Meerim Nurlanbekova is a learning design, program and project management specialist. She graduated from the American University of Central Asia (AUCA) in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, with a major concentration in International and Comparative Politics. She is one of the five recipients of the US Department-funded program called Global UGRAD’17 from Kyrgyzstan. In her senior year at AUCA, she initiated and launched ‘Village Girl’ a girls’ empowerment project with an aim to address bride kidnapping, gender-based discrimination and build a girl power movement in rural areas of Kyrgyzstan. The project was supported and funded by the Student Initiative Development Program under AUCA and to date Village Girl has conducted girls’ empowerment workshops and training in 12+ villages of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and has 100+ alumnae, and about 3000 online participants from Central Asia. 

After graduating from university, Meerim was accepted as an intern for the Center Center for Asia Leadership in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and served there for 2,5 years helping the company with its learning and development programs for leaders from leading Southeast Asian companies. Meerim is passionate about girls' empowerment, capacity building, learning and tech. She has recently been accepted to the Stanford Graduate School of Education for the Learning, Design and Technology Masters of Science Program.