Hima is the Executive Director of Women LEAD Nepal, a feminist organization based in Nepal. She identifies as a fierce feminist fueled by an unbridled passion to build an inclusive society bereft of all forms of gender-based violence. She actively advocates for gender rights through Dignified Menstruation, and Rage Against Rape. Hima has 21 years of experience working in the development sector, she has been the Managing Director at Possible | Nyaya Health Nepal, designing strategies and overseeing implementation to improve healthcare for underserved communities. She was also the Head of Human Resources at DFID Nepal (UKAID) for 6 years.
Hima received her MBA from Kathmandu University, School of Management, and her MPhil in English from the Institute of Advanced Communication, Education and Research (IACER) in Nepal. She is also the Co-Founder of Achaar Ghar: House of Pickles, Kitchen Recipe and is the Executive Board Member at the Federation of Women Entrepreneurs Association of Nepal (FWEAN).
Dr. Robyn is an Asia-based leadership specialist who has worked with individuals, teams, and organizations across Asia and the Middle-east. A long-time supporter of Women LEAD, Robyn is passionate about championing young women. Australian by background, Robyn is a lover of the outdoors and the mountains of Nepal.
Yvonne Lau is a Hong Kong-based journalist covering Asian financial markets; and culture and society in China, Russia, Nepal.
Nepal has made an immense impression upon Yvonne — particularly the strength, resilience, and outlook of its women and girls. She joined Women LEAD to support programs that build up girls’ development and education in leadership and politics. As an Ambassador, Yvonne hopes to advance the conversation on the role of women and girls in society.
She is also passionate about peacebuilding, community connections, and sustainability. When in Nepal, Yvonne can be found in the mountains and villages, with hot rum punch and momos in hand.
Niki is based in Hong Kong working in the tech industry.
Niki has a passion for women’s equality and assisting in paving a path for people to reach their full potential. She has experience in volunteering in Nepal and other parts of the world to provide resources for women and help businesses become sustainable. As an Ambassador, Niki aims to break social stigmas and fight for women’s rights in Nepal.
Her hobbies also include advising young entrepreneurs to grow their business. For fun, Niki likes to attend open mic nights to take a stab at stand up comedy.
Sagoon (she/her) (2017 YWPLI Fellow) identifies as a proud feminist and is currently a student of Social Sciences at National College, Kathmandu. At Women LEAD Nepal, she has been an intern, mentor, Chief of Staff for OWN IT Nepal, represented WLEAD at CSW in New York, and served as Vice Secretary of the Nepal Board in her last tenure. Her vision for WLEAD is to see the organization grow and become home to many more young girls and women who can make collective efforts to build a better and equal society while carrying the value of intersectionality.
Bidhyalaxmi recently completed her Bachelor’s in Arts from Tribhuvan University. After freelancing for several projects as an interpreter and research assistant, she now works at Samriddhi Foundation, an independent educational and public policy think tank. Apart from her research work, she also contributes to Samriddhi’s weekly column in the Himalayan Times.
Bidhyalaxmi previously served as the vice-secretary in WLEAD Nepal board and helped oversee the executive transition. Her varied engagements with the organization since the completion of LEAD Course 2015 have given her a significant understanding of WLEAD and its works. She firmly believes that investing in girls and young women is key to ensuring women’s leadership at all levels.
Prasansha ( 2015 LEADer ) is currently pursuing her bachelor’s degree in arts and law (B.A.LL.B.) at Kathmandu School of Law with aim of advocating in the field of Environmental Law. After successful completion of LEAD course at Women LEAD Nepal, she mentored 2 young LEADer. She is the recipient of Travel grant, provided in partnership with Nepali Travellers and Women LEAD Nepal as part of Solo Woman Travel Challenge . An avid reader, she loves to read and even writes on her own blog. Prasansha is a firm believer of goodness in humankind and looks forward to co-creating a future where people without any prejudices to their gender, get access to various opportunities to pursue their own dreams.
Anjali (2019 LEADer) is currently pursuing her bachelor degree in arts and law at Nepal Law Campus, T.U. At Women LEAD Nepal, she has been a mentor, and a volunteer. Recently, she completed her project DidiBahini with four other members as one of the 2020 Sujata Baskota Changemaker Awardee. She is continuing her Online Advocacy Project of Legal Awareness through Social Media Platforms: Knock Off the Evil along with her fellow LEADer. She believes “Being Aware is one step towards having Voice”. She thrives for not only legal equality but also for socio-cultural equality for all (children, females, minorities groups etc). Her vision for WLEAD is to have a space where no one is unheard.
