Chamnan Suon graduated from Beloit College with a degree in Quantitative Economics. Chamnan hopes to use economic data analysis to create social justice policy when she returns to Cambodia. She is now a Business Intelligence Engineer at BlueVine, a FinTech company in Redwood City, California. 

While at Beloit, Chamnan interned at BlueHub Capital to help develop new programs to build equity in low-income Boston neighborhoods. On campus, she was involved with the International Student Association, the International Club, Beloit Community Choir, French Club and Japanese Club. During the summer of 2019, Chamnan interned at the Ministry of Women’s Affairs in Cambodia. 

Before joining SHE-CAN, Chamnan was very active in community based projects and volunteer work – such as TEDx, FUSAAC, and the Cambodian Red Cross.  She also participated in an environmental program called 25,000 Riels and Environment, which dealt with environmental and hygienic issues affecting local people around Oudong Mountain. In 2013, she was awarded a full scholarship to attend Paññāsāstra University of Cambodia (PUC), where she spent three years studying economics. In high school, Chamnan received an award for her outstanding work in physics and took first place in the Casio Mathematics Competition in 2012. 

When Chamnan was younger, she almost lost the ability to go to school because her family could no longer afford her university fees. Chamnan realized that education cannot be a priority for families living in extreme poverty who were fighting to just avoid starvation. This led Chamnan to want to create policies that improve access to education for everyone.

Watch her leadership speech here.