Biography

Shilpa Deshpande Finnerty, Esq., is currently Project Manager for the World Affairs Council of Central Florida. Shilpa has a BA in International Affairs from Emory University and received a JD from the George Washington University Law School. Following law school, as a Human Rights Research Fellow at Vital Voices Global Partnership, Shilpa worked with the Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking to reauthorize the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. Prior to moving home to Orlando, she also served as Legislative Aide and Legislative Counsel to Representative Alan Grayson. Shilpa’s work in the field of human rights, human trafficking, and legislative advocacy led to her position as Adjunct Professor at Rollins College, where she has taught “Global Human Trafficking,” “International Human Rights,” “Theory and Foreign Policy,” and “International Law.” She is an active member of the Virginia Bar, the Junior League of Greater Orlando, and is the Director of Community Relations at the Asian Cultural Association. Finnerty is also a Wilson Centre Foreign Policy Fellow and a Truman National Security Scholar.