Monica Modi Khant is the Executive Director of the Asian Pacific Institute on Gender Based Violence (API-GBV). As an experienced trainer and national speaker, she shares her expertise on gender-based violence, immigration law, and the intersection of immigrant rights, human trafficking, domestic violence, sexual assault, and asylum. With over two decades of experience in the non-profit legal community, she is also a speaker on non-profit leadership. Monica is passionate about impacting systemic changes at the local and national levels, strengthening communities, and creating a broader understanding to influence culture and lives of AAPI survivors and their families.
Ms. Khant received her BA from Rutgers University in and her J.D. from New England School of Law. Upon graduation, she was the Detention Attorney at the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) where she represented detained asylum seekers. In 2000, Ms. Khant continued practicing immigration law with private immigration firms in Boston, MA. In 2005, she was appointed as the Director of Legal Services at the International Institute of Boston (IIB) and joined Georgia Asylum & Immigration Network (GAIN) as their first Executive Director from 2006-2020.
Ms. Khant currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence (GCADV) and the Advisory Board of Raksha. She is a graduate of Leadership Atlanta Class of 2015 and the Regional Leadership Institute in 2018. Ms. Khant is currently a fellow of the prestigious International Women’s Forum fellowship program. In 2014, she received the Public Interest Award from the South Asian Bar Association (SABA). In 2017, she was honored as Atlanta Magazine’s Women Making a Mark and has received Emory Law School’s EPIC “Unsung Devotion to Those Most in Need” Award in 2018. Ms. Khant has also received the Legal Legend Award from the American Constitution Society (ACS) in 2019.
