Sayu Bhojwani
Revson Fellow 2001-2002
Founder
South Asian Youth Action
Sayu Bhojwani was just appointed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg as Commissioner of Immigrant Affairs. Ms. Bhojwani is the Founder and former Executive Director of South Asian Youth Action (SAYA!), a youth development agency serving over 300 youth each year. Ms. Bhojwani was born in Lucknow, India, raised in Belize, Central America, received a B.A. from the University of Miami, and came to New York in 1987 to earn an M.A. from Teachers College. In New York City, she became concerned about the lack of South Asian involvement in the political process and in the city’s schools and civic associations. She founded SAYA! in 1996 to develop leadership skills and encourage civic and political participation among young South Asians, as well as to create a safe space for the South Asian youth community in Queens and to encourage the pursuit of higher education and nontraditional careers by young South Asians. SAYA! grew rapidly and currently operates in five schools in Queens and Manhattan, offering programs in leadership and organizing, academic and career preparation, and arts and recreation. Ms. Bhojwani serves on the board of the New York Foundation. In 2000, she received a Union Square Award for the significant contribution her community activism has made to the lives of New Yorkers, and in 2001, she received the Helen La Kelly Hunt Women’s Neighborhood Leadership Award from the New York Women’s Foundation. During her Revson year, Ms. Bhojwani studied photography, education policy, and sociology, and worked with Professor Sudhir Venkatesh on a paper documenting the founding and development of SAYA!.
(The Revson Fellow’s biography that appears above was last updated in 2001. Revson Fellows may update their biographies on this site by sending email to: revson@columbia.edu)
My effectiveness in my current position owes a great deal to my experience as a Revson Fellow. First, of course, was the superb academic instruction I received. But equally important is the way I learned to truly appreciate the full range of other people’s perspectives and insights. As a Fellow, I was presented with such a diversity of opinions on issues that bore directly or indirectly on my work that I gained enormous skills in working with people of different viewpoints. I continue to see Revson Fellows regularly and rely on the informal Revson network when I need new information or insights.
