People

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.

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.