Ruchira Gupta is an Emmy-winning journalist, internationally recognized anti-trafficking activist, and founder of Apne Aap, an organization that supports women and girls in exiting systems of prostitution. She is the author of The Freedom Seeker and the award-winning debut novel I Kick and I Fly, and has helped shape major global policies, including the UN Trust Fund for Trafficking Survivors and the U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act. Honored with the French Ordre National du Mérite, the Clinton Global Citizen Award, and the UN NGO CSW Woman of Distinction Award, she holds an honorary doctorate from Smith College and has worked with the United Nations across multiple countries. A senior fellow at NYU’s Center for Global Affairs, she has co-authored As If Women Matter with Gloria Steinem and edited River of Flesh and Renu’s Letters to Birju Babu. She lives between New York and Forbesganj, continuing her activism and painting in her late mother’s garden.