Meet Kishan!
Nerd alert! Just kidding...but Kishan is our resident data guy. In his role as Operations Manager, he uses numbers AND stories to build a fuller picture of student and family needs. He's also an international traveler and our office DJ (but no country, please!).
What’s your superpower?
I’m even-keeled. For me, it doesn’t matter if we have a bunch of fires to put out or we’re celebrating an accomplishment, the important thing is that we keep moving forward and fulfilling our commitment to the students and their families. As long as we’re showing up for students, nothing else matters.
What’s Rainier Athletes’ superpower?
We all truly leave egos at the door. I’ve never been around a group of people where everyone is solely focused on our work in the community and aware of how all of our strengths come together.
What brought you to Rainier Athletes?
I moved to Seattle in 2019 to do a Master of Public Administration degree at UW and specialized in nonprofit management. I got a job as a research assistant at the Center for Leadership in Athletics, where I got to know a ton of organizations working to increase access and opportunities in the youth sports world, including Rainier Athletes. I also met Julie McCleery, an RA board member, who became one of my mentors.
I was super intrigued by RA’s model and the intersection between mentoring and athletics, and luckily they were intrigued by my experience too! I have a pretty long background in mentoring and working with youth. I helped start a mentoring club at my high school, mentored middle school students during my undergrad at Berkeley, and worked with youth in Haiti after I graduated. It was a perfect fit.
What’s your day-to-day like?
My day-to-day has lots of variety, which I love! I handle the back end of all communication with our mentors, students, and their Core Communities (teachers, parents, and coaches). I track all of our metrics and data to give the Community Team information that helps them support mentors, students, and families.
I get to work on data, fundraising, and mentor recruitment, but I’m also a squad leader for a group of high school students and mentor to a sixth-grader. The balance is super important for me and I really appreciate the time I spend on the ground in the schools.
How does data affect RA’s relationship-building work?
We’ve developed some really awesome processes to make it easier for the Community Team to handle all of the information - sports, mental health, family’s resources, academics, relationship with mentor. Data helps them figure out who needs more support. Families may have similar cultural, racial, and socioeconomic demographics, but they all have unique strengths and barriers that affect their level of engagement.
We’re getting better at tracking anecdotal and qualitative data. That helps build a more nuanced view of what families are facing beyond basic demographics. We look at the full picture of qualitative and quantitative data so the Community Team can use that knowledge to have conversations and provide support.
Our partnership and data sharing agreement with the Bellevue School District is huge because we get access to attendance, academics, behavior. The more information we have, the more equitable we can be with our work. It also helps us build relationships and get buy-in from educators and school district admin staff.
What are you looking forward to most in the new school year?
Continuing to get closer with the kids. I’ve been here for 15 months now and every time I get to hang out with students those relationships build. I’m stoked to see future big moments like middle schoolers going to high school. We’re lucky to be a part of them!
What are you up to outside of work?
I’m a huge sports fan and love watching everything except baseball and soccer. I play basketball, golf, and volleyball. International work and travel is a passion of mine - getting out of our bubble! Immersing myself in different places and gaining perspective from them has made me the person I am today. Music’s huge. I love all kinds of music. And the beach! Loving the sun is a hobby of mine.