Mashqura Fareedi

Fareedi was born and brought up in Darjeeling. Her mother, who came from a farming family in a remote village, was the only one of her siblings to reach Class 10 and went on to start a school in a Darjeeling village in the early 1970s.

Fareedi read English at St Joseph's College, Darjeeling, where she also took part in theatre and street plays on subjects including alcoholism, gender equality and the environment.

Fareedi worked for about two decades in India's social sector, with organisations including PRIA, DLR Prerna, the Kalpavriksh Environmental Action Group, the Association for Democratic Reforms, Amnesty International and the Azim Premji Foundation. Her work covered grassroots governance, environmental policy, democratic accountability and welfare delivery.

She returned to Darjeeling after the COVID-19 pandemic and founded the Eastern Himalayan Foundation in 2021. Its Trailblazer Fellowship gives participants training in project planning, fundraising, communication, stakeholder engagement and leadership; the foundation has also supported students from the hills in gaining admission to institutions including Azim Premji University and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences.[2][3][4]