The Man Behind World Pulse

There is an astonishing man behind World Pulse. You should know him.

For over a decade, Ankur Naik – World Pulse’s technical architect - built World Pulse alongside me. His hands have invented, tested, curved, created, and engineered nearly every pixel and byte of the World Pulse’s social network from the ground up.

At a time when it seems prominent men everywhere are becoming exposed as abusers of women, it is refreshing to expose a man who has devoted his life, his hands, and his heart to creating space for women across the globe to tell their true stories. He has lovingly built and crafted the vision of World Pulse from the day it was a small seed in our imaginations – and for that I will be forever grateful to him.

I remember the first day I met Ankur so many summers ago in an old Portland coffeehouse for an interview. At the time all I had was a brochure and big idea. I thought he was quite sweet and stylish with his cap and dark frame glasses. But then he stunned me with his thorough analysis and proposal for what was possible technically for World Pulse. I can’t believe that I did not know then that one of the most fortunate meetings of my life had just happened. I had encountered someone that would alter my own life forever.

And since that day, Ankur has ALWAYS been there, for that call late at night or at the crack of dawn if the site is down, or some other technical emergency arises. It was as if, every time the baby cried, he would get up to care for her over long, tedious, inconvenient nights. His long term steadfastness through difficult times brings me to tears.

In the early years he completely volunteered his time, working late every night on the side of his full time job. He would stay up until 3 or 4 in the morning coding, building, debugging, designing. Patiently listening. Searching for solutions to help. Passionate about equality and justice. Always determined to make World Pulse the best it can be to as a vessel for the dreams and visions of women – a place for connections to transform lives. In our meetings – often loud with womanish laughter and surging emotions, Ankur sits gently poised, always at the ready with intelligent counsel and options for making World Pulse better and better.

With quiet grace Ankur helps to hold and nurture the space that surrounds all of us, online and offline. He has become a World Pulse historian, cataloging all the past home pages of World Pulse and sharing them for us in silly power point presentations to make our team laugh. And we have delighted in his understated love of 80’s dance music, his sharp fashion sense, Star Trek, vegan doughnuts, his dog Mazzy, and how he is always off on another wacky group bike ride. We celebrate his quirky sense of humor, his dependability, and most especially his faith and belief in all of us to make this dream come true for women and men around the world.

Although he is shy and prefers to be behind the scenes, there are rare times he is visible in the World Pulse online community. At these times, when the World Pulse women see his face and feel his presence he gets showered with appreciation. Gertrude from Zimbabwe said to him, “If I were god, I would create more Ankur Naiks in this world!” And Sunita from Nepal said, “I can’t help but imagine if all men were like you, Ankur, how few days it will take to bring the revolution.”

Now there are more hands chiming in to help design and improve the World Pulse platform – hands of both men and women. Ankur has paved the way for their tender support to grow our dream together.

Every day Ankur reminds me of how committed a man can be – an unflagging force day in and day out, supporting the movement for women’s empowerment – for all of us, women and men. He is a model and friend to other men, many who are finding their way and their voice. A true partner and ally – a visionary and a leader. No matter which way you look at it – we are all grateful for Ankur inside and out. Myself most of all.

Thank you, Ankur for being the web magician of World Pulse’s voices. With all that I am, thank for being my partner in this dream.