Shefali had been active in Barack Obama's 2008 Presidential campaign

US President Joe Biden has announced his intent to nominate Indian-origin political activist Shefali Razdan Duggal as the US envoy to the Netherlands, according to the White House, the White House said in a statement released on Friday.

Shefali, an immigrant to the US from Kashmir, has been raised in Cincinnati, Chicago, New York and Boston. A mother of two, Shefali is an experienced political activist, women's rights advocate and human rights campaigner.

She is a former Presidential Appointee to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Council and continues to serve as a Western Regional Advisor, informed the White House.

Shefali, 50, is also a San Francisco Committee member of Human Rights Watch, a member of the Wake Forest University Leadership and Character Council, and served on the National Board of Directors for Emily's List.

She received an MA in Political Communication from New York University. She also studied Mass Communication at Miami University.

She is the recipient of several civic awards, including being recognized with the Western Regional Leadership Award by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, as a Community Hero by the California State Assembly, and as one of the Most Powerful Women in California by the National Diversity Council.

She served as National Co-Chair of Women for Biden, and as a Deputy National Finance Chair at the Democratic National Committee, the White House said.

She had been active in Barack Obama's 2008 Presidential campaign and had also been associated with Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign where she was a member of her campaign's Northern California Steering Committee and the Women for Hillary Committee.