Pratikshya Pradhan Joshi worked as a Nepali language teacher for twenty-two years. She is also a published author.

Gita Rasaili is the Vice-Chairperson of the Conflict Victims’ National Network. She has dedicated her life to fighting for justice for those affected during Nepal’s civil war.

Preeti Thapa has worked with The Asia Foundation for sixteen years, currently as the Deputy Country Representative for Nepal. She is a peace builder, lawyer, mediator, and certified master trainer in mediation and dialogue with more than twenty-one years of experience in law, human rights, gender, peace building, and governance.

Ganga Maya Adhikari’s son was killed during the Maoist insurgency. With her husband, they went on a hunger strike looking
for justice, resulting in her husband’s death. She has dedicated her life to seeking justice for them ever since, including hunger
striking for almost eight years.

Nilam Poudel is a model, actress, modelling coach, makeup artist and brand ambassador. She realised she was transgender after reading an article in the newspaper when she was at school. She taught herself English by watching Angelina Jolie movies for a year.

Shreya Joshi has recently graduated with her Bachelor of Business Management/Bachelor of Law. She is currently working as a
legal consultant for Unilever Nepal Limited in Kathmandu. She is a passionate debater with a long involvement with the Debate
Network Nepal. She represented Nepal in the World Universities Debating Championships in 2017.

Sneha Koirala is an artist and the creator of Studio Sarcastic, a Nepali brand of lifestyle products filled with quirky humour which she hopes to take global.

Kalpana Pradhan has written over forty children’s books in Nepal.

Shanti Adhikari is the founder of CWISH, an organisation which has celebrated 25 years of working with women and child domestic workers in Nepal. She was a member of the first Constituent Assembly Parliament in 2008 after the civil war in Nepal. She has dedicated her career to creating change for women and children in Nepal.

Laxmi Sharma was Asia’s first female tempo driver. She served as a Panchakanya when she was a child, one of a group of five
virgins who serve as flower girls to the royal family. She founded and successfully ran a button business for many years in
Kathmandu. Laxmi also sits on the board of KAT, the Kathmandu Animal Treatment Centre, which works with street dogs.

Dr Sarita Shrestha was the first woman in Nepal to have a Doctor of Medicine in ayurvedic medicine. Her practice focuses on ayurvedic gynaecology, particularly supporting women with fertility issues and providing free to low-cost health care to rural women. She travels the world consulting and teaching ayurvedic fertility practices and is one of the only female ayurvedic obstetricians teaching in America.

Sangita Kadariya is the Executive Director of Shikha Shoe Industries, one of Nepal’s oldest and largest shoe companies. She has led the company’s five hundred employees through times of significant growth.

Krishna Maya Kadariya, now aged seventy six, was married at the age of ten and had her first child when she was seventeen.
Her youngest son was born on the day of her husband’s funeral, leaving her widowed at aged twenty eight with six children
under the age of eleven.

Sangita Magar survived an acid attack when she was in class ten at school. She is currently studying a Bachelor of Business Management.

Sapana Pradhan Malla was appointed to the bench of the Supreme Court of Nepal in December 2016 where she continues her fight for stronger legal and social protection for women. She has led a varied career, each step significantly contributing to reducing the one hundred and fifty six laws which discriminated against women when she began her journey. She has worked as a Public Interest Lawyer on many of the cases which resulted in recognition of women’s rights including rape in marriage, inheritance rights for women and confidentiality of people affected by sexual crimes. She sat as a member of the legislative committee which reviews bills before they are passed by Parliament and was a core member of the drafting committee of many significant bills ensuring women’s rights under the law. She also served as a member of the Constituent Assembly Drafting
Committee for Nepal’s Constitution. In 2008, she was the recipient of the Gruber International Women’s Right Award for
advancing gender equality

Professor Doctor Ananda Shova Tamrakar is one of Nepal’s most well-known environmental experts with over forty years’ experience in the field. She completed her Masters in Environmental Studies at the Technical University of Dresden in Germany and her Master of Science in Zoology from Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu. Although technically retired from her career as an academic after thirty eight years of teaching, she remains very active in her vermiculture (worm composting) business and
sharing her passion for our environment with others. She also works with several organisations such as the Trans-Himalayan Environment and Livelihood Program.

Shrinkhala Khatiwada wears many hats and describes herself as a “woman in progress”. She is an architect, a former Miss Nepal and a social worker who is passionate about her country.

Dawa Yanzee Sherpa worked as a porter high in the Himalayas for many years before marrying a French citizen. She now runs a home stay in Kathmandu.

Shailee Basnet is a mountaineer turned comedian and motivational speaker. She is the coordinator of the Seven Summits Women team, the world’s first all-female team to summit the highest peak on each of the seven continents. She now spends her time giving motivational speeches around the world and empowering sex-trafficking survivors, providing them with the skills and experience to become financially independent through the tourism industry.

Dev Kumari Das is from Sarlahi district in central Nepal. She is a campaigner for women’s and children’s rights, particularly focused on preventing child marriages. She has four children, two sons and two daughters.

Shila Thapa founded the Down Syndrome Society, Nepal and the Satyam Day Care Centre after experiencing the lack of support for people with Down Syndrome following the birth of her son in 2002.

Haushala Thapa founded the Children and Youth First Organisation at the age of twenty-two after working with the local community to rescue fourteen children from an unsafe environment in an orphanage where she was volunteering. She now supports over eighty children and works in collaboration with Life Vision Academy to educate under-privileged children.

Bandana Rana is currently the Vice-Chair of the Committee of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). She is the first Nepali member to sit on this committee. She has been an advocate for women’s rights in Nepal for almost thirty years including being a founding member of Saathi, an organisation which works with victims of domestic violence, and Sancharika Samhua which harnesses the potential of the media to advocate for change for women.

Jesselina Rana spent much of her educational life in India but since growing up inspired by her mother’s work as a women’s rights activist, she always had a desire to contribute to social change. After graduating with her law degree and a plan to pursue a career in human rights law in future, she connected with Shubhangi, someone she had known as a child, keen to interview her about her interest in engineering for her Nepali Feminist page online. The interview led to brainstorming about ways they could
contribute in Nepal, resulting in the creation of Pad2Go.

Stuti Thapa knew from a young age that she was an entrepreneur. She founded her business, MyEarth Eco Bags, in 2015 during Nepal’s economic blockade.

Shubhangi Rana completed a Bachelor of Civil Engineering in India and wanted to give something back to Nepal before starting her masters. A chance reunion with childhood acquaintance, Jesselina, led them to found Pad2Go, a social enterprise promoting menstrual health management in Nepal.