OFFICER TEAM

Committed to the Cause

Since our founding in 2019, Stress Free Teens has grown exponentially in a positive direction. We are very proud of the diversity of our members and volunteers as well as the unique skills they contribute to our success. Find out more about some of our members below.

Rohan Tirumala

Founder

Rohan Tirumala is a freshman at UC Berkeley with an interest in science, research, and business. He uses his keen interests to conduct a biological research project on a rare neurodegenerative disease and placed 1st in Synopsys Science Fair and qualifies for the California Science & Engineering Fair (CSEF). Rohan is both a leader and a team player and is constantly searching for ways to elevate everything he is involved into a higher standard.

He founded Stress Free Teens in 2019 as a way to give back to his surrounding community to spread awareness of the mysteries behind stress & mental health. He strongly advocated for those that suffered from mental struggles such as depression and anxiety and his goal is to ensure that his fellow teens have a voice. In his free time, Rohan enjoys listening to music, spending time with friends, and trying new food.

Ananya Tirumala

President

Ananya Tirumala is a Sophomore at Cupertino High School. An avid student, she carries a particular interest in math and psychology. A strong leader both on and off campus, she regularly engages with her community to make a lasting impact. Whether through key club, tutoring, teaching dance, or volunteering, she is always seeking new ways to learn, take on leadership opportunities, and positively impact her community. In both a team and an individual environment, she strives to pursue grander ambitions, excelling as an accomplished member of her school dance team. She has extensive training and experience in various dance forms and is passionate about sharing her knowledge and skills with others. She provided one-on-one and group instruction in classical ballet and Indian classical dance. She has created choreography projects, ultimately performed live, and was recognized at several prestigious worldwide competitions.

She has volunteered at Stress-Free Teens since 2022 to give back to her surrounding community, aspiring to improve young lives and bring light to the often misunderstood mental health struggles.

In her free time, Ananya enjoys listening to music and loves to hang out with her friends.

Rishi Polepally

Columbus, GA Branch Director

Rishi is a senior at Columbus High School in Columbus, Georgia. Rishi hopes to pursue a career in the medical field as he nears college. He aims to attend a top university to eventually attend medical school and pursue orthopedics. Through his keen interest in medicine, research, and mathematics, Rishi is currently completing research on the intersection between AI and medicine. He hopes to educate himself on the prevalence of AI in contemporary society and its potential effects on future medical practices. In the classroom, Rishi has maintained a high GPA even while taking 16 AP courses throughout high school.

Rishi also is a captain for his school varsity wrestling team. As an avid wrestler, Rishi has won multiple region first place titles, the first place state championships, and the academic all-state award.

As the Georgia Branch Director, Rishi strives to spread mental health awareness in his community. His goal is to educate rising teens on the stress faced by teenagers and practices to combat this potentially harmful stress.

Kalyaa Pradeep

Director of Human Resources

Kalyaa Pradeep, a sophmore at Cupertino High School, is an enthusiastic learner with interests ranging from computer science & physics, to music theory. She's fluent in three languages and her main passion is the flute. For the past three years, Kalyaa has been an active member of music groups like the Golden State Youth Orchestra and Cupertino High School Marching Band. She recently showcased her skills as a soloist for her school's field show and achieved first place at the FeTNA 2023 Music Competition. Moreover, she has had the privilege of performing at prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall. Kalyaa constantly seeks new opportunities to impact her community positively. She's an active member of various cultural groups, such as the Bharati Tamil Sangam and Bharati Tamil Mandram. Alongside volunteering at multiple Computer Science tutor programs and local hospitals like El Camino Real Hospital. She enjoys playing soccer, watching movies/TV shows, and going on long drives during her free time. By joining Stress Free Teens, Kalyaa aims to destigmatize discussions around mental health, providing valuable information and promoting students we

Anshi Kothari

Director of Human Resources & Audio Video team

Anshi Kothari is a sophomore at Cupertino High School. Along with being a TA for an elementary to middle school math class outside of school, she was recently appointed the position of treasurer for her school's Red Cross Club and event planner for her school's SAHA club. She has also won a music competition of the violin called American Protege this past year, and she is a finalist for an art competition with University Art. In addition, she has been a Girl Scout since elementary school, and she completed her Bronze and Silver Awards and is currently working on her Gold Award. She manages the service projects that her girl scout service unit does as well. She joined Stress Free Teens because as a teen herself, she understands how important it is to take care of mental health, and she would like to help spread awareness on the importance of strong mental wellness.

She enjoys spending her free time by spending time with friends, watching TV, and being with her family.

Vivian Zheng

Director of Workshops/Events

Vivian Zheng is a senior at Cupertino High School. Her passion for helping others has led her to find a nonprofit where teens across the Bay Area can conceptualize and carry out their own community service projects. Vivian actively seeks opportunities to serve her community ranging from organizing workshops for kids with special needs to conceptualizing STEM programs for underrepresented kids K-5th grade. Her dedication to community service has earned her the President's Volunteer Service Award in her sophomore year. Vivian is interested in the field of cognitive science, specifically human performance modeling. She joined Stress Free Teens to help teens learn to take care of themselves and find balance in various aspects of life. In her free time, she enjoys doing sudoku, sleeping, coloring, and spending time with her friends and family.

