"I could’ve found my courage earlier. But who then had the time to meet herself?" - Parveen Shakir

I am joining PulseWire for the opportunity to gain a better sense of myself online. I've joined online communities of women in the past through my work but have always hesitated to reveal too much about myself, my ambitions, and my thoughts. I hope to learn and collaborate.

I currently work as the Program Associate for Asia and Oceania grantmaking team at the Global Fund for Women. In this role, I participated in Isis International's Activist School for Feminist Development Communications where I met wonderful women from across Asia who use media to advance the lives of women in their communities. We shared experiences of great passion and success, as well as fear and anxiety in using media technology. We hope to continue our conversation though an online platform, but have yet to agree on one.

In addition to my role at GFW, I helped co-found the Devata Giving Circle. The Devata Giving Circle is a group of Cambodian-American women working together to raise resources for organizations that empower Cambodian women and girls in the US. We came together to promote the values of democratic, collaborative giving, and we are proud to represent a new image of Cambodian women who are powerful philanthropists.

A defining experience for my career is my time spent working with the Women's Organization and Network for Human Rights Advocacy (WONETHA), the first sex-worker led advocacy organization in Kampala, Uganda. With WONETHA, I completed my thesis on the sex worker's lived experience of poverty, based on her/his sexuality. WONETHA taught me about who I am as a feminist and a woman.

I grew up in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, from 1989 to 2003. I am half-Cambodian, half-American. I earned a BSocSc in Politics and International Relations at the University of Manchester in the UK, and a MSc in International Development and Management from Lund University, Sweden. I currently live in Oakland, California.