Varsha Koduvayur is a manager at Valens Global, where she focuses on domestic violent extremism and geopolitics. In this role, she works on public-facing research on the domestic violent extremist space, with a particular emphasis on white supremacy and racially motivated violent extremism. Varsha also leads the geopolitics division at Valens, where she undertakes geopolitical research for private-sector clients. Prior to joining Valens, Varsha was a senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, where she covered the Gulf Arab states. Prior to that, Varsha was a researcher in the Middle East practice at Eurasia Group, and a Junior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Her work has appeared in Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, and CNN Business, among other outlets. She holds a B.A. in international relations and Arabic from Michigan State University.
The Summit was more than empty words – it made clear that a solution-driven approach is the only way to fight hate. That’s why the working group activities, which are results driven are going to be critical in defeating violent extremism. The Summit brought together the best minds in government, private sector, academia, and civil society. Being surrounded by these experts sparked new ideas – some of which I’ve already implemented or have written about.
