Nepali Women's Global Network

Board of Directors:

President:  Ms. Sushma Barakoti This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Sushma has been serving as the President of NWGN since 2009 and has been involved with NWGN in various capacities since 2003. Before being elected to the current position, Sushma served as Vice President of the Eastern region for two years. During her tenure as VP, she contributed in finalizing the NWGN by-laws and membership categories. As Vice President, she coordinated the website layout and actively assisted in organizing the first Nepali Women's Conference in August of 2008. In her leadership as the President, NWGN has advocated and rallied for elimination of gender based violence against Nepali women in US, Nepal and around the world among other programs. She works as the Assistant Director at the Women’s Resource Center (WRC), Scranton, Pennsylvania, a non- profit organization committed to end domestic and sexual violence against women and children. Sushma has a Masters in Social Work from Marywood University, Scranton, Pennsylvania. Some of her prior experiences include working as a Program Officer in United Nations Development Program in Nepal’s HIV/AIDS prevention program and as an Area Supervisor with PLAN International Nepal. Sushma has several years of community development experience working in areas such as grassroots organizing, micro-credit loans, Non Formal Education, local governance and HIV/AIDS prevention and control.  Sushma is a trainer and practitioner of Participatory Action Research (PAR), a community based social research methodology. She demonstrates her belief in feminist philosophy and passion for women’s empowerment by supporting two women’s NGOs in Nepal. Sushma is a life member of NEPAN (Nepal Participatory Action Network) and has served on the Executive Board of the Network.

Vice President: Ms. Soni Oli Thapa This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it   

Soni Thapa-Oli is presently a Board Member of NWGN for the Western region and played a key role in organizing the first NWGN Conference. She is a doctoral student of Sociology at Texas Woman’s University, Denton, Texas.  She holds an M.A. in Women’s Studies from the same University, a Diploma in Community Based Development from Canada, a Post Graduate degree in Women’s Studies, and an M.A. in Psychology from Nepal.  Her publication includes “A Preliminary Study of Intimate Partner Violence Among Nepali Women in the United States.”  Currently, for her dissertation, she is conducting a study on adaptation experience of Nepalese living in the United States.

In terms of her work experience, Soni has extensive teaching experience in the field of psychology and served as an executive director for an NGO that focused on women’s empowerment and social development in Nepal. Her research experience includes studies impacting Nepali women pertaining to issues of women’s empowerment, domestic violence, micro-finance, gender, development, race and ethnicity, and immigration. Soni’s goals for the next two years include increasing membership, taking an active role in organizing seminars and conferences, communicating the mission of NWGN to the Nepali community, and working on issues pertaining to Nepali women in the United States and Nepal.

Vice President: Ms. Biva Ranjeet

Biva Ranjeet has served as the Vice President of NWGN since 2009 and has been instrumental in organizing the first NWGN Conference. She also played an integral role in fundraising, and managed the first essay competition. Biva is a Project Manager at Kauffman & Associates, focusing on educational research and evaluation in underserved communities. She holds a Masters in Government from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a Masters in international policy from the George Washington University. In her tenure, Biva hopes to increase the visibility of NWGN, hold fundraisers for the organization and provide support for gaining additional government and foundation funding. She also hopes to increase membership and encourage young Nepali women to become active within the organization. 

Treasurer:  Ms. Yashodha Kunwar

Yashodha Kunwar is a Life Member of NWGN and played an integral role in organizing the first NWGN Conference. She is a senior accountant at Phoenix House Foundation in New York. She holds two advanced business degrees; she has her Master’s in accounting and industrial psychology from Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal and her Master’s in computer science from the New York Institute of Technology in New York. She has extensive work experience and has prior work experience  in the United States as an accountant for TV Products (USA) Inc. in New York and Jinadasa (USA) Ltd. in New York. In Nepal, she worked as an accountant for Silt Consultants (P.) Ltd. in Katmandu, Nepal. Yashoda’s goals for the next two years include promoting awareness of NWGN and increasing NWGN membership through reaching out to the vast network of Nepali women in New York City. Yashoda also hopes to inspire others to donate funds to NWGN to build off of the momentum of fund raising from the first NWGN Conference in August 2008. 

Secretary: Ms. Bhumika Ghimire

Bhumika Ghimire has been serving as Acting Secretary of NWGN. She received  her MBA in Information Technology Management from Schiller International University, Florida. Currently, she is a columnist for UPI Asia Online, Global Voices, Nepal Abroad and News Front Weekly. She hosts a program on international music for WBAA AM920, Purdue University's public radio station. Bhumika’s goal as NWGN Secretary over the next two years is to publicize issues related to Nepali women. In particular, Bhumika is most interested in social and religious issues. She hopes to increase awareness of NWGN through organizing young Nepali women through communicating via Facebook, MySpace and Youtube. Bhumika will also increase awareness of NWGN and its mission through writing articles on women’s issues.

