Biography

Buna Dahal has been transforming lives for 21 years.

Watch Buna's Interview with Tom Mustin on CBS Channel 4 News below:

Successful executives have applied her strategies toward personal and career growth. Fortune 50 mindsets come from discipline, drive, and detachment. Applying self with an open hand and a quiet heart is true leadership. Buna Dahal will guide you to realize your aspirations.

The historic picture of employment for the blind and visually impaired was more akin to parking a human mind than to empowering an individual to achieve their career goals. For seven consecutive years Buna Dahal –the employment specialist at the Colorado Center for the Blind– placed 85% of her clients in rewarding positions through the competitive job market. They are working, paying taxes, and climbing according to their own merit.

A child born blind in Nepal soon encounters the boundaries of low expectations. This precocious child, Buna at age five, pushed against those boundaries and lead her own parents to the doorstep of the Provincial School for the Blind in Dharan. Thus initiating a personal trajectory that found her in the United States as a scholarship student at the Overbrook International school at age 18, Columbia College in Chicago at 26, invited to present an empowering speech at the United Nations in March 2007, and Regis University School of Professional Studies earning her Masters just before her 38th birthday.

At an early age Buna realized that she had a dream… not just to survive but to live. She had a desire to spread her wings because she knew there is much more in life than just existing. Today Buna Dahal lives her life with confidence and ambition by inspiring others across the globe.

Visit her blog where she speaks and writes about noble leadership, carving out your profession, unraveling boundaries, and the American Spirit.

Leadership Highlights:

  • VSA Colorado, Board of Directors, 2011
  • National Federation of the Blind of Colorado, Secretary, 2009 - Present
  • Meeting The Challenge, Inc. Rocky Mountain ADA Center, Leadership Network, 2009 - Present
  • National Federation of the Blind of Colorado, Scholarship Committee, Chairperson, 2009 – Present
  • Blind Corps, Board of Directors, 2008 - present
  • Colorado Center for the Blind, Board of Directors, 2008 - present
  • Littleton Immigrant Integration Initiative (LI3), Board of Directors, 2004 - present
  • National Federation of the Blind, National Employment Committee, Chairperson, 2005 – 2010
  • National Federation of the Blind of Colorado, Board Member, 2008 – 2009
  • National Federation of the Blind of Colorado, Scholarship Committee, Member, 2005 – 2007
  • National Federation of the Blind, Denver Chapter, First Vice President, 2006 – 2007
  • National Federation of the Blind, Denver Chapter, Secretary, 2003 – 2006
  • National Federation of the Blind, National Employment Committee, Member, 2001 – 2005
  • National Association of Blind Students, First Vice President, 1996 - 1997
  • Illinois Association of Blind Students, President, 1996 - 1997
  • Phi Theta Kappa International, Phi Beta Chapter, Public Relations Secretary, 1995 – 1996
  • Illinois Association of Blind Students, First Vice President, 1995 - 1996
  • National Association of Blind Students, Second Vice President, 1995 – 1996
  • Illinois Association of Blind Students, Treasurer, 1994 – 1995

Honors and Awards:

  • Recipient of the 2010 David M. Clarke, S.J. Innovative Leadership Award, Regis University School of Professional Studies
  • National Federation of the Blind, tenBroek Fellow Scholarship, 2008
  • Colorado Center for the Blind, 20 Who Have Lead The Way (Leadership Award), 2008
  • National Federation of the Blind of Colorado, State Scholarship, 2008
  • City of Littleton in Colorado, National Library of the Month celebration, Community Leader for promoting literacy, 2004
  • City of Littleton, “Guest Citizen” Award, 2004
  • Columbia College Chicago, Hermann Conaway Scholastic Award, 1997
  • Columbia College Chicago, Transfer Student Scholarship, 1996
  • Phi Theta Kappa International, Orlowski Candidate Award, 1996
  • Blind Services Association, Education Award, 1993 – 1996
  • National Federation of the Blind, National Scholarship, 1995
  • Phi Theta Kappa International, Illinois chapter, Regional Distinguished Leader of the Year Award, 1995
  • Selected to Who’s Who Among Students in American Junior Colleges, 1995
  • National Federation of the Blind of Illinois, State Scholarship, 1994
  • Nominated to Phi Theta Kappa International, 1994
  • Overbrook International, Study Abroad Scholarship, 1990 – 1991