identify and prioritize funders for further engagement.
3. Practicing Human-Centered Design
A highlight of my fellowship year was completing an IDEO course on human-centered systems thinking. The course equipped me with tools to approach challenges with empathy and creativity. After completing the course, I facilitated a design thinking workshop for the Panorama Strategy team to dive deeper into systems maps to help visualize and address complex problems.
I applied my learnings to develop a framework for an event toolkit, designed to guide project teams across The Panorama Group through every phase of event planning with clarity and efficiency. Each section of the toolkit breaks down the process into actionable steps with practical tips and work examples. To enhance usability, we shared the toolkit with the team to review and created a dynamic resource repository to ensure the toolkit remains useful.
4. Building Community in a New Place
This year was a series of firsts for me—living alone, visiting and moving to the U.S., and experiencing snowfall for the first time! Moving to Seattle felt like a leap into the unknown until it became a place of growth and connection. The kindness and generosity of my Panorama colleagues, my Atlas Corps buddy, and the local community helped me find moments of home in a foreign city. This fellowship reminded me of the power of community in navigating change and finding belonging.
I have so many cherished memories, but one that stands out is when my Panorama colleagues invited me to celebrate Diwali with a special Indian meal. To top it off, they surprised me with sweets brought all the way from India!
5. Cultivating Resilience
Being in a new country far away from familiar faces forced me to practice resilience. Moments of loneliness or uncertainty quickly became opportunities for growth. Learning to navigate this strengthened my ability to adapt, persevere, and find joy in small victories.
Through this, I’ve learned the power of thinking outside the box when faced with challenges. While working on a project with stakeholder interviews, I realized relying on traditional cold email outreach was not yielding any responses. Instead, I leveraged LinkedIn to connect with experts and request time for further discussion. This boosted our response rate and allowed us to connect with new thought leaders.
Looking Ahead
As this chapter ends, I’m excited to carry these lessons forward into the next phase of my journey. The skills I’ve gained, the relationships I’ve built, and the perspectives I’ve developed will continue to shape my path as I continue working in social impact.
Learn more about Panorama Strategy’s work here.
Learn more about the AIF Banyan Impact Fellowship and Atlas Corps Fellowship.