St. Louis Chapter President: Ms. Arati Maleku

Board Members:

Ms. Madhavi Basnet Karki

Madhavi Basnet Karki is a Life Member of NWGN and has served as a legal advisor for NWGN since its inception. She earned a Bachelor of Law degree from Tribhuvan University, Post Graduate degree in International Law from Institute of Social Institute (ISS), Netherlands and Masters in Law from American University, Washington College of Law.    Before migrating to the United States, she worked as an Attorney & Director of South Asia Forum for Human Rights (SAFHR) in Nepal. Currently, she holds the position of Associate Campus Dean and is a faculty member of Business Law at Strayer University. In addition to working full time, Madhavi is the coordinator and founding member for the American Nepal Women’s Association of Greater Washington D.C. She is passionate about human rights issues and has published numerous articles and papers on the subject. Recently, she organized a women’s forum at the 26th ANA Convention.  She has also played a key role in the pro-democracy movement of Nepal in Nepal and in the Washington D.C. Metro area. Madhavi’s goals as a Board Member of NWGN are to increase awareness of human rights issues through her work in this field.

Ms. Selina Shrestha 

Selina Shrestha is an active life-member of NWGN. Currently, she is working as a Mental Health Professional at Friendship House in Scranton, Pennsylvania. She has been working as a therapist since 2005 providing Trauma Focused/Cognitive Behavior Therapy to children and adolescents with emotional and behavioral needs and their families. She deals with children and adolescents, who are the victims of abuse and/or neglect on a daily basis. She has her Masters in Social Work from Marywood University in Scranton, Pennsylvania and her Bachelors in Social Work from St. Xavier’s Campus in Kathmandu, Nepal. She has the experience of working with victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse. Her other experiences include involvement with different NGOs and INGOs in Nepal in the fields of research, advocacy, community organization, awareness campaigns, income generation projects for local women’s groups, community activities for local children’s groups, housing projects, etc. She also worked as a news presenter in a community radio station in Kathmandu, Nepal. Her areas of interest include well-being of children and adolescents; women’s empowerment; research, awareness and advocacy related to domestic violence, sexual abuse and child abuse and/or neglect.

Ms. Shobha Hamal Gurung 

Shobha  Hamal Gurung received her Ph.D. in Sociology from Northeastern University, Boston.  Soon after her graduation, she started to teach in Women’s Studies at the University of Connecticut, Storrs. She joined Southern Utah University in Fall of 2007. Since then, she has been chairing and coordinating the annual Women’s Week Conference. Her areas of teaching and research include gender and culture; human trafficking and the sex trade; immigration, migration and transnational issues; globalization; and South Asia. Her doctoral dissertation was on “Women in Factory-Based and Home-Based Carpet Production in Nepal: Beyond the Formal and Informal Economy.” Her current research examines the lives of Nepali female migrants/immigrants who work in the informal economic or service sectors in the US.
Shobha  has worked with many organizations both in the U.S. and in Nepal, particularly in relation to women’s issues. During her graduate studies in Boston, she worked in the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective; and Respond-Shelter for Battered Women. In Nepal between1998-2001, she organized and coordinated a national-level workshop in Kathmandu on Women in Nepal’s Socio-Economic Development. During that time, she served as a consultant for the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and for the World Conversation Union (ICUN) in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Ms. Bharati Gautam 

Bharati Gautam is a life member of NWGN. She organized the first Nepali women’s poetry competition that took place at the first NWGN Conference. She holds her MA in Economics from Tribhuban University in Nepal and her BA in Nepali literature from Dhankuta Campus (TU) in Nepal. She has served as a university librarian at Dhankuta Campus and as an assistant lecturer at Kanya Campus (Girl’s college) in Biratnagar, Nepal. She served as the first female sub-editor for Gorkhapatra Sansthan Nepal. She taught elementary school in Nepal worked as a reporter at a women’s vocational training center in Nepal. She served as the editor for NASeA bulletin from 2000 to 2002. She is a guest editor and a regular contributor to the bi-weekly news paper “Nepal Kabar” from Boston.  In 2006, she held the post of President for the International  Nepalese Literary Society in Massachusetts. She also served as the Vice President of the International Nepalese Literary Society Headquarters. She was the coordinator of the First International Nepalese literary conference by the International Nepalese Society last August. Which was held in New York.  She is recently awarded with “devekota satavarsiki samman”  for  her  continuous effort  to promote and preserve Nepalese literature from   abroad. She continues to write short stories, poetry, and essays. She recently published a book of poems Aakash mathiko Sahar in 2007.Her second book a memoir is coming out soon. Her goal as a Board Member is to empower Nepali women both in Nepal and elsewhere to speak for speak for themselves. She encourages women to express their emotions through open discussions and through writing. She also hopes to address issues that Nepali women face once they leave Nepal.

