Sharmila Mona Sinha (Mona) is a globally recognized advocate for gender equality in business and society. She has parlayed a career in finance (Morgan Stanley), marketing (Unilever) and restructuring (Elizabeth Arden/Unilever) to work at the intersection of social justice and women’s economic empowerment and leadership. Mona leverages business tools to build organizational capacities for sustainability that unlock the economic potential of women, girls, and diverse talent across different sectors. She has been described as having a muscle for finance and a passion for justice.
She is currently the board chair of Women Moving Millions, a community of women who fund big and bold ($1 million+) to create a gender equal world. She is also the board chair of the ERA Coalition Fund for Women’s Equality, which seeks to codify the 28th constitutional amendment of equal rights on the basis of sex. She is an executive producer of Disclosure, a documentary film on the representation of trans people, which premiered at Sundance in January 2020, was released on Netflix during Pride month in June 2020, and has won numerous media awards.
Mona is co-founder of Raising Change, which develops strategies to close the critical funding gap in mission-driven organizations for social change. She also founded the Asian Women's Leadership University, to bring liberal arts pedagogy to train future women leaders. To date, she has catalyzed well over $1 billion for social change initiatives.
With a focus on governance, strategic planning, and sustainability, Mona serves on several nonprofit boards, including as vice chair of the founding board of the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum, the first museum documenting the history of women in the United States, and the Center for High Impact Philanthropy at the University of Pennsylvania. She is on the advisory boards of Apne Aap International to end sex trafficking and the Tamer Institute for Social Enterprise and Climate Change at Columbia Business School, which pioneered the concept of connecting business leaders to purpose beyond profits. She also serves on the Tamer Fund for Social Ventures Investment Board, which funds social ventures. She is a founding member of the Columbia Global Mental Health Program International Advisory Board, which destigmatizes mental health through research and global collaboration. She was a trustee of Breakthrough USA, which uses digital media and popular culture to shift gender norms. She is a trustee emerita of Smith College, where she was vice chair of the board of trustees and co-led the $486 million Women for the World capital campaign (the largest to-date for women’s education) as well as the transgender admissions policy.
Mona is a financial investor in women-led businesses and mentors several hundred young people. She has a BA in economics and art history (magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) from Smith College and an MBA in finance and marketing (Beta Gamma Sigma) from Columbia University. She is a published contributor to What I Told my Daughter - Lessons from Leaders on Raising the Next Generation of Empowered Women, edited by Nina Tassler and Cynthia Middleton. Her story is featured in She is Me - How Women will Save the World, by Lori Sokol.
Mona received the Impact Award for Philanthropic Leadership from CARE USA in 2021 and the Exceptional Alumnae award from Modern High School in Kolkata. In 2022, she will be honored with the Smith College medal and Columbia Business School’s Horton Award for Excellence in Social Enterprise. Women's eNews named her one of 21 Leaders for the 21st Century. In 2019, Breakthrough honored Mona with a Lifetime Inspiration Award. She received the 2018 Exemplary Leadership in Development Award from Smith College. In 2017, Mona was awarded The Last Girl Champion Award by Gloria Steinem on behalf of Apne Aap. In 2015, she received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, which is presented annually to US citizens whose accomplishments in their field and service to the world are cause for celebration.