Dr. Reena Dwivedi is an academician and social worker whose dream was to be a doctor one day. However, her life has been all about helping others through NGOs and imparting knowledge to the youth through her teaching experience.

Dr. Reena Dwivedi is working as the Head of Department, School of Social Sciences at Jaipur National University. Three departments, namely, Master of Social Work, M.Phil. and Ph.D. come under her.

Reena always wished to be a doctor and even cleared the CPMT examination but some family conditions forced her to drop that idea and she went into the field of social service and then into teaching. However, she feels happy that she did get a Ph.D. and earned the title of a ‘Doctor’ for herself.

Reena did her B.Sc. from Banaras Hindu University and then MSW from Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth, Varanasi. There, one of her professors, Prof. Goyal suggested Reena start her career in Gujarat as she hails from there. Reena took his advice and went to Ahmedabad in search of a job and got three appointment letters to her name.

Her first job was in an Anganwadi training center in a rural area of Gujarat. After working here for three months, she went to Jaipur and joined CECOEDECON- Center for Community Economics and Development Consultants. After this, she got an opportunity to work as a CDPO on behalf of an NGO in Chaksu, Jaipur.

Reena then joined CHETNA- Center for Health, Education, Training, and Nutrition Awareness, which was a Gujarat-based NGO and was working to establish a branch in Jaipur. Reena worked there for very long-time training women and even talking about taboo topics like sex education. She feels that she learned a lot and even grew a lot working at CHETNA.

Soon, Reena moved on to join PRIYA, an NGO that was working in the field of Panchayati Raj. She then joined Jaipur Rugs Foundation as an HR Manager and helped factory workers in getting better facilities and empowering them.

Reena shares that her interest was not in teaching and doing work on ‘ground zero’ was her thing. She even briefly worked at the Social Workers College, Ladnun but realized that it was not for her.

However, in 2006, she got a teaching job at a prestigious university and under family pressure, she joined it. Reena says that even her colleagues used to think that being from the NGO field, she would not be able to teach properly, but Reena proved them wrong. In her journey there from 2006 to 2019, Reena managed to write eleven books on various topics in her field. She got around 45 articles published. Till now, ten people have completed doctorates under her, and seven are still pursuing. In 2007, she also got to play the role of NSS (National Social Service) officer and got an opportunity to work on village development-related work. They used to plant 300 trees every year, and worked for women development, against violence, gender training, and gender mainstreaming.

In 2020, she got an opportunity to join Jaipur National University as an HOD and has been working there since.

Reena shares that she was also associated with Lion’s Club and acted as a secretary for two years and then also served as a chairperson of the same. In it, they used to work for the deprived people of the slums and help them.

Talking about her struggles, Reena says that her mother was not in favor of her going out and working. However, her father always supported her in all her actions. In Ahmedabad, she used to live with her relatives who were gender-biased in nature and Reena had to move out of there because of this. She also had to face problems related to ‘bad touch’ in public places and people looking at her in inappropriate ways and she had to fight all these situations as well.

Reena shares that her work in CHETNA and her habit of meditation helped her a lot in facing these situations. She has done a meditation course and has recently completed two courses under Sri Sri Ravishankar which helps her in calming her senses and also instills courage and confidence in her.

Talking about her role models, Reena says that her father is the first name that comes to her mind as a role model. He was a professor himself and was even awarded by the President of India. Her husband, with whom she had a long relationship before getting married, also supported her and has been a pillar of strength for her before and after marriage. She shares that Indu Kapoor and Pallavi from CHETNA always motivated her to work better and better.

Reena shares that she loves decorating her home whenever she gets some free time. She is not much fond of cooking but does it occasionally. She loves listening to old songs and sharing meaningful messages through social media.