Officers
Ivy Koek
Co-Chair
Soka Gakkai International
Ivy Koek is a Representative to the UN for Soka Gakkai International (SGI) based in New York and Focal Point for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment. Engaged in SGI’s work in gender justice, sustainability and climate change, peace, disarmament, and human rights mainly through its nonformal education approach since joining in 2013. She is currently the Co-Chair of the NGO Committee on the Status of Women, New York (NGO CSW/NY) and has served on the Executive Committee since 2014 serving various roles including the Co-chair of the Young Professionals Subcommittee. Ivy’s prior work has taken her from her home in the U.S. to Venezuela and Japan in the fields of education, study abroad, editing and translation. Some of her past projects included issues such as women peacebuilders as well as child labor. Ivy is passionate about young women’s leadership, building the culture of peace, bridging divides, creating inclusive civil society spaces and interfaith collaboration.
Pamela Morgan
Co-Chair
Zonta International
Pamela Morgan, chair of Zonta International’s United Nations Committee leads teams in NY, Bangkok, Geneva, Paris, and Vienna. A tireless worker, she is an activist dedicated to uplifting the status of women. Pamela serves on the Executive Committees of NGOCSW/NY and the NGO Committee on Migration. A retired instructional technologist, Pamela is also the founder and Executive Director of Woman in Media-Newark, a not-for-profit organization that educates the public about global issues facing women using film, video and new media as its platform.
Rosa Lizarde
Vice Chair
Servicios Ecumenicos para la Reconciliacion y Reconstruccion
Rosa Lizarde is a Mexican-American feminist advocating for economic, environmental, gender and racial justice. She currently serves as the Global Director of the Feminist Task Force (FTF), a global women’s rights coalition calling for gender equality to end poverty, founded under the auspices of the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) in 2005. Her advocacy, policy and campaigning experience has been honed at the UN and through global processes focusing on women’s economic justice, poverty eradication and women’s rights. She is a founding member and the current Co-Convener of the Women’s Working Group on Financing for Development (FfD), a network which advocates for financing for gender equality, systemic reform and global governance. Rosa began her international development work in Central America where she served as a Peace Corps Volunteer and trainer in the late 1980’s. She later worked at the Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO) with the feminist movement leader, Bella Abzug, and other members of the board, including Nobel Peace Prize recipient Wangari Maathai. She was the Global Networking Coordinator, fostering global relations with women’s organizations and monitoring of UN conferences and other global forums in the late ‘90s. Nationally, Rosa is involved in social justice actions at the US/Mexico border and supporting many LGBTQI causes. Rosa is a graduate of Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs where she specialized in international human rights and Latin America. She lives with her partner, their teenage twins, their dog and cats in a rural community north of New York City.
Gillian D’Souza Nazareth
Communications Secretary
Red Dot Foundation
Gillian D’Souza Nazareth is an Economics and Sociology graduate, with a Masters in Marketing. In 2015 she transitioned from a career in commercial airline management to Social protection and Development. She is the current Director of Global Partnerships and Principal Representative to the United Nations for the Red Dot Foundation(https://www.safecity.in/). As the current vice-chairperson of the NGO Committee on Social Development, she works on expanding advocacy in the virtual space, as a way to educate and energize people to rally the cause of social protections. In addition, Gillian is currently pursuing dual certification in Sustainable Development and Mindfulness. She is an amateur gardener and a trained classical Indian (Bharatnatyam) dancer, last but not the least, Gillian also volunteers at her local church and is PGC (Protecting Gods Children) compliant. Gillian's preferred pronouns are she/her/hers.
Luisa Kislinger
Recording Secretary
United Nations Foundation
Luisa Kislinger is a feminist advocate, writer, and international consultant with extensive experience working on gender equality and women’s rights issues at the international, regional and grassroots levels.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in International Studies and a Master’s degree in Communications, both from Universidad Central de Venezuela (UCV). She is a former career diplomat from the Venezuelan foreign service and worked at the Permanent Mission of Venezuela to the UN where she was one of the lead negotiators during the Beijing +5 process and facilitated the adoption of several gender-related resolutions.
She has also worked for UNFPA and has been a consultant for different organizations, including UN Women, ICASO, and the European Union, among others. Luisa has led research and advocacy around women’s rights violations in Venezuela, particularly in the areas women and media, sexual and reproductive health and rights and gender-based violence. In 2016 she founded the “Asociación Civil Mujeres en Línea” from where she worked jointly with different local and regional NGOs. Luisa is the co-author of the book “Doble Crimen”, published in 2021, about the story of Linda Loaiza, a survivor of sexual violence who took her case to the Inter American Court of Human Rights.
