Neeraja Deshpande is a senior contributor at IW Features, and a policy analyst at Independent Women, where she works primarily on issues related to education and gender. Additionally, Neeraja serves as an editor for Independent Women’s op-eds and related publications.

Her work has appeared in outlets including the Washington Post, City Journal, the Hill, Real Clear Education, Fairer Disputations, the Federalist, the Richmond Federal Reserve’s Econ Focus, the Free Press (where she previously worked as a staff researcher), and Pirate Wires, among others. In the past, Neeraja has taught middle school and high school English, math, and financial literacy.

Neeraja is originally from Somerville, Massachusetts and graduated magna cum laude from all-women’s Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts with a B.A. in Russian.