Shweta (2016 LEADer and 2018 YWPLI Fellow) is currently pursuing her undergraduate degree in Economics from Kathmandu University. At Women LEAD Nepal, she has been an intern, a mentor and has also served as a board member during the last term. She is very passionate about feminist economics, women empowerment, and gender equality. She looks forward to contributing to policy making in the country.
Rakshya is currently pursuing her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Anthropology. She is a participant of the 2018 LEAD Course and has been involved with Women LEAD ever since in various capacities. Her subjects of interest are human psyche, culture, linguistics, etc. She is passionate about working for feminist and queer issues and advocates for the de-stigmatization of mental health. She values intersectionality and envision a future where voices of the marginalized are acknowledged and a world inclusive of all. Her vision for Women LEAD is to see it become a stepping stone of leadership development for young girls and women especially inclusive of every socio-economic background, sexual orientation, and other diversities.
Smarika is a student of English & Social Work starting her journey at Women LEAD as a 2017 YWPLI fellow. At Women LEAD, she has been a general member of the Nepal Board and also served as a fundraising committee member. She hopes to continue championing the leadership of young women through education, advocacy, hands on knowledge along with promoting entrepreneurship and development, all of the elements that LEAD in Women LEAD Nepal stands for to move along this exhilarating path of progress ahead.
Erika is an international development and foreign policy expert. She recently served as a Senior Adviser to the President of the International Republican Institute (IRI) for International and Women’s Organizations. She was offered this position after five years of leading a global program at IRI as Director of the Women’s Democracy Network, which spanned in more than 60 countries around the world. Prior to this, she had a successful career as Lithuania’s diplomat serving at the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania in Washington, D.C. where she was responsible for Congressional and Think Tank Relations. Her broad foreign policy experience also includes serving as a diplomatic adviser to the President of Lithuania and senior foreign policy adviser to the Speaker of the Lithuanian Parliament where she promoted Lithuania’s aspiration to become a member of the international community of democratic nations. Her passion for empowering women and girls is born out of her life story, where she saw women fighting for her own country’s independence and human rights along with men. However, in the aftermath, women were missing from the leadership positions. Erika believes that leadership starts from providing girls with the right education. An educated girl will ensure that her family and community is healthier as well as contribute as will lead the cultural, political and economic growth of her country.
A lawyer and an international development professional, Prajolita has experience working with government, private sector and civil society organizations on issues related to women rights, women’s participation in politics, gender sensitivity campaigns and gender mainstreaming in project implementation. Before moving to Washington, D.C., she was working on a multi donor initiative called “Strengthening Women’s Participation Especially from Marginalized Communities in Local Governance, Decision Making, Elections and Politics (SMARCO)”, implemented through a Nepali national NGO – Jagaran Nepal. She played a key role in reviewing the gaps in existing laws and policies of Nepal and how those gaps could be cemented to incorporate GESI friendly rules and regulations in electoral Acts. She previously worked with the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs and business law firms in various capacities.
With an LL.M. in human rights and gender justice, Prajolita is passionate about disentangling the legal and policy hurdles that could potentially help women take leadership role in solving pressing socio-economic issues society is facing today. Through Women LEAD, she aims to contribute to these goals by working with a wider network of international development institutions and civil society communities in Nepal. Having already contributed to Nepal’s sixth shadow report on the UN’s Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), she also believes that taking national issues to regional and global forums is crucial in leveraging resources towards both legal and policy reforms in the country.
Prajwol has over ten years of experience in finance, development and non-profit sectors in Nepal. He focuses on the intersection of finance and strategy and has led various initiatives in public financial management, governance and decentralization, public private partnerships, health systems financing for universal health coverage, corporate finance and business incubation. Additionally, Prajwol co-founded two non-profit entities, one of them focusing on secondary education for girls in Sarlahi, Nepal.
Prajwol is an active advocate for fundamental human rights to quality education and health. He strongly believes that groundbreaking innovation and cultural change are required to position young girls and women to rightfully assume positions of power in the new federal republic Nepal.
He is currently a doctoral student in health policy and health economics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has an MBA with a concentration in finance from the National University of Singapore Business School.
Working as an Advancement and Community Relations Manager at a youth mental health and education nonprofit, The Children’s Home of Reading, in the U.S; Sukripa specializes in donor communications, fund development, grant writing, digital marketing, and community outreach. In her present role, she has successfully tapped into various foundational and individual funding sources that have accelerated the nonprofit’s mission.
