Building Leaders, Building Culture: The LEAD Journey
Neha Sehgal- Manager-Youth Engagement, LEAD Program, Delhi
The past year with the LEAD program has been deeply transformative both for the program and for me personally. As part of the national team, I had the opportunity to contribute to restructuring the LEAD program within an already established system to make it more impactful and meaningful.
This journey was not easy. Introducing change required constant dialogue, negotiation, and alignment across multiple chapters. Over the last six months, we have implemented the LEAD program in a completely new way. As a team, we focused on streamlining processes to ensure consistency across chapters while also enhancing the overall leadership and development experience for over 1,800 LEAD participants. A key milestone was transforming the program into a structured, four- year progressive journey with clearly defined year-wise engagement plans.
Unique LEAD Initiative (This Year)
Through the “Pathways to Serve Leadership” program under the new LEAD structure, our national team—supported by course instructors, LEAD coordinators, and a team of student admins (12th graders)—worked tirelessly to bring this vision to life. Weekend classes over the past three months have reached over 650+ participants in Level 1, 250+ in Level 2, and 150+ in Level 3 across 27+ chapters. Additionally, 215+ parents have been engaged as mentors, strengthening the ecosystem of learning and support.
When parents become mentors, leadership development stops being a program and starts becoming a culture. It reaches homes, dinner tables, and the quiet conversations that shape who young people become. This is the change we set out to create.
I learned through this that what we built will continue to grow across chapters and impact many more youth lives, but what stays with me most is who I became in the process—more patient in uncertainty, more collaborative in approach, and more grounded in the true meaning of leadership through service.
Powering Volunteer Engagement Through Build
Shubham Sahu- Team Assistant, 9/11, Nagpur
In 17 Sewa USA chapters, using Build exclusively as a Volunteer Management System (VMS) for the 9/11 Sewa Day of Service has created a strong and measurable impact on volunteer management, data tracking, and program expansion. One of the most significant outcomes has been the ability to systematically capture volunteer data such as registrations, participation, and hours contributed, making it easier to measure impact and generate structured reports for future planning.
Beyond the 9/11 event, the VMS has strengthened the overall functioning of the Sewa Serve Program. It is now actively used for posting events, coordinating activities, and enabling smooth communication between program leads and volunteers. This centralized approach has reduced dependency on multiple tools and brought greater clarity and efficiency to operations.
The success of Build has also encouraged chapters like Houston, Atlanta, and Central Jersey to adopt the platform for promotion, registration, and volunteer impact tracking across other programs as well. With all information in one place, these chapters can easily monitor participation trends, improve outreach strategies, and ensure consistency in execution across locations.
Importantly, the usage of VMS is no longer limited to the 9/11 Sewa Day of Service or the Serve Program alone. Chapters have started adopting it for other initiatives as well, recognizing its effectiveness in managing volunteers and organizing events. This wider adoption highlights its scalability and reliability as a unified system for multiple programs.
Overall, Build has enhanced efficiency, improved data-driven decision-making, and created a strong foundation for scaling programs. Its expanding use across chapters and initiatives demonstrates its value as a long-term solution for streamlined volunteer management and impactful community engagement.
Zoho Transformation: Turning Challenges into Foundational Change
Yogesh Dhere- Project Manager, IT Team, Pune
Working on the Zoho Transformation project has been phenomenal. The challenges that came along the way, and how they ultimately paved the foundation for a meaningful shift in our relationship with Zoho Corporation, have been truly encouraging and heartwarming.