Luisa is currently a Senior Manager for UN Advocacy and Engagement within the Girls and Women Team at the United Nations Foundation (UNF).
Rahel Beigel
Treasurer
Women's Refugee Commission
Rahel Beigel is an advocate and strategist specializing in humanitarian policy, international human rights law, and conflict and security. She is currently the UN Representative and Senior Advocacy Officer for the Women’s Refugee Commission where she focuses on UN Security Council influencing and engagement with UN agencies. Rahel’s expertise includes forced migration, crisis response advocacy, Women, Peace and Security agenda; SOGIESC equity, and inclusion, gender mainstreaming, women's and LGBTIQ+ civil society participation in UN processes, and feminist foreign policy. She has over 15 years of experience leading civil society and government initiatives for legal and policy reform to advance gender equality, health equity and access to justice among refugees, asylum-seekers, and criminalized and historically oppressed populations.
Rahel serves on the board of the Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund, is a member of the Feminist Humanitarian Network, and serves as Treasurer on the NGO CSW Executive Committee. She holds an MA in International Affairs from The New School, a post graduate certification in forced migration studies from the Zolberg Institute of Migration and Mobility and has studied Global Health at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.
Members-at-Large
Rosemary Barberet
Member-at-Large
International Sociological Association
Rosemary Barberet is UN Representative for the International Sociological Association and Criminologists without Borders. She is professor of sociology and international criminal justice at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York, USA. She has been attending the CSW since 2006 and organizes NGO CSW/NY parallel events on women and girls as victim/survivors, criminal justice professionals, and on women in conflict with the law. She is the author of the award-winning book, Women, Crime and Criminal Justice: A Global Enquiry (Routledge, 2014) and was editor in chief of the journal, Feminist Criminology from 2014-2018. She has co-edited special issues of academic journals with presentations from the past three NGO CSW fora. She is committed to bringing relevant research to the fore in UN and civil society venues, and is also dedicated to educating her colleagues and students about the work of the United Nations and NGO CSW. Dr. Barberet is also a frequent attendee of the sessions of the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice. Fluent in English, Spanish and French, and a national of the USA and Spain, she is keen to use her language and cultural skills to enhance the visibility of NGO CSW/NY.
Sulekha Frank
Member-at-Large
International Alliance of Women
Sulekha Frank is driven by innovative and creative means of social responsibility and has fourteen years of experience in gender justice and seven years of experience in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. She finds joy in gender bias policy building and inclusivity matrixes with the intent to build intersectional partnerships.
As a Lead Advisor at The NYC Commission on Human Rights she is dedicated to fostering dialogue and engagement among our cities most diverse communities by building partnerships between community organizations and government. She currently serves as a lead advisor to the NGO Commission on the Status of Women a UNESCO approved civil representation platform for the voices and leadership of feminists and women’s rights organizations to have a global lobby for their inclusion in the UN deliberations in pursuit of gender equality. She also serves on the Board of Carroll Gardens Association, a hyper-local organization working to build DEI in low-wage worker industries.
Saphira Rameshfar
Member-at-Large
Baha’i International Community
Saphira Rameshfar is a Representative of the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations Headquarters in New York. She has served as Co-Chair of the Faith and Feminism Working Group to the United Nations, Co-Chair of the Working Group on Girls to the United Nations, and on the Youth Steering Committee to the United Nations Department of Global Communications. Prior to this, Saphira was at the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs headquarters in New York working on capacity development policy and as an Australian, she worked for the Australian Federal Government on national policy in Canberra. Ms. Rameshfar has worked for over a decade on projects aimed at the empowerment of youth in Australia as well as in communities throughout the Asia Pacific region and North and South America. She holds a Bachelor of Economics, Bachelor of Applied Science and a Masters of International Law (Australian National University).
Houry Geudelekian
Past Chair
Unchained At Last
Houry Geudelekian is a global leader in intersectional feminist network organizing, spearheading collaborative movements to achieve transformational change in gender equality in the UN space. Currently, she is the UN Coordinator of Unchained At Last, an ECOSOC-accredited organization fighting to stop early marriage in the USA, and Chair of the NGO Committee on the Status of Women/New York.
Geudelekian has skillfully led campaigns, forums, and coalitions for global policy change. As Chair of NGO CSW/NY, she spearheaded the Beijing+25 campaign as well as convened a global Civil Society Advisory Group to support UN Women’s Generation Equality Forums (GEF). She leads high-level engagement with UN Agencies, civil society networks, Member States, and other actors to advance policy efforts on care-work, child marriage, gender-based violence, SRHR, and other important topics. Geudelekian organized numerous multilateral forums which generated over 25,000 participants and $40 billion committed towards gender equality. She brings dedication, passion and humor to a challenging field, and has been seen making the UN Secretary General laugh on gender-equality panels at UNHQ.
