34-year-old Akanksha Arora is an Indian-origin Canadian who is running for the post of UN Secretary-General for the 2022-27 term.
Her journey at United Nations did not begin very long ago. She joined the UN in 2016 but felt that the organisation is not able to achieve all that it aspires to. So, in January 2019, she decided that she is going to lead the change.
At 34, she aims to replace current Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. As someone who has just four years of experience of working as an auditor at the UN and who was recruited from an accounting firm, she acknowledges her lack of diplomatic experience but believes diplomacy is not learned in just conference rooms.
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Arora was born in Haryana in India and then her family moved to Saudi Arabia at the age of six. Three years later Arora returned to India and studied here till the age of 18, before she decided to move to Canada.
She was offered a scholarship at York University in Toronto for her undergraduate studies and stayed in Canada. Later she joined the UN to help improve its internal financial controls.
She also attended a graduate programme in public administration at Columbia University.
So far, no country has backed her candidacy. She has prepared a budget for her campaigns and is using her website and social media for her campaign.
