50 Remarkable Alumni: Sheetal Deo is changing the world’s view of EDI

Sheetal Deo (BA ’12) changed lanes to follow her heart, centering her life’s work around equity and accessibility. This comes through in the way she approaches her work as a lawyer.

“While community legal aid centres exist and provide free legal help, these organizations are often under-funded, under-resourced, and as a result, unable to help everyone who needs help,” she says.

Sheetal wants to meet the overlooked needs of the “missing middle” — a demographic of people who cannot afford full cost legal services, but don’t meet the criteria for government funded legal aid. At Shakti Legal Solutions (the law firm she created in 2020), she makes justice more accessible by travelling to clients, offering virtual appointments, and a sliding payment scale. She provides unbundled legal services so clients can only pay for what they need.

Sheetal’s efforts to make legal services more accessible led to her to the wider equity, diversity, and inclusion industry. To do this, she leaned into her experience at UFV. As a student, she volunteered with the South Asian Studies Institute (SASI), was a founding member of the Race and Anti-Racism Network, and helped organize a conference on Transnational Punjabis in the 21st Century.

Though Sheetal left UFV with aspirations of working as a lawyer for a big biotech company, she eventually decided to follow her passion for social justice. In addition to starting the firm, Sheetal also founded The Diversity Collective in 2021, where she offers equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) training and consultation services.

“Where I was born, the way I speak, my gender, are all things I had no control over and didn’t particularly work for, but I quickly learned they afforded me certain advantages in life that others weren’t given. And once I saw it, I needed to do something about it,” Sheetal recalls.

She feels a deep sense of responsibility to honour the work, investment, and sacrifices made by those who came before her.

“From activists like Marsha P. Johnson to my parents, their lives and legacies have built a foundation for me to enjoy a better life.”

Her law studies brought her to Australia, where she still lives and works today. In 2022, she became the first woman of colour elected to the Queensland Law Society’s Council in its 150-year history.

“Being the first anything is always a challenge,” she acknowledges. “I’m grateful for allies within the council and community to help ensure that having a seat at the table also gives me a voice at the table.”

Sheetal, the Young Distinguished Alumni award recipient for 2021 , advises current students to take full advantage of the extracurricular activities on offer.

“UFV provided me with the confidence, support and expertise to step into the diversity and inclusion space. Get involved!” Sheetal urges. “UFV is ripe with opportunities for everyone. Whether you want to wax poetic with the Philosophy Association of UFV (which I recommend), join a sporting team, or champion a cause, use this time to explore your interests — or discover new ones!

“I didn’t think I would end up doing what I do now, and I wouldn’t have been able to do it if not for UFV. The education, the support, the people, it’s all been the foundation for the career I have today.”