Founder's Story

Amuda Mishra

Being a first-generation woman of color herself Amuda is a feminist working relentlessly to amplify the voices of women and girls of color in the community, especially in the South Asian and Southeast Asian Communities. Amuda founded Ujyalo Foundation in 2014 with a vision to enhance the number of women and girls of color, especially from an underprivileged background to have meaningful representation and participation in leadership roles. But when the organization started there were very few women of color who could mentor and guide her. The space was either overcrowded by men or non-Asian women who could be allies but not co-strugglers in her quest. Frustrated with the representation of South Asian women in mentorship roles or even as role models, Amuda started leadership capacity building programs for women to come forward with their leadership, mentorship programs where white women allies could mentor Asian women to build their capacity to mentor other Asian women and girls and connecting with other Asian women in the community to start after school career coaching programs, community service programs, women leadership programs, workshops on deconstructing power and privilege, and a building sense of agency to create a safe space to build the capacity of South Asian women.