Narges M. Kakalia, Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer at the national law firm Mintz and an active member of the ZAGNY community, was honored as Womankind’s 2026 Phoenix of the Year at the organization’s Communities Rising Gala on October 21 at Tribeca360 in New York City.
Womankind, formerly the New York Asian Women’s Center, supports survivors of gender-based violence across New York City. This year’s gala also marked 25 years of the organization providing 24-hour emergency housing for survivors. Narges was honored alongside Council Member Linda Lee and Dr. Alexander Tsui, DMD.
Standing with survivors
In her honoree statement for the gala, Narges spoke about why the cause has stayed with her for most of her adult life.
“Millions of women are harassed and assaulted at work daily. So many in fact, that sexual violence is often called a woman’s ‘silent colleague.’ I have supported Womankind’s work for nearly 25 years because I believe deeply in its mission of standing with survivors and working toward a future where everyone can live and work free from violence.”
“It believed her”
In her acceptance speech, Narges went back to where her journey with Womankind began. As a young immigrant law student in her 20s, she volunteered as an interpreter for asylum seekers from Pakistan and India. That is how she met a woman she called Aisha (not her real name).
Aisha had been trafficked into the United States by a violent husband while she was pregnant. He kept her locked in their apartment, and she escaped directly from the hospital after giving birth. She arrived at a Womankind shelter alone with a newborn, speaking no English, with no income, housing or support.
Narges worked alongside Aisha and a pro bono legal team for more than a year. With Womankind’s support, Aisha received counseling, learned to navigate the city, took parenting and financial literacy classes, found part-time work and began learning English. Eventually she moved into her own apartment. Narges recalled the day Aisha showed her the keys: “She stood there, beaming with pride, holding those keys like they were made of solid gold.”
Years later, Aisha told her that her daughter was thriving and wanted to become a lawyer to fight for women who had experienced abuse. For Narges, that is the power of Womankind: “It is disrupting generational violence and cycles of violence and generational trauma, and it is creating entirely new, hopeful, sustainable futures, one family at a time.”
She said the foundation for all of it was simpler than any single service.
“Womankind gave Aisha something she had not received from much of the world around her. It believed her. Immediately. No questions, no qualifications.”
Noting that about 77 percent of victims of sexual assault and intimate partner violence do not report it, she told the audience that “credibility has a gender.” She closed by asking guests to volunteer with Womankind, to advocate in Albany and on Capitol Hill, and to give generously, because “somewhere tonight, there is another woman just like Aisha.”
Narges also thanked her colleagues and friends from Mintz, and her family, especially her sons Cyrus and Zane: “Your love and your support makes everything possible.”
A quarter century of service
Narges’s connection to Womankind began in 2001. As a law student, she volunteered as a translator for a Womankind client who was seeking political asylum. That single act of service grew into nearly 25 years of involvement.
Over the years she has provided pro bono legal counsel to Womankind and its clients. She joined the Board of Directors in 2010 and helped strengthen the organization’s governance and strategic direction. She was part of the rebranding from the New York Asian Women’s Center to Womankind, and helped launch its pro bono legal referral program, which connects survivors with legal support.
Narges later served as Chair of the Board during a period of growth for the organization. Today she remains an advisor and pro bono partner to Womankind.
Introducing her at the gala, one of the evening’s presenters recalled the support Narges had given her over the years in navigating complex legal matters. She told Narges that “your patience, your dedication, your composure, and your quiet fierceness” continue to guide her work to this day.
From litigation to leadership
Narges spent nearly two decades as a commercial litigator in New York, most of it at Mintz, where she rose from Associate to Member in the firm’s Litigation Practice. She represented clients in complex, high-stakes disputes.
Alongside her litigation work, she served as Vice Chair of the firm’s Pro Bono Program. She devoted many hours to representing immigrants seeking political asylum and other forms of humanitarian relief in the United States.
She then turned her focus to making the legal profession more equitable and inclusive. As Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer, she now leads the firm’s DEI vision and strategy across its more than 600 attorneys in offices from Boston to Toronto.
From Karachi to New Jersey
Narges was born and raised in Karachi, Pakistan. She came to the United States to attend Oberlin College in Ohio and, like so many in our diaspora, went on to build her life here.
She doesn’t get back to Karachi as often as she’d like. Instead, she brings home to her own kitchen by recreating her mother’s and grandmothers’ Parsi recipes. She lives in suburban New Jersey with her husband Marc, their sons Cyrus and Zane, and their dogs Cocoa and Bella, and is an active member of the ZAGNY community.
Her commitment to community extends to the wider Zoroastrian world. In March 2018, Narges was one of 20 young Parsi and Iranian Zoroastrians from seven countries at the inaugural World Zoroastrian Youth Leaders Forum, a ten-day gathering at Zerbanoo Gifford’s Asha Centre in Gloucestershire, England. The group worked through challenges facing Zoroastrian communities worldwide, from youth engagement to places of worship in the diaspora, and began drafting a shared mission and vision.
In her account of the Forum for Parsi Khabar, Narges captured both the purpose and the fun: the first Zoroastrian Masterchef challenge, a “Zoros-Got-Talent” night, and debates that ran until 2 or 3 am. As she put it then, “A social movement finds its wings!”
Her story is a reminder of how Parsis abroad carry their values of service and charity into the wider communities they call home. Parsi Khabar congratulates Narges on this recognition.