Sukripa has been delivering data-driven, mission-oriented results to help US-based donors and constituents fulfill their philanthropic aspirations for over three years. Born and raised in Kathmandu, Nepal, Sukripa came to the US in 2016 to pursue MA in Communication at Villanova University. Post-graduation, she embarked upon her professional journey in the Department of Human Services through a Summer Internship Program with Susan. G. Komen-Philadelphia, a leading breast cancer awareness nonprofit in the US. Since then she has been actively working towards furthering various nonprofits’ missions (including the Red Cross Organization of Eastern PA) that mainly focus on underserved, at-risk populations.
As a Women LEAD Board Fundraiser, Sukripa is determined to use her voice and platform to empower female youth in Nepal through fair access to education, resources, and opportunities that will in turn reduce the socio-economic gaps in Nepali households due to gender inequalities.
Claire Charamnac is an international development specialist who has worked on women’s rights and gender equality in Asia for the past decade. She is currently working as a Gender Analyst at the World Bank in Washington, D.C., focused on regional gender coordination for East Asia and the Pacific. Previously, she worked at Catholic Relief Services, an international humanitarian agency, on nutrition-sensitive agriculture programs in Timor Leste and Madagascar. She also serves on the board of the Red Thread Foundation for Women, which provides mentorship and scholarship support to women of international backgrounds entering university.
Manil joined Women LEAD with more than seventeen years of experience in the development sector. He worked in multiple South & Central Asian countries on broader issues of livelihood, economic development and management of small organizations. His past experiences include institutional development and organizational strengthening of member-based organizations and small enterprises/institutions; creation of effective market linkages; technical and vocational education and training; women economic empowerment and so forth. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Mathematics and a Master’s degree in Business Administration with a major in Finance. Between 2003 to 2008, he also served as a visiting faculty/guest lecturer for undergraduate courses in different campuses. In his spare time, he occasionally writes about the Nepalese equity market in the national dailies and weeklies. Manil believes that the creation of a just and diverse society will only be possible when we have equity for all and he is looking forward to contributing to making this possible through Women LEAD.
Claire Charamnac is an international development specialist who has worked on women’s rights and gender equality in Asia for the past decade. She is currently working as a Gender Analyst at the World Bank in Washington, D.C., focused on regional gender coordination for East Asia and the Pacific. Previously, she worked at Catholic Relief Services, an international humanitarian agency, on nutrition-sensitive agriculture programs in Timor Leste and Madagascar. She also serves on the board of the Red Thread Foundation for Women, which provides mentorship and scholarship support to women of international backgrounds entering university.
Sue has over 20 years experience in business consulting, leadership training/coaching and organizational development/change management. Sue has worked with leaders of companies with revenues of $17 billion dollars to organizations with a handful of employees. She has also run the Government Accountability Office’s leadership program, set up SRA International’s learning program and worked on global talent management initiatives. Sue joined Women LEAD because she has observed the birth of this organization since co-founder Claire Naylor’s years at Georgetown. She has also been to Nepal and has a sense of the needs of their young women.
Ayesha has more than five years of experience serving nonprofit and private clients. Currently, she works at a private company where she oversees and keeps the accounting and financial processes of the company up to standard and ensures accurate financial reporting and control. Prior to working in the private sector, Ayesha worked in Public Accounting serving non-profit clients for their annual audits, reviews, and compilations. Her expertise includes financial compliance and accounting risk management.
Ayesha believes in giving back to the community and is passionate about serving non-profits. She is excited to serve as a Board Fellow at Women LEAD and help young women in Nepal to become future leaders. Ayesha has a Master in Accounting degree from the College of William and Mary.
Claire strongly believes that female leaders are the ultimate solution to pretty much every problem that ever existed. Born in sunny England, she grew up in South Asia, and, like most of her friends, studied abroad in the U.S. where she spent fours years analyzing the gender inequality, feminized poverty and violent conflict she witnessed during her childhood in Nepal. She gets unreasonably excited whenever women’s rights, South Asia and cupcakes are mentioned. Claire has been advising Women LEAD with its work since June 2011 and has found it to be one of the most manic and glorious experiences of her life.
Sonu led the implementation of our programs and trained over 1,000 adolescents through the LEAD Course and the School Leadership Program for seven years. She helped start Women LEAD in 2010, and has been instrumental in the development and direction of its programs. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Tribhuvan University’s Public Youth Campus.
Suju is Women LEAD’s Senior Program Manager and did her Master’s in Conflict, Peace and Development Studies from Tribhuvan University. Before coming to Women LEAD, she worked at Dristi Nepal, a nonprofit dedicated to reducing the stigma and discrimination surrounding former female drug users by giving them the skills to be economically independent. Suju considers herself a liberal feminist and believes that the gender gap can only be solved by giving women access to all the opportunities that men have, as well as having men join hand in hand to overcome gender inequality. She aspires to see a nation where education and opportunities do not differ for men and women.
