Satjeet Kaur

Satjeet is a non-profit executive focused on civil and human rights issues, community mobilization, and interfaith/inter-community organizing. She serves as the Executive Director of Start Small Think Big, a nonprofit organization working to advance economic equity by connecting entrepreneurs facing systemic barriers, primarily from BIPOC and immigrant communities, to a curated ecosystem of resources and support.

Previously, she served as the Executive Director of the Sikh Coalition, the largest and most prominent Sikh civil rights organization in the United States. Though she became Executive Director in 2018, she has worked in nearly every core facet of the organization’s work throughout her 12 years on the team. During that time, Satjeet has managed fundraising, communications, and operations and also served as a community organizer, providing direct support to Sikh communities nationwide, including the rapid response after the Oak Creek Gurdwara shooting. Under her leadership as executive director, the Sikh Coalition has passed hate crime laws at the state and federal levels, successfully fought back against attempts to roll back federal policies that protected Sikhs from discrimination, improved how Sikhism is taught in six new states, oversaw the development of classroom-ready resources, mobilized grassroots voter registration drives, and successfully litigated cases to set strong precedence against religious discrimination. She also led the organization’s U.S.-based response to the farmers’ protest in India, and its crisis response support after the mass shooting in Indianapolis.

Satjeet joined the Board of Directors for Act to Change, a nonprofit working to empower youth to end school bullying, in June 2023. She also currently serves as a Spiritual Life Advisor at New York University. She was named one of 15 Faith Leaders to Watch by the Center for American Progress and has appeared on the New York City and State list of leading Asian Americans. Satjeet has served on interfaith advisory councils for Netflix, Facebook, and New York State. She is a New York Community Trust Leadership Fellow.

Before her tenure at the Sikh Coalition, Satjeet worked at SAMAR to increase the number of minorities registered on the National Bone Marrow Registry. She is a graduate of New York University with degrees in Religious Studies and Psychology.