Tanya Devani

Tanya Devani is a Program Coordinator at Girl Up. She joined Girl Up as a youth volunteer ten years ago, founding the first Girl Up chapter in her home state of Alabama in 2011 and raising nearly $20,000 for the campaign. Additionally, Tanya led the Girl Up Alabama Coalition from 2012-15, served on Girl Up’s Teen Advisory Board in 2012-13, and supported Girl Up chapters in New England as Regional Leader from 2016-20.

In recognition of her efforts as a gender equality advocate, Tanya was invited by the UN Special Envoy for Global Education to the first-ever Youth Takeover of the UN General Assembly in New York and nominated to represent the United States as a Youth Ambassador for the UN Secretary General’s Global Education First Initiative. She was also chosen to serve as a youth advocate for Girl Rising, an internationally-recognized girls’ education and empowerment nonprofit.

In 2019, Tanya graduated cum laude from Harvard University with a B.A. in Government and a Language Citation in Hindi-Urdu. During her time at Harvard, she was an active member of the Institute of Politics, specifically its Women’s Initiative in Leadership and the Citizenship Tutoring programs. Tanya was also an associate editor for the Harvard International Review, a role in which she had the privilege to interview the former CEO of Plan International and the first-ever US Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues.

 Tanya has extensive work experience in the government and nonprofit sector. As an intern for the U.S. House of Representatives, she supported Congressman Robert B. Aderholt’s office with policy research and constituent casework. Additionally, as an intern at Lawyers Without Borders, Tanya prepared a training manual for the organization’s signature trial advocacy training in Tanzania, strengthening the capacity of stakeholders to investigate, prosecute, and combat human trafficking. Finally, as an intern for the nonprofit GenderAvenger, she worked to bring attention to the lack of representation for women and women of color in government, media, and other industries.