Aisha Chaudhri
Shelter Advocate

Aisha Chaudhri is a shelter advocate at Apna Ghar (Our Home), where she provides case management for survivors living in Apna Ghar’s emergency shelter. Aisha helps survivors develop and achieve their long-term safety, housing, health, education, and employment goals. She also provides day-to-day support and crisis intervention for shelter residents and emergency hotline callers.

Prior to joining ApnaGhar, Aisha was the director of operations at Maroon Biotech, a Chicago-based pharmaceutical company. Previously, she was a director of finance, executive editor, and contributing author at Why Feminism Publications, an online publication focused on initiating dialogue about the importance of feminism in everyday life by exploring the intersection of academic theory and lived experience.

Aisha received her MA in humanities from the University of Chicago and her BA in philosophy with a minor of cultural anthropology from the University of Kansas. Aisha is fluent Hindi and Urdu, and has working knowledge of Punjabi.

Sanjna Das
Clinical and Housing Director
773-334-0173, ext. 243
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Sanjna Das is the clinical and housing director at Apna Ghar, where she is responsible for overseeing the agency's residential and counseling programs. Sanjna joined Apna Ghar is 2008 as its program director. She has been with the agency since its inception as a volunteer and a member of the board of directors. In this role, Sanjna helped develop and expand many of Apna Ghar's programs.

Prior to joining Apna Ghar, Sanjna was a senior social worker and Metropolitan Family Services in Chicago where she provided individual, family, and educational counseling to older adults and families. Sanjna is a co-founder of a private nonprofit medical foundation, which established a clinic to provide medical services to those without health benefits. Sanjna is also an overseas Rotarian educator on domestic violence and other social issues and a co-facilitator of the Dibyajyotir Pathay literary club.

Sanjna received her MSW from the Jane Addams School or Social Work at the University of Illinois at Chicago and her BA in human services from National-Louis University in Evanston. Sanjna is a licensed clinical social worker and is certified as an Illinois domestic violence professional. She speaks Hindi and Bengali.

Bob Gallenbach
Child Visitation Center Supervisor
773-334-0173, ext. 225
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Bob was a public school counselor and administrator for twenty years before joining Apna Ghar in 1994. He has an MA degree from Northern Illinois University and a BS from Illinois State University.

Neha Gill
Legal Services and Client Data Systems Director
773-334-0173, ext. 231
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Neha Gill is the director of legal services and client data systems at Apna Ghar. She has been with the organization since 2003. In her current position she manages the agency’s legal advocacy program, which guides individual survivors through the legal system and promotes systemic changes that ensure that immigrant survivors are able to fully access the resources to break the cycle of violence. Neha also oversees the agency’s monitoring and evaluation systems. During her tenure at Apna Ghar, Neha has lead consultations for local and international NGOs, government officials, and staff of UN agencies on providing domestic violence services to marginalized populations. In 2010, she trained civil society leaders in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq on providing services to survivors of gender-based violence.

Prior to joining Apna Ghar, Neha was a resource manager at Ajilon Consulting where she was responsible for personnel recruitment and placement, as well as business development. Previously, Neha lived and worked in Nairobi, Kenya and interned for Gender Sensitive Initiatives, an agency focused on advancing women’s leadership. Currently, Neha serves on the board of the United Nations Association's Chicago chapter, where she helped develop a film festival that focuses on the Millennium Development Goals.

Neha received her MSc in international public service from DePaul University and a BA in international relations from Knox College in Galesburg, IL. She speaks fluent Hindi and Urdu, and basic Punjabi, Swahili, and French.

Serena Chen Low
Executive Director
773-334-0173, ext. 229
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Ms. Low has over 18 years of non-profit leadership and management experience, which includes fourteen years of service for the renowned Glide Foundation, a social service organization in San Francisco. Ms. Low began her career at Glide as a volunteer and ultimately assumed the role of Interim Executive Director. During her tenure, Ms. Low worked alongside the organization’s founders, strengthening its programs, policies and community partnerships, serving in many roles encompassing program, board governance, finance, human resources, facilities, government compliance, fundraising and development; during this period, the programs and budget quadrupled.

