Rachana Karki has been Sunsar Maya’s mental health therapist since 2018. Rachana holds a MS in Psychiatric Nursing, is an Associate Professor at Asian College for Advance Studies, and an Advisory Board Member of the School Nurse Network-Nepal. Rachana brings years of experience and uses a wide range of therapies in caring for our students and families. Rachana is also an experienced trainer and provides ongoing trainings to our staff and teachers in how best to support students’ emotional and mental health.

Chanda Sunuwar started working as a teacher at Sunsar Maya in April, 2021. She has been in a post where she relishes sharing knowledge and instructing students. Her previous work experience as Teacher in a Private school has helped her add more enthusiasm and mastery at her mentorship. Her motivation is her students and she loves doing her job.

Liza Rai is a social work student in her second year of BA. She initially joined Sunsar Maya as an intern. However, after working there for a while she felt connected with the students and the environment. She felt at home where all the colleagues were very welcoming and helpful towards each other. Liza now works as a Part time Teacher and feels grateful and more fulfilled towards life. Her philosophy in life is to give as much as is received, therefore she loves sharing the knowledge she has received.

Sweta Pokharel holds a BA in Social Work and an MA in Food and Nutrition from Padmakanya Multiple Campus in Nepal. Sweta has worked and volunteered with multiple Nepalese NGOs, which has given her detailed knowledge of different regions of Nepal. Her efforts in this area focused on a nationwide girl’s education campaign, which worked to reduce the pervasive effects of uterine prolapse in both rural and urban parts of the country.

Sweta serves multiple roles within the organization, including daily operations, management of finances, securing partnerships with other organizations, and working to expand the organization’s services to additional disadvantaged women and children in our communities. She has also spearheaded a cervical health screening program to reduce women’s health issues and help women and girls stay in school.

Jehan Seirafi is a non-profit professional with extensive program and project manager experience and a focus on international development and human rights. As Co-Founder and Executive Director of Sunsar Maya, she works to create holistic programs that enable disadvantaged women and children in Nepal to build their own pathways out of poverty.

Jehan has served various organizations committed to international aid, human rights, and fighting human trafficking. Most recently, she served as the Program and Development Manager for the human rights organization, United for Iran; built an international network that provided educational and medical relief to underdeveloped areas as Program Director for Volunteer Nepal; and sat as the Advocacy Officer of the Advocacy Committee/California Committee North of Human Rights Watch.

Emily graduated from Loyola Marymount University in 2008 with a BS Accounting degree. She served as the president of the Marians Service Organization during her college career, an organization whose main focus is service to women and children. Following college, she took a position as an associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers, where she worked in non-public tax and audit. After three years at PwC, she joined the non-for-profit field as a senior accountant with Green Dot Public Schools, a charter school district in Los Angeles. She quickly moved up to become the Special Program and Accountability Specialist.

After over three years with Green Dot Public Schools, Emily transferred to Northern California with her husband in May of 2014. She took a temporary position helping to open the East Bay Innovation Charter School in Oakland. Once the school was up and running, she accepted a permanent position at Kaiser Permanente as a project manager working with IT Compliance metrics and reporting within the healthcare industry.