Meet Our Team

Cristelle is Anglo-Swiss and has lived in Kochi for 24 years. She co-founded the Dil Se Association with Marina Racine in Switzerland in 2000 and is the current Managing Director and Managing Trustee of Dil Se India.
Along with her social work, Cristelle is an Arts-Based Therapy practitioner, a faculty member for a course on Arts Practices for Inclusion in Bangalore, and mother of two teenage boys. Her other interests include travel, authentic conversations, being in nature, animal rescues, reading and watching movies.

Janaki Sankaran is a psychiatrist and a psychotherapist ( with training in trauma informed therapy) who likes working with children and young people. She is the therapist at the Child Advocacy Center.

In addition to her clinical practice she has worked as a school counselor for 20 years and been a member of the Child Welfare Committee of Ernakulam District for 8 years. Her experiences both in schools and the Child Welfare Committee led to her decision to work with children who have been sexually abused and their families.

Janaki enjoys gardening, reading (English fiction, mostly), listening to music, and watching movies. Her day feels complete only when she has cracked the Sudoku and the crossword puzzle in The Hindu.

Marina Racine is the co-founder of Dil Se Association in Switzerland. She came regularly to India between 2001 and 2015 to help with training, planning and motivating the local staff as well as being with the woman and children.

Marina was a social worker for 40 years, in California, Switzerland and India. She loves nature, creativity, travelling and believes in a world of equal opportunities for all.

Ninu finished her 12th standard and then studied for BA in Communicative English. She has nearly three years’ experience working in a printing business and shop where she did accounts, sales and printing. She was Vice-President of Akshaya Sree in Mattancherry, a women’s welfare organization.

Ninu joined Dil Se in September 2015 as a part-time assistant, and thanks to her hard work and pleasant personality she quickly developed into our full-time Administrative Assistant and Social Worker. She currently works in our Child Advocacy Centre, and helps with Awareness sessions on Child Sexual Abuse. Ninu has a sixteen year old daughter and enjoys cooking, listening to music and spending time with her family. She love birds and plants.

This has to go in a separate gallery titled "Our Volunteers"

Shirish is a storyteller at heart, a strategist by profession, and a firm believer in the power of giving back. With nearly two decades of experience across media, entertainment, and the development sector, he’s worked on everything from print and TV to running his own film production company. His career took a different turn when he moved into the social impact space, leading skilling initiatives for underserved youth at Microsoft India and NASSCOM Foundation.

Beyond work, Shirish is a self-proclaimed trivia hoarder—ask him anything about Sholay (at your own risk). He’s also known to experiment in the kitchen, hit the road for long drives, and lose himself in a good book.