Aparna Stephen

Aparna Stephen is a Project Lead at the Possibility Lab. Before joining the Lab, Aparna worked on evaluating projects across public health, education, and social protection programs, supporting governments and partners in India and East Africa.

Aparna’s work centers on designing policies and programs that are responsive to people’s actual needs. She believes that public systems work best when they treat people as self-discerning actors and create space for community knowledge to shape policy design and implementation. She is motivated by opportunities to work in close collaboration with communities to ensure policies reflect lived experience. Aparna holds a Master of Public Policy from UC Berkeley, and a M.Sc in Economics from the University of Warwick, U.K.

In her free time, she can be found scouring Reddit for Bay Area adventures, starting new recipes and abandoning them halfway in favor of her own version, and trying to befriend every dog owner on her street.