Kiran Ahuja
| Kiran Ahuja | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Citizenship | United States |
| Alma mater | University of Georgia School of Law |
| Occupation | Executive Director of The White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders |
Kiran Ahuja is the Chief of Staff at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.[1] She assumed that position after serving for six years as the director of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. An India-born American, she has also been a lawyer with the United States Department of Justice and a founding director of a non-profit, the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum.
Biography
Ahuja was raised in Savannah, Georgia and she and her family were immigrants from India.[2] She started college at Emory University, but quickly transferred to Spelman College and then went on to the University of Georgia School of Law, earning her J.D. degree in 1998.[3]
After school, she went to work for the Department of Justice (DOJ), where she hoped to do civil rights work for the United States.[4] Ahuja recalls that she found the pace of the DOJ to be too slow for her and left to create change through non-profit work.[4]
Ahuja was the founding executive director of the National Asian Pacific Women's Forum (NAPAWF).[5] She worked there from 2003 to 2008, during which time she turned the NAPAWF from a volunteer organization, to one with paid staff.[2]
Ahuja was appointed as the executive director of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (WHIAAPI) on December 14, 2009.[2] In this capacity, she has continued to work towards helping Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) access services from the United States federal government.[6] Her work has included increasing health care for AAPI and also inter-agency cooperation between WHIAAPI and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to "address exposure to health toxins by nail salon workers," many of who are Asian American.[6] Other initiatives have been public to private, such as translating essential information about the Gulf Oil Spill for AAPI individuals still struggling with understanding English.[6] Ahuja has also shared her own experiences, helping to "destigmatize depression and suicide when she opened up about her brother's suicide."[7] Reappropriate stated that it was an important step towards ending "the stigma against mental illness among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.[7]
She is also a regular contributor to the Huffington Post.[8]
References
- ↑ https://www.opm.gov/about-us/our-people-organization/senior-staff-bios/kiran-ahuja/
- 1 2 3 "Kiran Ahuja, Executive Director of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders—Biography". U.S. Department of Education. 16 March 2010. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
- ↑ "Five Questions with Kiran Ahuja". Asian American Press. 2 March 2014. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
- 1 2 Khandhar, Parag (2007). "Building a New Paradigm for the Women's Movement: Spotlight on Kiran Ahuja". The Modern American. 3 (2). Retrieved 6 September 2015.
- ↑ "Kiran Ahuja, Founding Executive Director of NAPAWF, Appointed to Lead the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders" (PDF). National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum. November 2009. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
- 1 2 3 Singh, Tejinder (4 September 2012). "AAPI Chief Kiran Ahuja Outlines White House Efforts to Involve Communities". Indian American Times. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
- 1 2 "Obama Advisor & Director of WH Initiative on #AAPI Shares Family History of Mental Illness". Reappropriate. 8 August 2014. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
- ↑ "Kiran Ahuja". Huffington Post. Retrieved 5 September 2015.