People

Prapti has ten years of experience advising as well as working in nonprofit and private sectors, with clients in Asia, Africa, and the United States. At present, she works at International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, where she provides private sector clients with gender-specific advice with the goal to improve women’s access to financial solutions and employment opportunities in emerging markets.

Currently based in the U.S., Prapti was born and brought up in Nepal. She is passionate about women’s empowerment and serving Nepal. Having gone through the high school system in Nepal herself, she is thrilled to serve on the U.S. Board of Women LEAD Nepal, an organization that strongly echoes her belief in the power of women co-creating a better future, and has so far made a remarkable impact on the lives of young Nepali women by providing them with skills and opportunities to become the leaders of tomorrow. Prapti has an MBA with a concentration in sustainable development from the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at the Brandeis University.

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.

Shashank has more than seven years of combined experience working in public accounting, non-profit and private sector. He spent north of four years in public accounting where he served several non-profit clients, school districts and educational institutions, and public manufacturing companies. He played an integral role as a team leader while developing and maintaining client relationships, assessing risks, identifying gaps/control deficiencies in accounting processes and delivering results with recommendations to management and Audit Committee Board members. While working in the non-profit sector, he worked as a compliance officer at a Washington DC-based organization. Currently, he works for a financial institute in their Governance and Risk Management department where he participates in Risk and Controls Self-Assessments, focusing on identification of potential blind spots and proactive risk management amongst other things. Shashank is a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) and Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in Virginia.

As a Nepali who has spent most of his life in Nepal, he has unique insights into the challenges facing young Nepali women and thus an exceptional understanding of how to best help them become the leaders they are capable of becoming. He is excited to be part of the Board for Women LEAD and hopes to take on this role with the same commitment toward perfection that has led him to success in many of his previous roles.

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.

Lauren joins the board of Women LEAD with an extensive background in fundraising. Lauren entered American politics nearly 10 years ago to work with political campaigns and organizations around the United States. In these roles, she has successfully raised millions of dollars in campaign funds. Lauren currently lives in Washington, DC continuing work in political fundraising.

Outside of Lauren’s involvement in politics and Women LEAD, Lauren volunteers with Taste of the South, a non-profit that raises funds for southern US-based charities, and Junior League, a women’s organization committed to promoting volunteerism.

Lauren was born and raised in Louisville, KY. She attended college at the University of Kentucky and La Universidad de Pablo de Olavide for a semester in Spain.  She graduated magna cum lade from the Gatton School of Business with a degree in Marketing and International Business.