Wai Wai Nu is the Founder and Executive Director of the Women’s Peace Network, an organization that advocates for the rights of marginalized women in Burma (Myanmar), especially in Rakhine State, and seeks to build peace and mutual understanding between Burma’s ethnic communities. 

A former political prisoner, Nu has dedicated her life to advancing democracy, human rights, and peace in her country. To engage with youth, she founded the Yangon Youth Leadership Center, where she provides civic and political education and leadership training for young people of diverse backgrounds in Myanmar. 

She was named one of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders (2018); one of Time Magazine’s Next Generation Leaders (2017); one of Financial Times' Women of the Year (2018), and one of 100 World Thinkers by Foreign Policy Magazine (2015). 

Nu received numerous international awards for her work, including the N-Peace Awards (2014) and the City of Athens Democracy Award (2021). 

In recent years, she has been a fellow at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, a visiting scholar at Columbia University, and a visiting Sr. Research Fellow at the Human Rights Center, the University of California–Berkeley School of Law, where she received her Master of Laws degree.