Ms. Mamta K Singh This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  

Dr. Mamta Singh graduate from St. Mary’s/St. Xavier’s School, Kathmandu. She further obtained three master’s degrees in Science (Biology, Natural Resource Management, and Environmental Science) from TU  (Nepal), NILS  (Norway), and OU (US) respectively; and a doctoral degree from the Texas State University. Dr. Singh is currently working as a Biology faculty at Martin University, IN.  Additionally, Dr. Singh is actively involved in various Scientific and Educational Forums: President- South Asian Student Association at Texas State University; Associate member- Sigma Xi Scientific Society; Tri-Beta Biological Honor Society, Kappa Zeta Chapter; Life member-The National Scholars Honor Society; Student member: TAS, NARST, NABS,  and NORAD; Executive member-Nepal Terian Association in America (ANTA).

Education has always been a priority Mamta's my life. She sees learning and teaching as a medium through which shecan communicate to and enlighten members of society on science and science education, a field that fascinates and excites her. Mamta is committed to work in the field of “Science and Science Education.”

Past Presidents:

Dr. Bidya Ranjeet 2006-2008

Bidya Ranjeet is the immediate Past President of NWGN, Vice President of NRN National Coordination Council of USA, and Woman Country Representative for NRN from the United States. Bidya is also the Director of Student Support Services (SSS) at the University of Connecticut. She has worked at UCONN since 1986, beginning her career as a counselor in both the Student Support Services and Upward Bound programs. She received both her M.A. in Education Administration and her Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from the University of Connecticut. Before coming to the University, Bidya was part of the Nepali educational system as a teacher at Vanasthali High School and also as a co-founder and principal of the Indreni School. While Bidya specializes in facilitating the enrollment, retention, and degree completion of underrepresented students from post-secondary institutions, she maintains a steadfast commitment to social issues such as diversity and community. She serves as an Adjunct Faculty at UCONN’s Women’s Studies Department, teaching classes on gender within the global perspective. Through her volunteer and professional involvement, Bidya works to further the interests of underrepresented groups in her own community and throughout the world. She has been tireless in her advocating and assisting efforts on behalf of women in South Asia and of South Asian heritage through her involvement in TSAT (The South Asian Tree) and the Nepali Women's Global Network. Bidya's efforts extend to scholarly contributions as well; she is one of the first Nepali women living in America to shed light on issues confronting women of South Asian heritage including sensitive topics like domestic violence.  Her academic work can most recently be found in her contributors to two anthologies, Body Evidence and Living our Religion.

Mrs. Annapurna Deo 2000-2006 

Ex-Officio Members:

Ms. Sandra Hunnicut

Ms. Bidya Ranjeet This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Life Members:

Annual Members

Student Members

Advisors:

Ms. Annapurna Deo This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Mr. Shyam Karki

Mr. Suman Timsina

Legal Issues Advisors:

Ms. Pooja Regmi Adhikari

Ms. Roshana Karki

Web Master:

Mr. Navnit S. Baral

Navnit Baral was recruited to the first NWGN meeting in Virginia in 2004 by his wife. He volunteered  many hours to transform the website from what it used to be to one that is based on cascading style sheets and frames using frontpage in a windows server to keep a consistent format. At some point a web registration system was setup to register online members however it got phased out since it was not advertised enough.  Hopefully the aspect of the site will be revived shortly. Navnit eventually transitioned the website to the current platform and style with the help of Jiten Shrestha a fellow web enthusiast and joomla fan.
Navnit works for the United Parcel Service as a Business Analyst and has been with the company for the last 7 years. He works with helping designing web based business applications for the company.
Navnit also loves to keep busy playing sports including tennis, soccer, skiing, and cycling. He enjoys free time taking the kids (daughter Amaya and son Atulya) to the park to fly kites, go cycling, and play kiddy baseball.  Navnit also enjoys cooking all kinds of food that doesn't take over 30 minutes to prepare.