Arielle Kandel is the granddaughter of Jewish immigrants from Poland and Germany to the US. Her father later immigrated to France, where he met her mother, and Kandel was born and raised in Paris.

Kandel holds a master’s degree in law with a specialization in humanitarian action and international law from Paul Cézanne University Aix-Marseille III in France. Prior to immigrating to the US, Kandel worked at several nonprofit organizations and think tanks in India and Israel with asylum seekers, refugees, and immigrants on issues related to diaspora and transnationalism.

Kandel founded New Women New Yorkers in 2014, the first nonprofit organization in New York City dedicated to empowering immigrant women from all backgrounds. As the daughter and granddaughter of immigrants and refugees, and as an immigrant herself, Kandel believes in the vast potential that every immigrant woman can contribute to our city, regardless of her country or origin or educational level.

Kandel is a 2015 Agents of Change of the Centre for Social Innovation in New York City, a 2016 fellow of PresenTense, New York City, a 2018-2019 fellow of Coro Leadership Center’s Immigrant Civic Leadership Program, and a member of the 2022 Workforce Policy Strategy Council of the New York City Employment & Training Coalition.