Minal is the founding Director of the Mayor’s Office of Human Trafficking and Domestic Violence, Chairs the Houston 2026 Men’s FIFA World Cup Bid Committee’s Human Rights Sub-Committee and was previously Special Advisor to the Mayor on Human Trafficking, the first municipal-level position of its kind in the US. Minal was charged with making a local impact on human trafficking in the 4th largest city from a policy-level perspective and by advancing systems change. She mined the opportunity that existed to address trafficking from a municipal lens, then developed and implemented the city's Anti-Human Trafficking Strategic Plan; dubbed the first comprehensive municipal response to human trafficking by a US city. Minal is passionate about model replication and designed a 2-day immersion program for Mayor's Offices across the US and abroad. This replicated model spans across city departments, addresses natural disasters, and bridges to several impactful community efforts including the rise in domestic violence spurred by COVID-19 closures. As Chair of the Bid Committee’s Human Rights Sub-Committee, she engaged 100+ stakeholders in less than four months across eight areas during the bid process to craft a human rights response based on the pillars of good governance; helping to secure host-city designation. Minal has led more than 20 unique teams ranging in size from 6 to 120 organizations or people across multiple sectors to enhance the public good.
She is a past speaker at the United Nations World Humanitarian Summit and US Conference of Mayors. Minal is a recipient of the prestigious Presidential Award for Extraordinary Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons. Her work has been covered on NPR, in the Washington Post, New York Times and Bloomberg Law White Collar Crime Report. She received her JD and MBA from UCONN and a BA from New York University.
Speaking Engagements:
United Nations World Humanitarian Summit, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, U.S. Department of State’s US Speaker Program (missions to Malaysia, India and Canada), U.S. Conference of Mayors, Columbia Law School’s Center for Public Integrity, Rotary International, and Public Interest Law Net
Locations:
Kuala Lumpur, Kuching, Kota Kinabalu, Istanbul, Athens, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Montreal, Halifax, New York City, Washington DC, and Singapore
Skills:
Strategic Assessor | Systems Thinker | Cross-Sector Collaborator | Consensus Builder |
Model Creator | Replicator | Communicator | Public Speaker | Image Elevator
Source: LinkedIN
Houston (/ˈhjuːstən/ HEW-stən) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston... Read more on Wikipedia.