Most recently, she was the Director of Operations for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Southern Nevada. Ms. Low served on the Board of Directors of the Donaldina Cameron House, a non-profit serving immigrants and domestic violence survivors in San Francisco’s Chinatown, and was a founding member of the Las Vegas chapter of the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum because of the prevalence of human trafficking of Asian women in Las Vegas.

Hajira Mahdi
Community Legal Advocate
773-334-0173, ext. 232
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Hajira Mahdi is a community legal advocate at ApnaGhar (Our Home), where she is responsible for assisting survivors of violence access and navigate the legal system. Hajira helps survivors understand their rights and the remedies available to them through civil, criminal, and immigration laws at the state and federal level. She also works with local and federal agencies to support survivors who pursue cases outside of Illinois and the United States. Hajira connects survivors to pro bono attorneys; prepares them for court; accompanies them to legal proceedings; serves as their interpreter and translator; and, provides guidance and support throughout their cases.

Prior to joining Apna Ghar, Hajira coordinated immigration and citizenship services at the Indo-American Center (IAC). At IAC Hajira supported low-income clients with their immigration cases and conducted citizenship workshops for the Indian-American community. She also partnered with other community-based agencies and mobilized community action to enhance immigrant rights. Previously, Hajira served as a case manager at Heartland Alliance’s International Children’s Center in Chicago where she provided case management to children who were facing violence and/or poverty in their home countries, but entered the United States without proper documentation. She was also a national field assistant at ACORN Housing, where she worked with 38 nationwide offices to help low-income and minority families gain access to affordable housing.

Hajira received her BA in history and English, with a concentration in global inequality, from Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts. She speaks Hindi, Urdu, and Spanish.

Rina Rothmann
Shelter Advocate

Rina M. Rothmann is a shelter advocate at Apna Ghar (Our Home), where she provides case management for survivors living in Apna Ghar’s emergency shelter. Rina helps survivors develop and achieve their long-term safety, housing, health, education, and employment goals. She also provides day-to-day support and crisis intervention for shelter residents and emergency hotline callers.

Rina has over 15 years of experience working as an anti-violence advocate. Before joining Apna Ghar, Rina provided support to women and child survivors of domestic violence as a Safe House advocate with the Wings Program in the north suburbs of Chicago. Previously, she worked in disability services as a group home coordinator and case manager with REM Iowa Community Services. She also provided emergency intervention to survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence as a volunteer for the Rape Victim’s Advocacy Program (RVAP) in Iowa. While at RVAP, Rina worked with the University of Iowa’s Campus Climate Committee to institute substantial revisions to their sexual assault policy and programs. Rina also has 17 years of experience as a community organizer and has coordinated grassroots events to advocate for the rights and safety of women, GLBTQ individuals, at-risk youth, and other underserved populations.

Rina studied psychology, social work, and comparative religion at the University of Iowa. She speaks Spanish and Hungarian.

Kalpana Simhan
Development Director
773-334-0173, ext.244
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Kalpana Simhan is the development director at Apna Ghar (Our Home), where she works with the staff and board of directors to ensure that the agency has access to the financial resources to achieve its goals.

Prior to joining the Apna Ghar, Kalpana worked at various internationally-focused nonprofit organizations in Washington, DC. Most recently, she was the network coordinator at The Institute for Inclusive Security, where she liaised with women peacebuilders around the world to help expand and strengthen their participation in peace processes. Earlier in her career, she served as development manager at Vital Voices Global Partnership, an NGO committed to supporting emerging women leaders and social entrepreneurs around the globe. In addition to supporting women’s empowerment, Kalpana is dedicated to expanding access to education for children from marginalized communities.  In 2008-2009, supported by a William J. Clinton Fellowship from the American India Foundation, Kalpana helped Dr. Reddy’s Foundation design programs providing quality schooling for the children of low-wage migrant workers in Hyderabad, India. She also served as the director of education programs at the World Affairs Council of Washington, DC, where she worked with high school teachers and students to better integrate international issues into the prescribed curriculum.

Kalpana received her MA in international education, focusing on issues of gender and education, from the University of Sussex; and her BA in international affairs from The George Washington University in Washington, DC. She speaks Malayalum.