Sharmila (Mona) Sinha is a globally recognized advocate for gender equality. She brings over 25 years of experience strengthening mission-driven organizations to Equality Now. Aligning her passion for social justice and women’s empowerment with her early experience working in the corporate sector, she has enabled over 90 organizations that unlock the economic potential and protect the legal rights of women, girls, and gender non-conforming people.
With her deep understanding of the women’s rights ecosystem, Mona has led and catalyzed over $1 billion to fund progressive projects, initiatives, and grassroots movements that elevate women's economic agency and amplify women leaders. All on a global scale. Mona serves on several nonprofit boards focusing on governance, strategy, and sustainability. She is the Vice Chair of the Executive Council of the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum, slated to be built on the Washington Mall within the decade. She is an Advisory Board member of the Tamer Institute for Social Enterprise at Columbia University and serves on the Tamer Venture Fund Board.
Formerly, Mona chaired the Women Moving Millions’ Board and Equal Rights Amendment Coalition’s Fund for Women’s Equality. She is a trustee emerita (Vice Chair) of her alma mater, Smith College. In 2022, she was awarded the Smith College Medal for her bold feminist leadership in stewarding a trans-inclusive admissions policy and her critical role in fundraising $486M for the school’s Women for the World campaign.
She has served in various leadership capacities on the Boards of Connected Women Leaders, Apne Aap International, Columbia Global Mental Health Program in partnership with WHO, Breakthrough USA, and the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for High Impact Philanthropy. She co-founded the Asian Women’s Leadership University College in Malaysia to bring the liberal arts education model to women across the region.
Mona is the Executive Producer of the Oscar-nominated Netflix documentaries To Kill A Tiger (finalist, 2024) and Disclosure (2020). She is an Executive Producer of What the Constitution Means to Me, which was nominated for Best Play at the 73rd Tony Awards and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2019. She also produced Sell.Buy.Date and My Name is Andrea, which premiered in 2022 at SXSW and the Tribeca Film Festival, respectively.
She has received wide recognition for her work across sectors to advance equality and empower women leaders. Mona was listed in Forbes’ 2023 50 over 50: Impact and Politics NY 2024 Nonprofit Power Players. The New York Bar Association recognized her with their EPIQ award and she was listed as Apolitical 2024: 50 Women Gender Equality Changemakers. She was also recognized by A Call to Men with their Visionary award and by the Grace Institute with their Inspirational Woman award. She received the 2023 Columbia Business School Horton Award for Excellence in Social Enterprise. In 2022, she was recognized with the Smith College Medal and Children’s Hope India Distinguished Woman of the Year award. She received the CARE USA Impact Award in 2021 and the Exceptional Alumni Award from Modern High School in Kolkata. Women’s eNews named her one of 21 Leaders for the 21st Century. In 2019, Breakthrough honored her with a Lifetime Inspiration Award. She received the 2018 Exemplary Leadership in Development Award from Smith College. In 2017, she was awarded the Last Girl Champion Award by Gloria Steinem and Apne Aap. In 2015, she received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, an annual award to US citizens whose accomplishments and service in their field are cause for celebration.
Mona graduated with a BA in Economics (Magna cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa) from Smith College and an MBA in Finance and Marketing (Dean’s List, Beta Gamma Sigma) from Columbia University.