Across numerous non-profits and academic institutions, Geudelekian is an effective force for enacting change at the local, national, and global levels. Prior to being elected as Chair of NGO CSW/NY, Geudelekian served as the committee’s Advisor, Executive Committee Member, Communication Secretary and Program Manager. She also served as Co-Chair of the Working Group on Girls, Co-Chair of NYC4CEDAW, UN Coordinator of the Armenian Relief Society.
Born in Beirut, Lebanon to an Armenian family, Geudelekian moved to New York City in the late ‘70s, started a business that grew to over 30 team members and 2,000 constituents. This business continues to flourish, although she has transitioned to full time work in the human-rights field. Houry is fluent in Armenian and English as well as spoken Arabic and French. She survives by meditating and practicing yoga.
STAFF
Interns
Devan Zingler
Program Manager & NGO CSW Forum Coordinator
Devan Zingler (she/they) is a queer feminist with a degree in Politics & Human Rights with a minor in Religious Studies from Marymount Manhattan College.
During her senior year, she was an intern with NGO CSW/NY where she helped plan for the NGO CSW64 Forum. She became Program Manager at NGO CSW/NY after her internship ended, managing day-to-day operations and coordinating the annual NGO CSW Forum. She is also the Co-Chair of NGO CSW/NY's Youth Leaders & Young Professionals, a community of young people and youth advocates who are passionate about global gender equality and looking to engage in or learn about UN processes. Devan also served as the Civil Society Advisory Group (CSAG) Coordinator for the Generation Equality Forum (GEF).
Devan’s main interests are gender equality, LGBTQ+ rights, climate justice, religious studies, and animal rights. In her free time, she loves to spend time with animals, do yoga, and crochet.
Tanitra Partivit
Web Producer
Tanitra has ten years of experience working with various non-profits, implementing online marketing campaigns, as well as managing social media and website content. Her professional experience includes working with various non-profits including Friends of UNFPA, Advancing Human Rights, and HIAS. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations with a concentration in Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, and Security of East Asia. She is a native Queens New Yorker with a lot of pride in her community. She still lives on the same block she grew up on. Additionally, Tanitra is a classically trained chef and a graduate of the International Culinary Institute.
Carla Cordova
CSW68 Social Media & Communications Intern
Carla is a current Master's student in Media Studies and Social Justice at Queens College. She also holds a Bachelor's Degree in Social Communication and a minor in Audiovisual Production at the National University of San Marcos (Peru). Carla has worked in communications and audiovisual production for 8 years, designing strategies and digital content for education and civil organizations for women’s rights and mental health in Peru and Chile. This year, she became a Fellow of the Salzburg Academy on Media & Global Change (Austria).
Audiovisual portfolio: https://carlacportfolio.tumblr.com
Annabel Gregg
CSW68 Advocacy & Administrative Intern
Annabel is a second year at NYU Wagner, pursuing her MPA in Public & Nonprofit Management and Policy specializing in Public Policy Analysis. She is the Founder and Board President of the Water Insecurity Correction Coalition, a youth-led 501c3 nonprofit that combats emerging water insecurity crises across the United States. She is focused on advancing environmental justice policy, having worked as the Policy, Resilience, and Environmental Justice Intern at the Washington State Dept. of Natural Resources, and as a Summer Institute member at LSU’s Coastal Ecosystem Design Studio.
Annabel has a BA in Political Science from CUNY Hunter College, where she fell in love with New York City. At NGO CSW/NY, Annabel is excited to work to combat gender inequality by seeking a healthy, equitable global environment for all.
Rachel Guerreiro
CSW68 Advocacy & Administrative Intern
Rachel is currently a Master’s student in Political Science with a concentration in United Nations and Global Policy Studies at Rutgers University. She holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science with a minor in International and Global Studies and has developed a passion for understanding ways to promote human rights. Throughout her academic career, she has maintained an interest in a wide range of issues, including the impacts of climate change on migration, maternal justice in the United States, and the intersections of digital technology and human rights. She also enjoys studying languages, including Spanish, French, and Portuguese. In her graduate studies, she is pursuing a concentration in human rights, gender equality, and international law. Rachel is excited to support the NGO CSW/NY team in its mission to promote the rights of women and girls while developing a deeper understanding of civil society's role in the United Nations system. In her spare time, Rachel enjoys meditation, cooking, and thrifting.