Priyanca Radhakrishnan

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Priyanca Radhakrishnan is a Kerela-based New Zealand politician, and a member of parliament in New Zealand. She created history in November 2020 by becoming the first-ever Indian-origin minister in New Zealand.Priyanca Radhakrishnan was born in Chennai. She shifted to Singapore with her family in her childhood, where she completed her formal studies. After doing her graduation from Singapore, Priyanka worked there in the corporate sector for a year before moving to New Zealand in 2004 to do a masters in Development Studies.While studying at Victoria University of Wellington, Priyanca successfully contested and won the post of the International Students Officer of the Massey University Student Association.Priyanka had planned to return to India once she had completed her post-graduation, however, she opted to stay after some political leaders of New Zealand encouraged her to enter politics.Priyanka ventured into politics by joining the Labour Party of New Zealand in 2006. Since then, she has been contributing to the party in different areas, from working on internal policy-making to campaigning for the party ahead of elections. This is how Priyanca describes herself on the New Zealand Labour Partys official website. I strongly believe that everyone should have the opportunity to live with dignitythat means having equitable access to safe and affordable housing, quality education and healthcare and decent, secure work. Priyanca Radhakrishnan campaigning for the Labour Party ahead of the 2020 New Zealand general election.Initially, Priyancas father was a little hesitant to let her daughter enter politics, however, she managed to convince him by explaining about the nature of politics in New Zealand.Priyanca is no stranger to politics. Her maternal great-grandfather, Dr. C R Krishna Pillai, was also a famous left party political leader in Kerela.Along with politics, Priyanka has also been working with several social organisations. She has long been associated with an NGO working towards protecting the rights of domestic violence survivors and migrants in New Zealand. She also met her husband, Ivan Richardson, while working for the same NGO.Priyanca Radhakrishnan is also a member of the Asia-New Zealand Foundation Leadership Network, National Council of Women of New Zealand (Auckland), and UN Women.In 2014, Priyanca was ranked 23rd on the New Zealand Labour Partys list; however, she did not compete for the elections owing to fall in Labour Partys votes in that year.