Tabashshum Islam

Coordinator, Global Scholar NYC

Working to address human rights initiatives as an interpreter, counselor, researcher, teacher, and facilitator, Tabashshum actively engages in workshops and events to spread awareness about gender-based violence, human trafficking, and workers’ rights. Presently, she is an adjunct lecturer teaching Urban Poverty and Affluence at CUNY Queens College and a graduate intern at New York State’s Office of Temporary Disability Assistance for their Human Trafficking programs. Her most recent work experiences have been at Human Rights Watch as an Associate in the Women’s Rights Division and as a writer for Pen America in its Dreaming Out Loud program. She has also worked at Womankind (formerly New York Asian Women’s Center) as the Bengali-speaking One Again anti-sexual violence Advocate and Project Free anti-human trafficking Advocate. At Womankind, she worked directly with those who have witnessed and/or experienced domestic violence, forced marriage, sexual assault, and/or human trafficking, in order to address their needs and goals through comprehensive one-on-one counseling, wellness groups, immigration advocacy, accompaniment to court appointments, and more. Prior to her stint at Womankind, she worked in South Korea as a teacher and researcher. During that time she volunteered at the Cultural Center for Migrant Workers which inspired her to advocate for communities vulnerable to marginalization. She has completed internships at the Council on Foreign Relations, Chaya Community Development Corporation, Charles B. Wang Center, and International Journal for Body Psychotherapy. Tabashshum received her Master’s in Urban Affair/Studies at CUNY Queens College and her Bachelors at SUNY Stony Brook University with majors in Psychology and Asian and Asian-American Studies and minors in South Asian Studies and Korean Studies.