March 30 :
On City&State Magazine's list of Above & Beyond women, Jenifer Rajkumar comes in first. The lone elected individual on City&State Magazine's 2024 Above & Beyond list is Indian American Assembly Member Jenifer Rajkumar, the first South Asian woman elected to state office in New York and the featured honoree.
Neela Lockel and Rajkumar are included in this year's list that "recognises an amazing group of leading women taking centre stage in New York." CEO of the nonprofit human services organisation EAC Network. The magazine said, "They're immigrants, lifelong upstaters, Manhattan natives, and transplants from the Midwest." "A passion for bettering New York, the place they now call home, unites all of this year's Above & Beyond: Women honorees."
It stated, "They are also role models for the next generation of attorneys, politicians, nonprofit executives, and cultural influencers." Assembly Member for New York Jenifer Rajkumar . According to the magazine, in Rajkumar's profile, her parents immigrated with $300 and a bag, and her mother was raised in a dirt home in India.
"Therefore, Rajkumar's election as the first South Asian woman elected to state office in New York—she has been serving in the Assembly since 2021—was a victory for her parents as well as for the city's growing Asian community."
"My family's American journey began in this district in south Queens," the politician states, "and it served as a springboard for countless other South Asian immigrant families just like ours."
Aware of her responsibilities, Rajkumar spearheaded the establishment of New York's Asian American and Pacific Islander Commission and successfully pushed for the declaration of Diwali as a state school holiday. She also supported a bill that would have included domestic workers, the majority of whom are immigrants of colour, within the state's human rights legislation.
Rajkumar, who has been a politician since middle school, began her career as the head of a fifth-grader voting rights campaign. She volunteered right away at Hillary Clinton's US Senate campaign office after obtaining her driver's licence at the age of 17.
Later, Rajkumar tutored low-income Philadelphia women and served as the head of a women's group on campus at the University of Pennsylvania.
She graduated from Stanford Law School with the belief that "lawyers save the world" and went on to win her first case as an attorney, an employment discrimination claim on behalf of 5,000 women. Rajkumar remarks, "I came to understand that you need power to really make a difference." "I therefore entered politics."
She started off as a district leader in lower Manhattan. Following three terms, Rajkumar broadened her responsibilities as state director of immigrant issues for then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo. In this role, she led the nation's first $31 million public-private partnership to offer legal defence to immigrants.
Rajkumar has returned to her native borough and is now employed at Lehman College as a political science instructor for the upcoming generation. Additionally, she served as a senior advisor to New York City Mayor Eric Adams' transition team. Adams is still a powerful ally.
She travels the whole distance in her district on weekends, from Glendale to Richmond Hill, just pausing for Indian tea.
For Rajkumar, running is a rare way to escape the grind of politics. After all, she is the same woman who, in 2020, won her Assembly campaign with a record-breaking turnout from her district after unseating a three-decade incumbent with 70% of the vote.
"I began by greeting each of my neighbours individually while standing on my street corner," she explains. "I will always be a rebellious upstart with a scrappy heart."
Neela Lockel is the CEO and President of EAC Network. Neela Lockel experienced a "lightbulb moment" when working at a homeless shelter during her undergraduate years. "I realised that was the kind of work I'd always been attracted to – working with vulnerable individuals," she said.
More persuasion was needed, according to City&State, for her parents. "My parents are Indian immigrants!" Says Lockel. "So they were like, 'What?'" when I transferred from law school to social work school.
However, Lockel continued her support, characterising it as "hyperlocal and rooted in communities." She has continued to do so ever since, and today she serves as CEO of the nonprofit EAC Network, which provides human services to 60,000 individuals throughout Rockland County, Long Island, and New York City.
Prioritising inclusion, Lockel has significantly broadened the diversity of the EAC board of directors. The organization's main areas of interest are criminal justice and behavioural health, children and youth, families and communities, older adults and nutrition, and vocational services.
Lockel has a long history of providing vital support to marginalised communities and speaking up for individuals who are frequently ignored or unseen. One of her favourite memories as a social worker is being on the ground following large-scale tragedies.
She provided assistance following disastrous storms, floods, and wildfires in the Carolinas and California while serving as the CEO of the American Red Cross of Greater New York's Long Island chapter. "I work with a group of people who love what they do and who have the same vision," Lockel explains. "I've witnessed firsthand the positive effects of our ability to contribute to these systems that help people advance."
