Academic Journey & Activism

After spending a summer interning with Mrs. Obama and also at the United States Senate, where she worked on policy reform for issues like human rights violations, women’s rights, and the impacts of discrimination across the United States on various communities, Serene returned to study political science, journalism, and leadership studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. As a budding academic, her goal was to delve into how to transform hearts and minds for issues related to community flourishing and to further empathy-rooted justice scholarship.

Serene took on the challenge of addressing Sikh miseducation in her state. She became Youth President for Colorado Sikhs and founded the Sikh Student Association to share the tenets of her faith with students who had little exposure to Sikhism. Her efforts led to the establishment of annual Colorado Sikh Day observances, the first campus-wide food insecurity Sikh Langar at a public college in the state, and the development of an immersive religious studies curriculum at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. She has published research on her Sikh community titled “Tracking and Reflecting on Hate and Discrimination: A Meta-Analysis and Survey Experiment Depicting Perceptions of Sikh Americans and the Sikh Faith in the United States.”

She also served as Co-Chair of the Colorado Youth Advisory Council, where she and a team of selected young people lobbied state legislatures to support legislation focused on civil rights and justice. Selected as one of two students to represent Colorado at the United States Senate Youth Program, Serene’s activism led her to be elected Chief Justice of the University of Colorado’s Supreme Court. In this role, she became the University's first South Asian student to lead the Commission on Inclusion, overseeing events and workshops across CU’s undergraduate and graduate programming.

Serene founded The Serenity Project charity in 2017, a nonprofit dedicated to advocating for marginalized women, particularly those facing systemic injustices like incarceration and gender-based violence. The Serenity Project works with women navigating injustice and oppression—whether it’s a lack of education, economic opportunity, domestic violence, or mental health resources. Its Soaring Curriculum equips women with tools for self-resilience, self-compassion, and leadership, while guiding them to launch social impact passion projects. Explore The Serenity Project →

For her dedication to justice, scholarship, and leadership, Serene became the first female Rhodes Scholar in the history of the University of Colorado’s public university school system. To date, she remains the only American Sikh woman to have received both the Rhodes and Truman Scholarships.

My Story

Serene Kaur Singh is the Founder and Executive Director of a women’s empowerment nonprofit, an Oxford-trained researcher with a completed DPhil in Criminology and Criminal Justice, and a social impact activist and educator dedicated to fostering empathy and advancing justice. As a Rhodes Scholar advocating for underserved communities like women and Sikhs, Serene is committed to amplifying voices often excluded from mainstream narratives. Her mission is to catalyze empathy, champion justice, and uplift marginalized communities, leveraging her platform to inspire a new generation of changemakers.

Early Beginnings

Serene Singh's upbringing in Colorado Springs, Colorado, was deeply rooted in her family's South Asian Punjabi Sikh heritage. From a young age, she was immersed in her cultural and religious traditions, participating in sewa (selfless service) at the local Sikh gurdwara alongside her older sister. Serene fondly remembers her family hosting dance shows and stand-up comedy nights, infusing joy and energy into their community after long days of work. These experiences instilled in her the values of humanizing communities, practicing nonviolence, and challenging stereotypes through immersive education.

At the age of 12, Serene witnessed the impact of hate crimes in her local Sikh community, followed by a series of subsequent attacks across the United States and the world in the following years. This experience deeply impacted her and fueled her determination to combat hate and violence through proactive education rather than reactive measures.

As a Sikh, Serene's faith emphasizes equality and empowerment for women, aligning with her commitment to challenging violence and discrimination. The principles of Sikhi, including the belief in equality regardless of gender, inspired her to advocate for gender equality and social justice.

Serene's perspective expanded when she was crowned Miss Colorado Teen, exposing her to the unique challenges women face across her community and the broader United States. During this time, she recognized the importance of engaging everyone in the fight against bias and violence, emphasizing the need for proactive efforts to foster empathy and understanding.

Driven by her passion for civil and human rights as well as gender equality, Serene dedicated herself to transforming societal attitudes and behaviors toward others, using the teachings of Sikhi to inform her activism.

Now

Serene Singh is a Rhodes Scholar who completed her DPhil in Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Oxford in 2025. Her research centers on the experiences of women on death row in the United States, focusing on topics of femininity, gender identity, and life in confinement. With a commitment to understanding their material realities, Singh aims to contribute to academic knowledge and recommend reforms for the justice system in the United States.

Singh's dedication to women's rights and justice system improvement exemplifies her nonprofit work, empowering women to build confidence and raise their voices. Through her Oxford PhD research, Serene worked inside prison facilities across Europe, the UK, and the US. She has spent thousands of hours volunteering with The Serenity Project, working 1-1 with incarcerated women on programming from the Serenity Project’s Soaring Curriculum, focused on healing through trauma and strengthening our sense of self, purpose, and internal wisdom.

She holds a Master’s postgraduate degree in Public Policy from Oxford, where she was the youngest student in a global cohort. As a Truman Scholar, Fulbright recipient, and Boettcher Scholar, Singh graduated with Summa Cum Laude honors in Political Science and Journalism from the University of Colorado, with a minor in Leadership Studies.

A Global Dalai Lama Fellow and a current Contemplative Project Coach for the Renee Crown Wellness Institute, she works 1-1 with students to develop meaningful and intention-rooted passion projects and to implement them sustainably. She is also a passionate educator and public speaker with over a decade of professional training in debate and public speaking. She now coaches students worldwide through 3PSpeech. She has also been invited as a keynote presenter at universities like Yale, Bath University, and California State Channel Islands. Explore coaching and teaching →

As the Founder of Hello South Asians to connect South Asians globally, the National Sikh Youth Program, an organization created to invest and mentor young Sikhs, the Oxford Bhangra Society (Punjabi Indian folk dance), and the Rhodes Interfaith Alliance, Serene cares about challenging stereotypes, fighting injustice, and promoting diversity.

Serene’s mission is to show that no person is “irredeemable.” She practices nonviolence pedagogy, inspired by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, John Robert Lewis, and Sikh philosophy, applying it to her activism and leadership. Her writing with Oxford’s Death Penalty Research Unit and academic consulting on Aileen: Queen of Serial Killers bring her research on women on death row into public conversation. Read Serene’s reflections on the documentary →

She serves as an Expert Advisor to Teach Us Consent and a board member of Journey of Hope—from Violence to Healing.

Her other hobbies include teaching others Bhangra and Bollywood dancing, content creation and videography, snowboarding, painting, and spending time with her chihuahua, Betta. Explore Bhangra, pageantry, modeling, and creative work →Serene’s work today spans research, public conversation, and education. Her writing on women, punishment, and confinement appears through Oxford’s Death Penalty Research Unit, and her documentary consulting brings academic research to wider audiences.

She is an Expert Advisor to Teach Us Consent, a board member of Journey of Hope—from Violence to Healing, and a mentor and contemplative leadership coach for Dalai Lama Fellows at the Renée Crown Wellness Institute. In coaching, she helps fellows connect their values to sustainable action, reflect on their leadership, and develop their projects.

Through 3P Speech, she teaches public speaking and debate. Her workshops also explore confidence, storytelling, and leadership, including work with survivors of gender-based violence. Her teaching experience includes lectures and tutorials on gender, justice, hate, and capital punishment.

Creative practice remains central: Bhangra teaching and performance, modeling, writing, and social media offer different ways to connect with people and question familiar narratives. Explore the Creative Portfolio for dance, fashion, and pageantry, or get in touch about a talk, workshop, coaching, or creative collaboration.

Away from work, Serene enjoys snowboarding, painting, videography, and time with her chihuahua, Betta.

Awards and Honors