Indian-American Philanthropist Sharmila Mona Sinha Honored in National Women’s Hall of Fame

Indian-American philanthropist Sharmila Mona Sinha has been inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame, becoming only the second woman of Indian origin to receive this honor after Indra Nooyi, the CEO of Pepsico. The induction took place on September 24 at Seneca Falls, New York, a historic site known as the birthplace of the American Women’s Rights Movement.

Sinha, the CEO of Equality Now, joins an esteemed group of 300 women leaders, including Madeline Albright, Maya Angelou, Janet Yellen, Rosa Parks, and Michelle Obama. Born in Kolkata, Sinha moved to the United States at 18 to study at Smith College in Massachusetts, where she earned degrees in economics and art history. She later obtained an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Her career spans Wall Street, corporate America, and global advocacy for women’s equality. Sinha began her professional journey as an investment banker at Morgan Stanley and later worked with companies like Procter & Gamble, Unilever, and Elizabeth Arden. During her induction, she spoke about the values she inherited from her family, particularly her mother’s habit of setting aside rice for those in need.

Sinha described the honor as a responsibility to pass forward what she had received. She emphasized the importance of shared power, stating, “I have spent much of my life thinking about power. I’ve seen it on Wall Street, in business, in philanthropy, and in the fight for women’s equality, where power ultimately comes down to who has a voice, who has a choice, and who gets to shape our lives.”

After her corporate career, Sinha became a leader in Women Moving Millions, a network of women philanthropists who have committed around USD one billion to organizations supporting women and girls. She also co-founded Raising Change, which helps social-impact organizations strengthen their fundraising and organizational capacity. Sinha serves on several non-profit boards and is the Vice Chair of the Executive Council of the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum, set to be built on the Washington Mall within the decade.