Deepa Iyer

Deepa Iyer is a South Asian American writer, lawyer and activist. She is the Director of Strategic Initiatives at the Building Movement Project where she curates a project called Solidarity Is which provides trainings and narratives to build deep and lasting multiracial solidarity. Deepa is the creator of the social change ecosystem map framework and the host of the Solidarity Is This podcast. Deepa has worked on immigrant and racial justice issues for over two decades. She was the former executive director of South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT) for a decade, and has held positions at Race Forward, the US Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, the Asian Pacific American Legal Resource Center, and the Asian American Justice Center. Deepa’s first book, We Too Sing America: South Asian, Arab, Muslim and Sikh Immigrants Shape Our Multiracial Future (The New Press 2015), received a 2016 American Book Award. Deepa has received fellowships from Open Society Foundations and the Social Change Initiative, and in 2019, she received an honorary doctoral degree from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology. Deepa is active online @dviyer (Twitter),  @deepaviyer (Instagram) and at www.deepaiyer.com.