Born in Southern California and raised in rural Nebraska, Ryen graduated cum laude from Harvard College in 2021 with a degree in Social Studies with a focus on migration and human rights. She is passionate about migrant, asylee, and refugee rights and hopes to use her law degree to fight for displaced communities. While in undergrad, Ryen worked with the International Rescue Committee as a Resettlement Officer and the Keep Tucson Together Legal Center on the Cancellation of Removal team. She went on to write her thesis on the “Humanitarian Aid is Not a Crime” Movement and spent a year working with activists along the US-Mexico border to understand the effects of state criminalization on humanitarian aid organizations.

Following graduation, Ryen worked with UNHCR in the Emergency Service Unit doing first-response for onset refugee crises before transitioning to working with the Justice Center for Legal Aid in Amman, Jordan, a local NGO that provides legal support for marginalized and displaced communities. Before starting at NYU Law, Ryen spent the last year on a traveling fellowship in Mexico City, Mexico working as a case manager at Casa Tochan, a migrant and refugee shelter. At NYU, Ryen is also a fellow at the Institute for International Law and Justice and is continuing to pursue interests of the future of borders amidst the climate crisis.