Penny abeywardena biography

Penny Abeywardena is the.
Penny Abeywardena has held leadership roles in philanthropy, non-profit, government, and multilateral institutions for more than 20 years.
Penny Abeywardena is a CEO, international affairs expert, human rights advocate, knighted diplomat and an international columnist with a rapidly growing.

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Penny Abeywardena

As a young child, Penny Abeywardena emigrated from Sri Lanka to the United States with her family. She spent her youth as an undocumented immigrant, a 1980s version of a âDreamer." Today, she is a Knight in the National Order of Merit presented by French President Macron and holds leadership roles in international affairs, government, and philanthropy.

She is a lifelong advocate of womenâs rights and a vocal champion for sustainability and social justice. Her contribution to social justice has been recognized and celebrated by the United Nations, the World Economic Forum, and the French American Foundation, among others. Penny is the former New York City Commissioner for International Affairs. During her eight years of service (2014-2022), she led the agency serving the largest diplomatic corps in the world. During her tenure, New York City successfully implemented a series of award-winning programs with the international community focused on issues ranging from youth empowerment to the leadership of cities and local governments on global issues like clim

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Penny Abeywardena

She is currently working on a globe-spanning book about the use of “soft power”—the ability to transform hearts and minds by reframing values, resolving contradictions, rethinking unhelpful traditions and nudging people into wiser choices. She is also the founder and CEO of Soft Power Strategies, which provides advisory services to international organizations, public institutions, and private corporations and individuals. Her clients include The Elders—an independent group of eminent global leaders who work together for peace, justice, human rights and a sustainable planet—and Global Women Leaders Voices—an organization of women leaders committed to building a gender-equal international system that effectively responds to today’s challenges of sustainable development, peace, security and human rights.

Soft power is how a new generation of citizens around the world is almost imperceptibly changing how we work, spend, save, eat and even how we treat our partners and children.

Penny imparts this fascinating topic through an array of engaging examples, such as the

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Penny Abeywardena is New York City’s Commissioner for International Affairs. As head of the Mayor’s Office for International Affairs, she leads the City’s global platform for promoting its goals for a more just and accessible society, showcasing the diversity of New Yorkers and sharing policies and best practices with cities and states around the world.

Since her appointment in September 2014, the International Affairs team has launched a series of initiatives focused on connecting New Yorkers and City agencies to the diplomatic community, as well as more effectively serving NYC’s diplomatic corps, which is the largest in the world. Prior to joining Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration, Penny was the Director of Girls and Women Integration at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), a non-partisan organization that convened global leaders to devise and implement innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing problems.