A Trailblazing Diplomat

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The pathbreaking career of Bhinda Malla Shah ’56 — the first Nepalese woman to attend college in the U.S. and Nepal’s first woman ambassador — began with an essay contest entitled “The World of Tomorrow.” The prize was a monthlong trip to the United States — and she won. It was during the final days of that tour that Shah first heard about Barnard.

    “I met a lady in Voice of America [the federal government’s broadcasting network] who was from Barnard and part of the committee that had arranged the tour. She asked if I was interested to do my college in the United States. Of course I was! But I didn’t have the financial means,” Shah told her granddaughter Aarya Shah ’23 during an interview for a 2020 Barnard Magazine article.

    But Shah found a way and, with the support of scholarships and friends, enjoyed what she described as the best years of her life studying within its gates. Shah’s memories of Barnard are studded with moments of intellectual challenge. However, the recollections she detailed with the most emotion were of the friendships she made at the College and how they helped her assimilate to America and New York City and enriched her entire life.

“My closest friends from Barnard have remained with me till today. That’s what makes Barnard so special,” Shah told Aarya.

After graduating from Barnard and earning a master’s in international politics at Johns Hopkins University, she returned to Nepal. Shah’s public service career in her home country began when she was hired to help lead the first library in Nepal, the American Library. Her expertise and education garnered the attention of the first democratically elected prime minister of Nepal, B.P. Koirala, who encouraged her to work for the government. Shah embraced yet another new challenge and joined the foreign service. She worked at the Nepali embassy in Washington, D.C., and, following the independence of Bangladesh, King Birendra appointed her to Dhaka to establish diplomatic relations. In 1988, she became Nepal’s first female ambassador to India. After her tenure in India, she served briefly as the additional secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before retiring.

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She credited her drive to her sense of responsibility to promote gender equality in work and society and to pay forward the privilege of her education.

Shah died at home on the morning of January 2, 2025. She was 92 years old.

Reflecting on her life in 2020, she described to her granddaughter Aarya what she hoped her life would mean to others: “Throughout my life, I have believed that it was my duty to be the voice for the tens of thousands of Nepali women who didn’t have the opportunity to get the education I received. And, in addition to being Nepal’s first woman ambassador, I hope this will be as big a part of the legacy I leave behind.”