Sanjog Singh

Cofounder & Chief Community Officer

Tell us about yourself.

My earliest memories are of my mother and grandmother. My family was displaced by the Partition of India and Pakistan. My grandmother gave birth to my mother just 12 days after Partition in a garage. While many were hardened by the violence of Partition, my family decided that we had to reach back to basic humanity. In India, my mother would open our house to all, and used food to stitch together a diverse community. When I was 13, I immigrated from India to California, and I lost that sense of community overnight. I felt like a complete outsider. Those lonely high school years, working in my mom’s deli in Oakland, taught me the need for community that many new immigrant youth face. 

After earning my undergraduate degree in Business from UC Berkeley, I built a successful career in consulting and marketing, but in my 30s, I felt unfulfilled despite external success. That’s when my real education started. I joined my mother’s food business, Sukhi’s Gourmet Indian Foods, and spent 17 years seeing the company through its transformation from a family-run business to a nationally recognized consumer packaged goods company.

I live in Berkeley, where I keep my mother’s legacy of using food to stitch communities together alive by hosting samosa & chai afternoons for the neighborhood in my front yard. I am a proud single mom of two teenage boys.

What motivates you to be part of the Banyan Tree?

My commitment to intergenerational community isn't a choice – it's who I am. I see myself as a conduit, privileged to invest in the next generation and create the kind of loving, connected community that shaped me as a young person in India. The Banyan Tree is my way of recreating that sense of home – where everyone feels they belong, where our differences are celebrated, and where we remember that helping where help is needed isn't philanthropy, it's simply our way of life.

We asked our team, “What is Sanjog’s superpower?” Here’s what one person said.

“Sanjog is a connector, bringing together people from all walks of life with her infectious energy, generosity, and big heart. Sanjog’s superpower is that she comes to everyone with honesty and pure intentions without even trying. It is just who she is - and this makes her the glue of every community she’s in.”