Jolly Amatya has been honored by the Metropolitan New York Chapter of the US National Committee for UN Women as a trailblazer for gender equality during its 30th anniversary event “Champions of Change: Stand Up for Women Worldwide” that took place at the Harmonie Club in New York recently.
The Metropolitan New York Chapter is the largest and oldest member of the US National Committee for UN Women, an NGO dedicated to support UN Women through education, advocacy and fundraising.
Hosted by Emmy-wining TV host Rita Cosby, the event was keynoted by Dr. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, UN Under Secretary General and Executive Director of UN Women. Susie Ellis, Chairman & CEO of the Global Wellness Summit and Global Wellness Institute; and Erija Karp, Founder and CEO of Cornerstone Capital Inc, and Founding Board member of the Sustainable Accounting Standards Board, too, were honored along with Amatya during the event.
“The Chapter celebrated its 30th during a pivotal moment in the history of the United Nations and UN Women. In adopting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, nations are committed to 17 goals to ensure lives of dignity for all, notable including Goal 5 for Gender Equality”, a press release by the Chapter read.
Jolly Amatya had first come to the Youth Assembly (YA) at the United Nations as a delegate for Nepal. Later in 2015, she was appointed the Co-Chair and next year – in 2016, she became the first ever Nepali to be the Chair of Youth Assembly. She is directly involved in developing programming for the YA, a three-day youth conference held twice per year.
During her eight years of professional experience in the United States, the 27-year-old has worked with diverse administrations and bodies such as the United Nations, UN Women, WFUNA, the World Bank, Habitat for Humanity and ActionAid International. She has also been working with various other organizations in the US and Nepal for the betterment of the status of women and youth.
Amatya has represented Nepal at the White House AAPI Youth Forum, White House Initiative on Asian America and Pacific Islanders. She was also nominated to attend the United State of Women Summit in 2016 at the White House. In 2015, she was honored with the ‘Young Global Leader Achievement’ award by Global Connections for Women Foundation in New York.
Born and raised in Nepal, Jolly Amatya finished her higher secondary level education from St. Mary’s School. She went to the US for her higher education and pursued her undergraduate studies in Finance/Accounting from Coe College, Iowa and Harvard Univesrity, Boston.
