Asel was honored for her remarkable work with the “Help Issyk-Kul” emergency response volunteer project initiated by Edil Ajibaev, founder of PicVPic.com., during a peak in the COVID-19 crisis in Kyrgyzstan. As a volunteer leader, Asel took on several important responsibilities critical for the success of the project. Following Asel’s example, other U.S.-CAEF alumni – Uulzhan Aitnazarova, Shaislam Shabiev, and Sevara Tadzhibaeva – also joined the project. Due to the rapid response and coordinated guidance of volunteer leaders like Asel, the project was able to raise much-needed $50,584 in aid for the rural regions of Kyrgyzstan and save many lives. With these funds, the project was able to purchase an ambulance for the Taldy Suu village, vital medications for more than 750 people, thousands of units of PPE, and several important pieces of medical equipment such as oxygen concentrators, which were donated to local hospitals.
In addition, Asel spearheaded informational campaigns to keep the local populace informed about the virus. Her team prepared videos to teach people how to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and encouraged city doctors to share their experience of treating the virus with their colleagues in the rural areas of the Issyk-Kul region.
Professionally, Asel had worked with KPMG Bishkek since her graduation from AUCA in 2017 until 2020, where she has risen to the position of the audit supervisor. Recently, she started a new position with Tier One Analytics as International Operations Manager.