[ASK-Y] Participants of 2022 Asia Society Korea Youth
2022 ASK-Y Cohorts
Regita Gurung (Bhutan) - 2nd Place
Asian University for Women, BA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics (Minor – Gender studies)
Regita Gurung is a youth advocate and communications strategist based in Bhutan who graduated from the liberal arts Asian University for Women in 2021 with a Summa Cum Laude (highest academic honor) award. She pursued her Bachelors of Arts degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics and minored in Gender Studies.
Regita currently works as a Marketing and Administrative Associate for Workforce BluePrint, a workforce company dedicated to entrepreneurs in Australia and as a Strategic Marketing Consultant for Zealous Systems, an IT company in Bhutan. She has also previously interned with Milken Institute Asia Center in Singapore and United Nations Resident Coordinator's office in Bhutan. Apart from her fulltime professions, Regita has always been interested in working for social and SOGIESC related causes and has actively worked with several CSOs and NGOs.
Apart from her fulltime professions, Regita has always been interested in working for social and SOGIESC related causes and has actively worked with several CSOs and NGOs. Currently, Regita is serving the position of Vice President of the Executive Board for Queer Voices of Bhutan, an inclusive CSO that focuses on LGBTQI+ related causes. She also takes on the role of Digital Communications Director at Educacion Diversa, an international NGO based in Australia, which delivers educational and advocacy materials to diverse communities in the world.
Regita aspires to pursue her masters shortly in the field of international development and gender studies.
Md Sazzad Hossain (Bangladesh)
Jeonbuk National University, BA in Psychology (Master’s Candidate - Economics)
Md Sazzad Hossain is currently pursuing his master’s degree in Economics at the Jeonbuk National University, South Korea. He completed his bachelor’s degree majoring in International Studies on the 22nd of February 2022 from Jeonbuk National University.
From the very onset of his undergraduate years, his commitment to fighting for the socioeconomic advancement of the West has kept him actively involved in research projects pertaining to various facets of human rights, social policy, and international development cooperation. He has so far published two academic papers. He aims to build a career as a development and social policy specialist in order to do research, develop and present policy papers, guidance notes as well as other knowledge-based tools to achieve the SDGs of the third world nations.
Kit Nicholson (United States) - 3rd Place
The SDA Bocconi School of Management, MA in Arts Management & Administration
Kit Nicholson (he/him) recently graduated from the SDA Bocconi School of Management in Milan, Italy with his Master’s in Arts Management & Administration. A classically trained flautist with a professional background in International Relations, his passion is in cultural diplomacy.
He is interested in the connection between the arts and politics – how art can be managed to facilitate cross-cultural collaboration, dialogue, and peacebuilding. He believes that art is a universal language at the very centre of the human experience and that, because of this, the artistic sector has immense power to catalyse change at both the local and international levels.
Before coming to ASK-Y, Kit worked with In Cultured Company on non-traditional conflict resolution practices in Haitian and Dominican communities and with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) in Geneva, Switzerland. He is currently in the process of applying to PhD programmes in order to better understand the ways in which performance art can be more fully integrated into the diplomatic process. In his free time, Kit enjoys traveling, gardening, baking, and learning new languages.
Kit's inbox remains open to any collaborations, conversations, or other opportunities; he is always looking to network with like-minded scholars and professionals in the field.
Venu Parikh (India)
The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, BA in Psychology
Venu Parikh(she/her) is pursuing her final year of Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Psychology and Organizational Behavior with Sociology and Philosophy as allied courses. Her key areas of interest include the importance of mental health and the role of youth in bringing about important global changes, especially in third world countries.
With her cultural and academic background, she gained valuable insight into how psycho-social processes are shaping the world to be as we know it today and will continue to do so in the future. She is thus looking to explore further on how youth can be educated and moulded to become effective facilitators for a positive global change, right from early education to the heights of the corporate world.
Venu has worked with organizations on issues like period poverty, rural education and inclusive education for differently-abled children. She is currently interning with RGB, a corporate training firm, and as a research intern for UC Berkeley.
Valeria Quispe Tello (Peru)
Korea University, BS in Industrial and Management Engineering / Mechanical Engineering
Valeria Quispe Tello is a senior at Korea University, majoring in Industrial and Management Engineering with a double major in Mechanical Engineering.
Prior to coming to South Korea as a fellow of the Korean Government Scholarship Program for undergraduate studies, she studied Industrial Engineering at Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, where she was part of IEEE Women in Engineering, a volunteering organization that conducted workshops to promote female high school and university students’ interest in STEM areas, providing them with relevant information regarding the universities’ application processes and job application.
Before that, Valeria studied high school at Colegio Mayor Secundario Presidente del Perú, where she graduated from the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program, with which she had the chance to actively participate in several volunteering projects under the Creativity, Action, and Service program.
In Korea, she served as an audience voter in the process of selecting the winner of the Better Together Challenge 2019 taken place in Pyeongchang, a 3-day global gathering that brought together social innovators, changemakers and idealists with a vast array of innovative projects to solve global social and environmental issues.
Valeria is fluent in Spanish, English and Korean, and her academic knowledge and interests center around social robots for the purpose of helping teach social and educational skills to students of all abilities, including those with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, hearing impairments, Down syndrome, and autism. She is an advocate for human rights and equality, women empowerment, as well as the promotion of mental health awareness.
Ritu Tripura (Bangladesh) - 1st Place
Asian University for Women, BS in Environmental Science
Ritu Tripura is currently pursuing her masters degree (MA) in Education at Asian University For Women (AUW). She completed her bachelor's degree in Environmental Science from the same university in 2021.
Her areas of interest include eliminating language barriers for multilingual students across the globe.
