2020 is bringing in new things for ISKCON North America (NA) Communications Department: new management, with the appointment of Madan Gopal Das as Director and Kumari Kunti Dasi as Administrative Director, as well as back-to-back events to boost the North America teams with a Training Workshop and Communications Conference in the fall of this year.  

The NA Directors of Communications work directly under the guidance of Anuttama Das, ISKCON GBC, and Global Communications Minister, with the aim of providing resources to the North America Communications teams in their respective yatras/Temples.  

Madana-gopala Dasa is Director of Education and Communications at ISKCON of New Jersey (Towaco, NJ). He was born and raised in Nairobi, Kenya where he joined ISKCON in 1991. He was initiated in 1999 and has served in the areas of college preaching, event organization, Sunday School teaching, writing and directing Krishna conscious dramas for festivals and as one of the lead coordinators of fundraising for the new ISKCON Parsippany Temple currently under construction. He has been actively serving as one of the leaders of the Towaco Temple for over 20 years and was recently interviewed on an hour-long TV Asia Show (with a viewership of 1.5 to 2 million) where he represented ISKCON and talked about key aspects of Krishna conscious philosophy and ISKCON activities around the world. He is one of the fundraising coordinators for the upcoming ISKCON Parsippany Temple project for which nearly $4 million has already been collected and spent. This new temple, slated to open in 2022, will be one of the largest Vedic-style ISKCON temples in the Northeast Region. He works as an IT Manager at a hedge fund company and lives in Parsippany, NJ with his wife, Manasi-ganga Devi Dasi and his 18-year-old son Madhav. 

Kumari Kunti Sherreitt is a second-generation Krishna devotee raised in Hawaii. She currently serves ISKCON New York. Kumari is trained as a Grant Management professional and is currently working on her Doctorate in Global Management / Leadership at Indiana Tech University. She received a BA from Bhaktivedanta College in Vaisnava Theology, and a BA in Journalism from the University of Hawaii as well as an MSc. in NPO Management from Walden University. Kumari Kunti’s particular interest is in youth development. As such, she has been a youth leader and organized youth events including the European Bus Tours for young Krishna members, as well as helping progress the Communications Ministry worldwide with a youth focus.

Goals of the North America Communications team are to build and expand the Communications teams in their local areas, help connect and train these teams. This year the team will also start a quarterly newsletter of the resources it provides to further disseminate information to North America. 

Events for North America: 

Training Workshop

Where: ISKCON center in Houston, Texas     

When: September 11-13th, 2020

It was a three-day introductory training event on the principles and values of the Communications Ministry for all ISKCON management and interested members. The basics of working with key audiences, emphatic-listening and inclusivity training will be developed at the event. 

Communications Conference

Where: ISKCON center in Washington DC     

When: September 18-21st, 2020

A four-day event that will further training and networking, including panel discussions, guest speakers, and an excursion. This event is encouraged for all Communications Team members and potential members to inspire and invigorate their service and deepen their skill-development with working with ISKCON’s key audiences. 

Registration: kumari.kunti@iskcon.org

* * *

More about the ISKCON Communications Ministry in the USA and worldwide can be found at https://iskconcommunications.org/#work