By Michelle Limpe


From holding a cybersecurity internship, to attending a compelling diversity conference in Washington D.C. to becoming an active member of a national resource group, Shivang Pasi exemplifies how one can make an impact in several ways within the American Red Cross in a short time. Shivang is one of over 275,000 American Red Cross volunteers from across the country who has engaged with the organization’s humanitarian mission, though he never expected himself to be this involved when he started.

Shivang’s journey as a Red Crosser began the summer of 2024 when he secured a cybersecurity internship with the organization’s Northern California Coastal Region, which serves more than 10 million people across 15 counties from Monterey to Sonoma. As a current fourth year student at San Jose State University, Shivang was drawn to specialize in cybersecurity because of his love for puzzle solving.

“I got to have experiences with every single department in cybersecurity. Compared to other internships, usually they just give you one key project to do across the entire term,” he said. “With me, however, I would spend up to one or two weeks with many different people, and I would go through their day-to-day and help them with real-world issues. For example, I helped with governance, compliance and penetration testing on some parts,” showcasing the range of projects he was able to engage in.

Shivang also highlighted the importance of cybersecurity for organizations that handle health data and records of hundreds of thousands of people like the Red Cross, and how a security breach could affect the availability of blood. He referenced a recent cyberattack in the U.K. that led to sharp declines in blood supplies for routine procedures and surgeries. “That really spoke to me because before I just thought of cybersecurity as a high-paying job, but now I realize it’s crucial to lives and that’s what sticks with me more,” he stated.

He witnessed the spirit of Red Cross volunteers firsthand when he attended the Team Members Resources Group Summit in Washington D.C. during his second week of the internship. At the summit, he learned about and became involved with the Asian American & Pacific Islander Plus (AAPI+) Resource Group. The group serves as a dedicated platform for raising awareness about the rich contributions of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders to the American Red Cross and society at large. Membership in this group is open to all Red Cross volunteers and staff, regardless if they are of that decent.

Shivang noted that he had not done a lot of work for diversity and inclusion before working with the Red Cross. During the first day of the summit, he listened to several guest speakers from various companies about their diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, and also had the opportunity to network with them to explore more about this topic.  

“I was a bit nervous meeting so many new people all at once, and it’s such a big and important convention. But when I first started, I was treated with the most respect and they would tell me about AAPI+ and their goals,” he said. “To me, being in that high energy environment primed my brain. I felt like I was part of something bigger than myself. Even though it was my second week, and I was still not assimilated within the Red Cross, I felt like I was able to help be productive and contribute.”

On the second day, he and the other members of the committee brainstormed and planned for the year ahead. One of the topics of discussion that Shivang recalled was the lack of diversity in leadership positions.

This is one of the key issues that Shivang hopes to address through his current role in the Youth Engagement and Retention subcommittee within AAPI+, which he has remained active in long after his summer internship in cybersecurity ended. He emphasized that everyone’s dedication to the mission of the Red Cross set his internship experience apart from other organizations, inspiring him to stay involved.

“They want to help address the gap between the high population of youth volunteers versus those that transfer to full-time employees,” he said. “Because when people think of the Red Cross, they think of just volunteer services or blood donors, they don’t really think about different aspects of the business side or IT side. I’m going to help start bringing visibility to that with my internship presentation.”

Christine Villafuerte, the National Red Cross Blood Services Volunteer Mobilization Program Manager, has worked extensively with Shivang as part of the National Youth Engagement subcommittee.

“It has been an absolute pleasure to have Shivang as part of our team. He embodies our 5 C’s – Compassionate, Collaborative, Creative, Credible, and Committed. We are truly fortunate to have him with us,” Christine said. “He has made invaluable contributions to our sub-committee on youth and young adult engagement. Shivang’s dedication and innovative ideas have significantly advanced our initiatives and positively impacted the lives of many young people.”

Shivang also recently took on another regional volunteer position as a Blood Donor Ambassador, and he is eager to continue contributing to the mission of the Red Cross in this role. As he continues to volunteer in several capacities with the Red Cross, he encourages more youth to get involved too.

Thank you for your passion, time and commitment, Shivang. We are proud to have you as a volunteer in our region!