Kanti Shrestha is a dynamic finance professional with over 6 years of experience in the auditing sector. With a Chartered Accountancy degree from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and a Master’s in Business Studies with a major in Accountancy, Kanti brings a comprehensive understanding of financial management to the organization. Additionally, Kanti is pursuing a Bachelor in Law/ Outside of work, Kanti enjoys a balance of adventure and leisure through traveling, hiking, trekking, and cooking.
Senior Coordinator - Program and Government Relations
Kabita is Women LEAD’s Senior Coordinator – Program and Government Relations. She did her Master’s in English Literature from Padma Kanya Multiple Campus. Before coming to Women LEAD, she worked at Little Sisters Fund, an organization that works with economically disadvantaged Nepali girls to become empowered leaders through education, mentoring and community support, and at the UNESCO Office in Kathmandu. She believes that true empowerment comes from equipping women with the knowledge, skills, and self-confidence to drive change in fields of economics, politics, and social transformation.
Senior Coordinator - Alumni and Public Engagement Programs
Rosha holds a Master’s degree in Development Studies from Kathmandu University School of Arts. She has more than three years of experience working in the areas of agriculture, livelihood, and women’s empowerment. She also brings an experience of working for the women conflict survivors of the Nepal’s 10 years long armed conflict. She believes women can achieve their dreams and goals to make the world a better place for living, if given equal opportunity.
Priyankana is Women LEAD Nepal’s Communication Coordinator at Women LEAD Nepal. She graduated from Franklin and Marshall College, Pennsylvania, in the United States with a degree in sociology.
Her decision to return to Nepal was motivated by a resolve to be a changemaker in my community and make sustainable, positive changes in society and my country of birth. Through her work, she has been able to achieve this by working with organizations that work towards increasing political literacy among young women and ending education inequity.
Priyankana has previously worked as the English Content Lead at Teach for Nepal and taught sociology at the Global Academy of Tourism and Hospitality Education (GATE). She has worked as a marketing consultant and content writer at various organizations. Priyankana is interested in political thought, organizational behavior, arts, and culture.
In her free time, she likes to travel and make art.
Pari is a skilled HR professional with a Master’s in Business Management (HR) from Westcliffe University and Kings College in Kathmandu, Nepal. She has a strong foundation in the principles and practices of human resource management. In Women LEAD Nepal, Pari is responsible for overseeing HR, Programs, and Procurement.
In addition to her professional pursuits, Pari is an avid mental health advocate. She is passionate about spreading awareness about mental health and promoting self-care practices. Pari is also an animal lover and actively works to support animal welfare. In her free time, she enjoys talking about feminism, aesthetics, mental health, talent management, and women’s empowerment.
Dipasa is Women LEAD Nepal’s Senior Officer of Development and Fund Raising. She graduated from Asian University for Women with a degree in BSc. with Public Health Studies as a major and Development Studies as a minor. Having completed Women LEAD’s LEAD Course in 2014, she is also an organization alumnus. Her work in various research projects in Nepal, India and Bangladesh further reinforces her skills in working with local governments, youth mobilization, capacity building for women/young girls. Dipasa believes that education and awareness are two different things and aspires to educate the Nepali youth to inculcate inclusiveness, representation, and cultural sensitivity in their society. Apart from indulging in intellectual conversations around contemporary issues and cracking lame jokes, you’ll either find her eating, singing, or sleeping.”
2021 LEADer Dipti completed her +2 from Bluebird College and is currently pursuing a BA in Sociology and Psychology at St.Xavier’s College, Maitighar. She takes a keen interest in psychology, particularly the state of mind of people at different ages. Hence, she sees herself as a child psychologist in the future.
Shrena recently completed her +2 in management from Ideal Model Higher Secondary School and aims to be a social worker. She was Women LEAD Nepal’s 2021 LEADer and is very passionate about working for environmental issues. She believes that she can make our planet a better place if everyone wants and helps for it. She is currently planning to go to Australia for her further studies.
Goma Didi makes sure whole team gets to work in a very clean and hygienic office space. She has been taking care of homes and their cleanliness for the past 14 years. She loves to cook food and as a typical Nepali person, her favorite food is Daal Bhaat.
Kaptan dai keeps our garden beautiful and makes our office space a fun to work in. His experience in gardening dates to over thirty years. Gardening has always been his passion and he wants to open up a nursery of his own in the near future.
