Heartistry

Assemblymember Ash Kalra

Assemblymember Ash Kalra was first elected to the California Legislature in 2016, representing the 27th District. In 2018, he was re-elected to his second term. Assemblymember Kalra is the Chair of the State Assembly Labor & Employment Committee. He previously served as Chair of the Aging & Long-Term Care Committee and continues to serve as a Committee Member, as well as serving on the Judiciary, Education, and Water, Parks & Wildlife Committees. Assemblymember Kalra has established himself as a leader on issues ranging from criminal justice reform to the environment, as well as health care sustainability, housing affordability, growing our transportation infrastructure, and expanding economic opportunity to all Californians. Assemblymember Kalra previously served as a San José City Councilmember for eight years and was a deputy public defender in Santa Clara County for 11 years prior to the City Council. He is the first Indian-American to serve in the California Legislature in state history.

Iram Parveen Bilal

Iram just World Premiered her third feature, I’LL MEET YOU THERE, in the narrative competition at SXSW. She was 1 of 15 directors invited to Cinefondation's L'Atelier at Cannes 2019 for her feature project in development, ONE OF A KIND. She is now focusing on TV directing and creating. Her TV Pilot, DETAINED, about two detained matriarchs in an ICE detention center, just made the top twenty unproduced, female written pilots’ list for WeForShe. Eager to raise while rising, Iram is an active mentor for women in film and tech. She believes genuine curiosity is the only antidote to fear. 

Samica Jhangiani

Born in San Francisco, California, Samica started singing to herself as a child. After listening to her Grandmother sing at the temple every week, she started to appreciate Indian classical music along with her American influences, and at the age of 13,  began writing her own songs. 

Samica released her first single “Alright” at the end of 2019 which was released exclusively on critically acclaimed music publisher, The Fader. After “Alright”, she released a self-produced and written song called “Design” which was swiftly added to one of the biggest Apple Music Playlists, Acoustic Chill. “Wreck” is her third and latest single, which has been added to many New Music Friday playlists around the world. She is planning on releasing her first debut EP this 2020.