Manavi was originally formed by six South Asian women: Shamita Das Dasgupta, Radha Sarma Hegde, Shashi Jain, Rashmi Jaipal, Vibha Jha, and Kavery Dutta, as a consciousness raising group interested in addressing concerns faced by South Asian women in the U.S. In a short period of time, this New Jersey based organization expanded its goals in response to requests from the community to begin providing services to women facing violence and abuse.