Ms. Bishnu Maya Pariyar
M.A., Hon. DLitt.
Founder, NJ Speaks

Dr. Bishnu Maya Pariyar, Hon. D.Litt., Founder, NJ Speaks, is an award-winning scholar, seasoned administrator, and frontline advocate whose life’s work spans more than two decades of unwavering service to survivors of domestic and sexual violence in the United States. She has served as Program Director of Hudson Speaks Against Sexual Violence, the designated rape crisis center for Hudson County, New Jersey. Her earlier roles include Case Manager at HarborCov—Communities Overcoming Violence—in Massachusetts; South Asian Advocate for the Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence in Boston; and Domestic Violence/Family Advocate at the Neponset Health Center.

With extensive expertise in leadership training, outreach, education, project management, and research, Dr. Pariyar embodies compassionate and transformative social service. Her lifelong mission has been to empower individuals and families affected by violence, discrimination, and systemic inequity.

Dr. Pariyar earned her Master of Arts in International Development and Social Change from Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, and her Bachelor of Arts in Social and Political Systems from Pine Manor College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. In recognition of her pioneering social contributions, Pine Manor College awarded her an Honorary Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.) in 2013. Further exemplifying her national impact, the City of Louisville, Kentucky, proclaimed September 27, 2015, as “Dr. Bishnu Maya Pariyar Day.”

Her public service extends to state and municipal leadership. Dr. Pariyar currently serves as a Commissioner on the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Commission appointed by New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and as a member of Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop’s advisory board.

Dr. Pariyar is also the visionary founder of ADWAN (Association for Dalit Women’s Advancement of Nepal). What began in 1998 as a single women’s savings and loan group has grown into a nationwide network of 6,200 women in 253 groups, uplifting and transforming the lives of more than 155,000 people across Nepal.

Her remarkable life story has been widely celebrated and academically documented. It is featured in the higher-education textbook The Writer’s Mindset by Dr. Lisa Wright Hoeffner, published by McGraw Hill in 2021 (pages 591–594). In 2022, her life journey was included in the Massachusetts Department of Education’s 7th-grade curriculum under Lesson 12: Untouchability and SDG 10, spanning eight pages.

Today, Dr. Bishnu Maya Pariyar stands as a powerful voice for justice, equity, and human dignity—an advocate, leader, and changemaker whose work continues to uplift and inspire countless lives.