Her Story
About Ruksana
My passion for education comes from my father, who was an education government officer. I always saw how he solved problems and led education programs with government officials, which inspired me to work as an education professional. I started my career with Save the Children US in 2001, working on Early Childhood Development Programs with children ages 0 to 8 years. From 2009 to 2024, I worked with Room to Read International, where I led girls' education programs in Bangladesh and provided support globally across their programs in over 20 countries. I have had the privilege of working directly with 8,000 marginalized girls, achieving a 90% continuation rate in education from grades 6 to 12 and beyond. My key responsibilities have included developing country strategy documents aligned with global strategies, contextualizing manuals and documents according to country needs, capacity development for staff including program officers, field officers, and social mobilizers, and developing training manuals. I was a pioneer in developing a parents' workshop manual for my program and created life skills videos and mentoring scripts. During the pandemic, I worked with the World Bank as a project manager and gained valuable experience in independent project management. I also had the unique experience of working as a facilitator and moderator with Bangladesh National Television and Bangladesh Radio Channel, where my colleague and I developed scripts and moderated approximately 40 sessions on mentoring and coaching for adults, boys, and girls. I am currently pursuing my studies in IT and Project Management at Irvine Westcliffe University, expected to complete in July 2026, to further strengthen my project management expertise.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Ruksana
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to my passion about education - that's the main thing. I also keep myself motivated always about what I do and what I want to do, which is a kind of self-motivation. My previous boss, who now works in Canada as a diplomat, has been very influential. He always told me that I have a good personality and that I should continue to work with marginalized peoples because I can do it. He always truly supported me. And of course, my family has been crucial - my two daughters always say that I can do anything, and my husband supports me too. That's another motivation for me.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best advice I've received is to continue to grow and continue learning from others. That's my motto, because if you think that you've learned everything, you will stop. So I believe in continuing to learn myself and respecting others.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Women are working so much besides their education and professional work - as women, we are doing so many things. We're also providing our support in our family so much beyond our capacity. If you look at the images of one woman, she has so many hands doing so many things. Sometimes we are doing things beyond our capacity, and we have to stop that. We have to compromise with ourselves, and we have to learn how to say no. That's ideal, because we can't say no - sometimes we say okay, we can manage, but sometimes we take on so many things. Also, regarding leadership, if you want to work in the front line or in the middle, we can do that. But if you want to see beyond the middle level, that's really a struggle. We are not reaching the leadership positions, and that's also another area we need to address.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Right now, I'm struggling to get a good job in the U.S. There are so many competitions, and according to policy here, as a student, you can't work. Now, as my study is going to be finished, maybe I can try for that. If I get a good job, I can continue for the next 4 or 5 years and gather experience, and then I can come back to South Asia and work with marginalized peoples, because they need our support. My motivation for coming here was not to get citizenship here - not at all. I want to gain expertise from here, gather so many things, and then utilize this capacity for improving their lives.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The values most important to me are being transparent, honesty, and hardworking.
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