Rinku Sen is the President and Executive Director of the Applied Research Center (ARC) and Publisher of ColorLines magazine.

A leading figure in the racial justice movement, Rinku has positioned ARC as the home for media and activism on racial justice. She has extensive practical experience on the ground, with expertise in race, feminism, immigration and economic justice. Over the course of her career, Rinku has woven together journalism and organizing to further social change.  She also has significant experience in philanthropy, as Vice Chair of the Schott Foundation for Public Education, and an Advisory Committee member of the Philanthropic Initiative for Racial Equity. Previously, she was the Co-Director of the Center for Third World Organizing.

Rinku has written extensively about immigration, community organizing and women's lives for a wide variety of publications including The Huffington Post, Jack and Jill Politics, The San Francisco Chronicle, Forbes.com, AlterNet, Tompaine.com, and Racewire, the ColorLines’ blog. Her book, Stir It Up: Lessons in Community Organizing (Jossey-Bass) was commissioned by the Ms. Foundation for Women and released in the fall of 2003. Her latest book, The Accidental American: Immigration and Citizenship in the Age of Globalization (Berrett-Koehler)  won the  Nautilus Book Award Silver Medal.

Previously, Rinku served as the communications director and the director of the Transnational Racial Justice Initiative at ARC. Prior to that, Rinku held various leadership roles at the Center for Third World Organizing (CTWO), a national network of organizations of color, where she trained new organizers and crafted public policy campaigns from 1988-2000. Rinku started her organizing career as a student activist at Brown University, fighting race, gender and class discrimination on campuses. She received a B.A. in Women's Studies from Brown University in 1988 and an M.S. in Journalism at Columbia University in 2005.

Awards & Honors

Media Appearances
Most recently, Rinku appeared on The Tavis Smiley Show to discuss her book, The Accidental American.  She has also appeared on WNYC/PRI’s The Takeaway (a Regional NPR), Peter B. Collins’ Radio Show, Air America’s Ron Reagan Show, KPFA’s The Morning Show, GRITtv’s Media Roundtable, Brave New Film's Meet the Bloggers, the Asia Pacific Forum, Pacifica Radio Stations, and she has video-blogged for Racewire, ColorLines’ blog on race, culture, and politics. 

In addition, Rinku was published in the San Francisco Chronicle, Forbes, Market Watch, International Business Times, Earth Times, News Blaze, Virtualization, WRIC TV Richmond, and Social Developments Blog, among other media outlets.

A native of India, Rinku grew up in the Northeast, USA.