Bryan Lee

CEO

At Cornell University, Bryan studied engineering with the goal of becoming a rocket scientist. But, he learned he did not enjoy aerospace and moved onto his passion of working with Asian American artists. He joined Nemesis Records, a record label that promoted such artists, in New York for eight years. Afterwards, he pursued various entrepreneurial activities (including teaching taekwondo) as well as volunteer work (including raising money for an orphanage in India). He became hooked on international development, and went to business school at the Kellogg School of Management. While working towards his MBA, he interned at iFarms in Delhi and learned from farmers all over India. Understanding the large scale of poverty in agriculture, he formed Krishi Star.

David Nott

Director

David lives by Albert Einstein’s saying that “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” This value of simplicity has shaped his life, especially in food—from choosing to be vegetarian for over 35 years, to cooking from scratch all of his meals. David is a Master Practitioner in Neuro Linguistic Programming as well as a hypnotherapist. After volunteering at Krishi Star for six months on a career break, he decided to stay and has worked as the Head of HR and Business Development for three years (despite missing cheese from Britain on the daily). He believes the most valuable asset to any organization are its people, so he creates an environment of continual learning.

Agastya Chopra

Director

In high school, Agastya attended the United World College in Singapore. He learned and grew alongside students from all corners of the world and this experience taught him to see people as people, transforming his worldview to achieving a higher objective in life. This desire to live for a greater purpose led him to joining Krishi Star’s quest to improve the lives of farmers. When he’s not strategising the next phase of Krishi Star's sales efforts or taking his dog Scott out on walks, he is planting trees in Sanjay Gandhi National Park through his NGO, Gaia Conversation Foundation. He founded this NGO with the goal to restore degraded forest lands and to fulfil his childhood dream of becoming a conservationist.

Abdul Rahiman

Head of Finance

As a child, Abdul dreamed of becoming an astronaut or a pilot. Even though he may not have made it to the stars, he still lives by Theodore Roosevelt’s lesson to "Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground” (his favorite saying). This intersection of imaginative thinking with pragmatic thinking is his favorite part of working for a start-up. In 2014, he joined Krishi Star as a consultant and, after a few months of hard work, became the Head of Finance. When he’s not working, you can find him exploring India on his bicycle—one time he even cycled to the hills of Mahabelshwar and back, a total of 634 kilometers in 32 hours!