Alison Liu

Director of Public Relations

Alison Liu is a sophomore at Cupertino High School. She has a strong passion for STEM as well as art and design. She has been taking art classes for 8 years and loves being able to freely express her ideas through art. Her interests are shown in the activities that she takes part in both in and out of school, whether that is being involved with Tino Graphix or Tino Explore at Cupertino High School, or volunteering by teaching kids math and science. She also uses her knowledge and skills in design to give back to her community by helping redesign the websites and social media pages of women-owned small businesses through WMN. She joined Stress Free Teens as a way to help reduce the stigma around struggling with mental health, and also to spread awareness of the true realities of mental health to today's teens.

In her free time, she enjoys drawing, baking, and playing badminton. She is also often found sitting at her desk crocheting while listening to music.

Noah Kang

Director of Workshops & Events

Noah Kang is a junior at Cupertino High School. Noah loves to dance and do traditional art in his free time. Noah joined Stress-Free Teens because he had a strong passion for psychology and mental health. Through personal motivations and experiences, the idea of psychology really drove and inspired Noah to advocate for mental health awareness. Aside from that, psychology has always been a topic that he's been extremely intrigued by. Fun fact, he was a finalist for the John Locke Essay Competition for psychology.

Vishal Kapadia

Director of Content Writing

Vishal Kapadia is a junior at Cupertino High Schoo. For background, he lives in Cupertino and shares his home with his two parents, siblings, and their little dog, Tikki. He is an active member and participant in his school's Marching Band and Winter Percussion program. On the athletic side, he is the JV captain for his school's badminton team and has trained for nearly four years. Beyond school, Vishal volunteers regularly, at various animal zoos and hospitals and camps, serving as camp counselor. In his free time, he loves to watch sports as well as play sports, such as basketball and football. And of course, he enjoys spending time with my friends and family. Some fun facts about him, are that He can juggle, he's fallen down the stairs twice, and has been lucky enough to explore the wonders of Africa. In short, he loves to write and express thoughts and has always have a drawing curiosity to mental health and the human mind. He saw Stress-Free Teen as a perfect segway to both those things. Through this club, he hopes to learns as well as spread a positive impact, and is thrilled to be a part of the Stress- Free teens community.

Bharath Jayadev

Director of Audio & Video Content

Bharath Jayadev is a sophomore at Homestead High. His passions include cooking, sports like soccer and badminton, and coding. In his downtime, he enjoys listening to music and spending time with his friends. He joined Stress-Free Teens as the Director of Audio and Video content to hear other people's stories regarding mental health and the challenges teenagers face today. Stress is a universal issue for us, and he believes it's crucial to raise awareness and discuss effective coping strategies. Through his involvement with Stress Free Teens, he's committed to contributing a healthier and happier teenage community by fostering open dialogue and support for mental well-being.

Ritika Polepally

Director of Website

Ritika Polepally is a freshman at Columbus High School. A dedicated student, who's passionate about law and public speaking: her passion for public speaking started in her first year at middle school when she joined her first club, the debate team. Surrounded by amazing coaches and peers she started gaining more attention from other competitions. Placing first at state in her division, she started to love it more and more. She ended her last year debating by leading her team to second in the state. Her years in debate made her realize her passion for law and public speaking which drove her to continue in high school. Whether it was various clubs, dancing or singing, or even student body activities, she always seeks for more opportunities to learn and shine as a leader to make an impact on her school and community. She has extensive training in classical music and dance which she has been doing it for 7+ years. These opportunities give her a chance to show off her culture. She has participated in many shows that project her learnings and talents.

As her first year in Stress-Free Teens she decided to volunteer to give back to the people who struggle with their mental health. She wants to help those in need and provide them with a safe space to come to and relieve any stress that they have.

In her free time Ritika loves to hang out with her friends and go out to eat.

Arnav Gupta

Director of Website

Arnav Gupta is a senior at Cupertino High School. He enjoys coding, robotics and playing video games with friends. He got into coding through his involvement in FLL and has had a love for it ever since. He enjoys web development and Computer Architecture work especially. As a member of the initial member of stress free teens he hopes to continue the culture of improvement and well being promoted through the organization. He hopes to further develop their reach and help as many people as possible.

Karen Wang

Director of Public Relations

Karen Wang is a senior at Cupertino High School. She's been involved in synchronized swimming for around 8 years and just won a gold medal at the Hungarian Opens. This achievement has inspired her to start coaching synchronized swimming. Besides her passion for swimming, Karen is also passionate about academics, especially mathematics and sciences. She tutors in these subjects regularly. Karen joined Stress Free Teens because she wants to use her abilities to make a meaningful impact in her community by spreading awareness and educating others about mental health and wellness.

Stress Free Teens at a Glance

Demystifying Mental Health

Stress Free Teens is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization determined to educate communities about the science behind mental health and to provide advocacy so that those affected—anyone and everyone—can lead happier lives. Formed in 2019 by high school student Rohan Tirumala, we are dedicated to our mission, our vision, and our goal. Learn more about each here.
We are a group of middle school, high school, and college students from across the nation who are passionate about giving back to our communities. Join us by applying to be a Stress Free Teens volunteer here.