Staff

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Mukesh Baral is a co-founder of Advocacy for Refugee and Immigrant Services for Empowerment (ARISE). He has a Master’s degree in Conflict Resolution from the University of Massachusetts, Boston. He is a trained Mediator with expertise in interpersonal and organizational conflict management. He also has a Master’s in English Literature from Tribhuvan University, Nepal. Mukesh was born and raised in a small remote village in eastern Nepal and educated in Kathmandu. He was a News Anchor and a Television Journalist, covering foreign affairs, before immigrating to the U.S.A. As a journalist covering foreign affairs, he has researched, reported, and presented on multiple issues including the Bhutanese refugee issue, one of the burning foreign affairs issues till 2007. He has written and reported on the issue even after their resettlement. Mukesh still writes on political, social, and cross-cultural issues, pertaining to his Nepali- American experience. Fighting against injustices and supporting refugees and immigrants during their transition into their new communities has always defined Mukesh’s passion. ARISE was incorporated as a result of that motivation to advocate for equity and justice for one of the most vulnerable populations. He also has a decade-long child welfare experience. His diverse work, through multiple nonprofits, has prepared him to understand the complexities of the American system.

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Gady Isidore (Haiti) has a master’s in GIS at Clark University in Worcester MA, and also received a BS in Agronomy from the University Notre Dame d’Haiti (UNDH) in 2004. While at school, he managed a community reforestation project in Coteaux in the South department by mobilizing youth to raise and transplant fruit and forestry trees in the city and the surrounding villages. He worked for three years as the Field Coordinator for the Agricultural Division of the “Société du Rhum Barbancourt” in Port-au-Prince Haiti, where he managed a 54 acre-farm of sugar cane for the company. He co-founded the bakery Au Bon Pain de Robert (in Coteaux) which has since expanded to deliver bread throughout the South – covering over 180 km of coastline. Gady is interested in using his expertise in agribusiness to promote environmental protection and to improve the productivity of farmers and agro-businesses. 

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Mia Hwang joins ARISE as an Advocate Supervisor. She comes to ARISE after 4 years in business development, complemented by recent academic pursuits in Education Policy, Social Psychology, and Community Engagement at Smith College. She is a dedicated advocate for immigrant empowerment, with a strong commitment to serving recently resettled families. She is a native of Seoul, South Korea but calls NYC home. As an avid boxer, Mia has trained with Hector Roca, the late Darryl Pierre at Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn, and Jesus Alonso in Mexico City.

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Axelle Rivot grew up in New York City, and is a senior at Clark University where she recently got the opportunity to go to Namibia and learn about the Nama and Herero Genocide (1904-1908) done by the Germans, and learn about Apartheid and its parallels to US segregation. She loves cooking, painting, and hiking. At ARISE Axelle is the Refugee Advocate Recruitment Coordinator where she welcomes local college students to get involved with MA refugee communities through the Refugee Advocate Program.

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