Lucky Karim, RWPJ Founder and Executive Director, is a Rohingya refugee from Burma (Myanmar) who, in August 2017, was compelled to flee her homeland amidst genocidal attacks perpetrated by the Burmese Military. Following six years of resilience in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar camp, she resettled in the United States in December 2022. Commencing her career at the tender age of 15 in 2018 within the refugee camp, Lucky dedicated herself to serving her community by collaborating with numerous international humanitarian organizations to provide vital assistance. One of the first Rohingya women in the camps who was proficient in English and capable of bridging communication with the international community by age 17, Lucky defied odds to pursue higher education at the esteemed Asian University for Women in Chittagong. Despite childhood adversities in the refugee camp, her determination propelled her forward. Now recognized as a prominent human rights activist, Lucky collaborates closely with US government officials, stakeholders, policymakers, and UN agencies, focusing on addressing the Rohingya crisis and broader issues in Burma. At just 19 years old, she testified before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission at Congress in 2023, advocating for the rights of women and advising policymakers on measures to ameliorate the situation in Burma and Southeast Asia. With her influential voice resonating globally, Lucky remains a catalyst for positive change, tirelessly working to uplift her people and effect meaningful progress on the international stage. Lucky has written a memoir about her life, which will be published on World Refugee Day—June 20th, 2025. Lucky Karim is also a Refugee Fellow at Refugees International.
Begun is a Rohingya Refugee in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, where she is a community leader and women’s rights activist.
Tomal Hossain is a Chicago-based musician and ethnomusicologist. His ongoing PhD dissertation research through the University of Chicago examines the socioeconomic field of tarana song performance among Rohingya Muslim refugees in Bangladesh as an interface for the processing and management of a collective multigenerational state of being in limbo as a stateless people through the lens of an Islamic epistemology of diaspora. His musical training includes private vocal instruction rooted in the Patiala gharana of Hindustani raga music from Sri Nabendu Bhattacharya and, more recently, Sri Anol Chatterjee—both disciples of the great vocal maestro, Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty—alongside supplementary instruction and coursework in Western classical, jazz, and maqam musics. Tomal specializes in solo vocal performance of khayal and nazrulsangeet while maintaining additional performance commitments as a founding member of Hamnavai, a Chicago-based ensemble specializing in Islamic repertoire, and a producer/DJ under the stage name Gamboge. Aside from his academic and music-making commitments, Tomal serves as director of the Rohingya Performing Arts Center in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, board member of Refugee Women for Peace and Justice, and co-founder of the Chicago Mehfil artist collective.
Marie Sophie Pettersson is Senior Humanitarian and Peacebuilding Adviser with Oxfam Denmark where she specialises in Women, Peace and Security policy and programming globally and across East and West Africa and the Middle East. Marie has 14 years of experience focused on addressing gender dimensions before, during and after crises, conflicts and disasters, as well as in refugee and displacement situations. Prior to joining Oxfam, she worked as Gender and Humanitarian Specialist and Portfolio Lead with UN Women in the Country Offices of Jordan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Afghanistan, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, and with the Regional Office for Asia-Pacific. Previously she worked as Gender Adviser with the UK AID Economic Empowerment of the Poorest (EEP) programme in Bangladesh and as a Research Project Coordinator for Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) also in Bangladesh. Marie Sophie graduated in 2011 with her Masters in Gender, Development and Globalisation from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).