Rinchen Khando Choegyal was born in Kandze, eastern Tibet, and escaped to exile in 1959. Mrs. Choegyal received her B.A. degree at Loreto College in Darjeeling, India. She is a founding member of the Tibetan Women’s Association and served as its President from 1984 until her nomination to the Tibetan Cabinet in 1994. She is the Director of the Tibetan Nuns Project (founded under the Tibetan Women’s Association), which facilitates education and builds nunneries for nuns escaping Tibet. She has also served as the Minister of Education in the Central Tibetan Administration, a post in which she was responsible for overseeing the education of all Tibetan children living in exile in India and Nepal. She is married to the younger brother of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Tenzin Choegyal, and is the mother of two children.
