Jyoti Gurung

Jyoti joined the RIT team as staff in 2016 and currently works as a Communications and Community Engagement Manager. She co-leads agency-wide communications and engagements rooted in the community’s knowledge, experiences, and cultures. She also oversees RIT’s Volunteer Onboarding Program.

Jyoti’s background is in forced migration through her lived experience, movement art exploration, and working in the field for 10+ years. She was born in Bhutan and was forcibly displaced from her homeland with her family and thousands of other Nepali-speaking Bhutanese. She spent most of her childhood in a Bhutanese refugee camp in Nepal.

Formerly, she also partnered with Asian Refugees United (ARU) for 5+ years as a Youth Program Coordinator and Storyteller Lead. There, she worked with Nepali-speaking Bhutanese Youths, exploring the community’s identity, displacement history, and its impact on the community through leadership workshops and storytelling programs.

Jyoti holds a Master’s Degree in Global Affairs with a concentration in Peacebuilding from New York University. Her journey and dedication in life is to create a shared and welcoming community space for ALL, centering मानवता/Manavta/Humanity in all of us.