Dr. Sayu Bhojwani is a restless citizen, civic entrepreneur and movement builder. She is the Founder and President of New American Leaders. Based in New York City, the organization works across the country to build the power and potential of first- and second-generation Americans. She served as New York City’s first Commissioner of Immigrant Affairs and is the founder of South Asian Youth Action, a community-based organization in Queens.
Sayu’s 2016 TED talk focuses on the importance of immigrants to American democracy, and her work to build a more inclusive democracy has been featured in The Wall Street Journal and in The New York Times. Her first book, People Like Us: The New Wave of Candidates Knocking at Democracy’s Door, was published by The New Press in 2018.
Sayu earned a PhD in Politics and Education from Columbia University, where her research focused on immigrant political participation. She is a Visiting Scholar at the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University and a Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow. She serves on the C4 boards of the AAPI Progressive Action and National Immigration Action Fund. An immigrant of Indian descent, she grew up in Belize and now lives in New York City with her husband and child.