A Kashmiri born in Haridwar, UP, India, the political activist was a board member of the Indian American Leadership Initiative
President Joe Biden has announced his intent to nominate India born political activist, women’s rights advocate, and human rights campaigner, Shefali Razdan Duggal as the US ambassador to the Netherlands.
A Kashmiri born in Haridwar, UP, India, Razdan Duggal, 50, moved to the US at a very young age and grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio.
A mother of two, she served as National Co-Chair of Women for Biden, and as a Deputy National Finance Chair at the Democratic National Committee, according to the White House announcement.
Appointed to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum Council by then President Barack Obama, she continues to serve as a Western Regional Advisor.
Razdan Duggal is a San Francisco Committee member of Human Rights Watch, a member of the Wake Forest University Leadership and Character Council, and served on the National Board of Directors for Emily’s List.
She is the recipient of numerous civic awards, including being recognized with the Western Regional Leadership Award by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, as a Community Hero by the California State Assembly, and as one of the Most Powerful Women in California by the National Diversity Council.
Read: Clinton ‘would be an incredibly thoughtful, balanced president’: ‘Hillblazer’ Shefali Razdan Duggal (May 22, 2016)
Razdan Duggal is a graduate of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, a BS in Mass Communication, with a minor in Political Science. She received her MA in Media Ecology from New York University.
She was also on the National Finance Committee for Hillary for America, the 2016 Hillary Clinton Presidential Campaign, National Advisory Council.
Razdan Duggal was on the National Finance Committee for Obama’s 2012 re-election Campaign, additionally serving as an Obama Victory Trustees Co-Chair and Northern California Finance Committee Member.
She also was active during Obama’s 2008 presidential Campaign, where she was a Trustee for the DNC South Asian American Leadership Council.
Razdan Duggal previously worked with Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential Campaign, where she was a member of the campaign’s Northern California Steering Committee and the Women for Hillary Committee.
She was also on the Finance Committee for the Kamala Harris for California Attorney General Campaign and was a member of her Transition Team.
Razdan Duggal served as Executive Director of Indus Women Leaders, a national South Asian women’s organization, and was both a graduate and on the Advisory Board of Emerge California, a political leadership training program for Democratic women.
She was also a board member of the Indian American Leadership Initiative, an organization focused on promoting South Asian political participation, and on the National Advisory Board of Doctors for America.
Read: Biden names Indian-origin activist Shefali Razdan as envoy to Netherlands (March 12, 2022)
Razdan Duggal was also on the National Advisory Board of Smithsonian Museum’s ‘Beyond Bollywood: Indian Americans Shape the Nation’ initiative and a Senior Advisor for South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA).
Earlier in her career, she worked as a political analyst at Staton Hughes, a political strategy firm.