Wasfia Nazreen

Nazreen was born in Dhaka with the birth name Wasfia Nazreen Chowdhury. She is the youngest child and only daughter of Mahmuda Nahar (Ruby), a singer and school teacher, and Nazmee Jahan Chowdhury, an employee at James Finlay Bangladesh. Nazreen lived in Khulna, where she studied in Sunflower Nursery school and then Coronation Girls’ High School. When she was still a child, the family moved to their previous home in Chittagong. There she studied in Bangladesh Mahila Samity Girls' High School (BWA). In early 1996, when Nazreen was thirteen, her parents divorced and she went to live with her aunt, Chobi Rouf, and uncle, NAT Rouf, in Dhaka where she was enrolled in the English medium Scholastica school. At this point, she was separated from both her parents as well as her only sibling and elder brother, who stayed in Chittagong with their father. When Nazreen went to the United States for college she changed her name to Wasfia Nazreen.

Nazreen was the first Bangladeshi to summit Aconcagua, South America’s highest peak and the highest peak outside of the Himalayas. She is also the first Bangladeshi to summit Denali, North America’s highest peak, Mt.Elbrus, Europe’s highest mountain, Vinson Massif, Antarctica’s highest mountain and Carstensz Pyramid, Oceania's highest mountain.

Nazreen is vegetarian. A long-time supporter of Tibet, Nazreen is close friends with the 17th Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje and the 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso. She often credits them in interviews as the two most important teachers in life who has shown her the way when she was derailed in life.

Nazreen is the subject of the 2016 documentary Wasfia made by Apple Inc. and produced by Academy Awards nominated RYOT Films. The documentary was shot on the iPhone 6s and premiered at the Telluride Mountainfilm festival same year. The documentary is currently on tour around the world and is being shown as part of the National Geographic Shortfilm Showcase. It received critical acclaim internationally, including a nomination for the prestigious Tribeca-X award at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival and The New York Times calling it a bait for the Academy Awards.

On 18 November 2015, Nazreen reached the summit of Carstensz Pyramid, summit of Oceania, completing a four years long journey to the Seven Summits. She was the first Bangladeshi and first Bengali to do so. She dedicated it to the “Spirit of 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh and all those who are fighting to protect it." On 26 March 2011, to celebrate 40 years of Bangladeshi independence, Nazreen launched the "Bangladesh on Seven Summits" Campaign. For the campaign she has climbed each of seven continental summits to mark 40 years of women's progress in Bangladesh. The campaign received widespread support from the mass and was run completely independent of any political support, contrary to various claims made in the media by a number of Ministers in the Bangladesh Government. Among notable civilians, cricketers from the Bangladesh national team supported by advocating in their own rights, most outspokenly Shakib Al Hasan, world's number one all-rounder and Mashrafe Mortaza, the captain of the Bangladesh national cricket team.

Nazreen dedicated her successful Everest climb to the women of Bangladesh, saying "We have achieved freedom 41 years ago, but our women are yet to enjoy freedom". Nazreen started trekking to base-camp of Everest on 26 March 2012 to mark Bangladesh's Independence day.

Nazreen was chosen as the first Goodwill Ambassador of BRAC (NGO), an international development organization. She is also the youth ambassador for JAAGO Foundation and its concern Volunteer for Bangladesh. In 2011, Nazreen was part of the Indigenous Peoples delegates at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII).

Her work with Tibetan human rights took her to Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh, the exiled-capital of the Tibetans, where she lived for several years in her early twenties. Since 2007, Nazreen has been banned by the Chinese Government from returning to Tibet after she was found with a photo of the 14th Dalai Lama.

Nazreen also worked for international humanitarian aid group CARE (relief agency). When the funding for one of CARE's projects dried up, Nazreen decided that while foreign support had its role in the developing nation, it was time for the Bangladeshi people to begin building aid organizations that were not headed by foreigners. She had begun mountaineering in 2006, while working in Tibet to stem human rights violations by the Chinese government. She decided to combine her two passions—activism and climbing.

Wasfia Nazreen (born 27 October 1982) is a Bangladeshi mountaineer, activist, social worker and writer. She is the first Bangladeshi and first Bengali to complete the Seven Summits on 18 November 2015. National Geographic recognized Nazreen as one of their Adventurers of the Year 2014/2015. She was selected in honour of her activism and commitment to empowering women through her work in the field of adventure. She was again selected as one of their Emerging Explorers in 2016. becoming the only woman to hold the simultaneous title of National Geographic Explorer and Adventurer of the Year. She was named by Outside as one of 40 women in the last 40 years who have advanced and challenged the outdoor world through their leadership, innovation, and athletic feats, and by Men's Journal as one of the 25 most adventurous women of the past 25 years.