Some changemakers don’t arrive at their work through a single defining moment.
They arrive through lived reality, what they’ve seen, what they’ve carried, and what they refuse to accept as normal.
Aanya Wig, founder of Her Haq, belongs to that group.
At 26, Aanya is leading a gender-focused nonprofit while completing her final year of law school. Her work spans menstrual hygiene, public policy, workplace conversations, and grassroots education. Everything is grounded in one core belief: women must be seen as equals and as leaders.
Below, Aanya shares her journey in her own words.
Tell us a bit about your background
I’m Aanya Wig from India. I’m 26 years old. I’ve been running my non-profit, it’s called Her Haq and I work on gender. I work a lot on menstrual hygiene, public policy, and generally making sure the world looks at women as equals and as leaders. I’m also in the final year of my law school, so I feel like it’s a little about me, what I’m building, who I’m leading. I also create content on LinkedIn. I’m a top voice for social impacts. I talk about things that matter, especially about conversations at the workplace and gender, how it plays a big role at the workplace.
What first inspired you to begin this journey or take on the role you are in today?
I think it wasn’t one particular incident, but the fact that I come from a household of women. I was born and raised by my mother and my sister, and my mother’s a single parent. I lost my father when I was really young. So the fact that I could see women doing all the work at home, women leading, paying the bills, going to office, cooking, everything, and I thought women were leaders. But while I was growing up, I realized the world doesn’t look at women the same way that I do. And of course, as you grow up, and especially in a South Asian country, you see the kind of discrimination you face as a woman yourself. So I think the idea was to make sure that no other woman faces it, and also to make sure the world looks at women the same way that I do.
Along the way, what has been one of the most defining challenges you faced, and how did you navigate it?
I think the most defining challenge would be the fact that, of course, I’m a woman so it gets harder to enter places or to talk about things that matter. And also as a young person who’s trying to lead an organization and create change, people don’t like to take you seriously. They always think that, you know, you’re a tokenistic representation of young people. So I think that, and obviously when you’re trying to change mindsets and when you’re trying to have conversations that stir an emotion, when you’re trying to challenge power and status quo, it becomes a problem. And of course you face a lot of backlash. And I don’t know about how to, like, there’s no particular answer on how I navigated it. I feel like I still navigate it every time and it’s a learning thing.
What impact do you feel your work has created so far?
I think for me, I don’t know about the numbers, but two things that I would definitely talk about is the work that we’ve done on-ground, which is especially menstrual hygiene training and training young people, including women and boys, on puberty. We’ve seen the kind of change that they’ve had in the way that they look at puberty and they look at periods. And we’ve tried to change and end the stigma that there has been around menstrual hygiene, especially in Delhi and CR in India. And the other thing is, through our events and through our publications, we’ve tried to stir conversations about gender and to make people pause and reflect on different things like digital harassment, public safety of women. So I think the fact that we’ve been able to stir conversations and make people re-look at the dynamics of power in society has been the impact that we’ve created.
Looking ahead, what is your vision or goal for the future?
I don’t know so much about the vision or goal for the future, but just the fact that I think I eventually in life would love to run my non-profit full-time. I would love to work towards ending period poverty in India, and also seeing a society where women are put on an equal pedestal as men. So that is something that really matters to me. I don’t know if I would be able to do it in this lifestyle, but I would love to.
Finally, what message would you share with others who want to create positive change but are unsure where to start?
Change doesn’t have to be some big extravagant step. I think you can start at home, you can start around you. Just take your time, volunteer, mentor people, help them get education. It could be anything, so don’t wait for a big break or a big time. Just start whenever you can, whatever you can do.
UPDEED Reflection
Aanya Wig’s journey is a reminder that some of the most important change does not begin with institutions, funding, or formal authority, it begins with lived truth.
Her work through Her Haq is not driven by abstract ideas of equality, but by everyday realities: who is heard, who is dismissed, who is expected to endure quietly, and who is allowed to lead. By working at the intersection of menstrual hygiene, public policy, education, and workplace conversations, Aanya is addressing gender not as a standalone issue, but as a system of power that shapes opportunity at every level.
What stands out most is not just what she is working on, but how she chooses to show up questioning norms, inviting difficult conversations, and continuing even when resistance and backlash are part of the process. This kind of work rarely offers quick validation. It requires persistence, emotional labour, and the courage to keep learning in public.
At UPDEED, we believe stories like Aanya’s matter because they reflect a reality many changemakers experience but rarely articulate: that impact is often created while navigating doubt, being underestimated, and challenging spaces that are not designed to welcome new voices, especially young women.
Because when impact is visible, it becomes harder to dismiss.
When stories are shared, they create permission.
And when changemakers are connected, progress becomes collective.
