Born in Chicago and raised in West Lafayette, Indiana, Apsara Iyer grew up navigating multiple worlds — intellectually ambitious, culturally grounded, and globally aware. From a young age, she displayed a fascination with history, languages, and the invisible stories embedded in artifacts.
Her academic path led her to Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts — a place known for cultivating disciplined thinkers and future leaders. There, her intellectual independence deepened.
She then attended Yale University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Spanish and in economics and mathematics. The combination itself speaks volumes: language and logic, culture and calculation. In 2012, she was named a finalist for the Rhodes Scholarship — a recognition that affirmed her academic excellence and leadership promise.
Her curiosity about global systems and cultural economies later brought her to the University of Oxford as a Clarendon Scholar. There, she completed an MPhil in economics, studying the forces that shape nations, markets, and cultural assets.
But economics alone did not answer her deepest questions.
Apsara Iyer: The Moment That Changed Everything
In 2013, while still an undergraduate researcher studying the trafficking of Indian artifacts, Apsara Iyer traveled to a small village near Udaipur in Rajasthan. Several sacred mother goddess statues had been stolen from a local temple.
When she met with villagers who remembered the statues, one question pierced through her academic lens:
“When will the matas come home?”
She had no answer.
That moment transformed research into responsibility. It awakened in Apsara Iyer a conviction that scholarship must serve justice.
Fighting Art Crime: Apsara Iyer and the Battle Against Antiquities Trafficking
In 2018, Apsara Iyer joined the Antiquities Trafficking Unit within the New York County District Attorney’s Office, working alongside noted prosecutor Matthew Bogdanos. The unit investigates stolen art, looted antiquities, and illicit cultural property.
Art crime is often misunderstood as niche or symbolic. In reality, it fuels organized crime, strips communities of heritage, and erases historical identity. Apsara Iyer stepped into this arena with legal rigor and cultural empathy.
Over the years, she helped facilitate the repatriation of more than 1,100 stolen cultural objects to 15 countries. Among the high-profile cases was the investigation involving billionaire collector Michael Steinhardt, who agreed in 2021 to return $70 million worth of antiquities determined to be stolen.
For Apsara Iyer, these were not just legal victories. They were acts of restoration. In 2022, she participated in the successful return of one of the very goddesses stolen from the Rajasthan temple she had visited nine years earlier. The question from that village finally had an answer.
Apsara Iyer: Expanding Legal Horizons
Her work in cultural heritage law extended beyond Manhattan. As a Chayes International Public Service Fellow, Apsara Iyer spent time at Maastricht University in the Netherlands working with researcher Donna Yates. There, she studied statutes of limitations in cultural property cases — an area that often determines whether justice can ever be served.
She also volunteered with the Trafficking Culture research consortium and the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Cultural Heritage Center, building a bridge between academic research and active legal enforcement.
Harvard Law School: From Investigator to Institutional Leader
In 2020, Apsara Iyer began her studies at Harvard Law School. She has described herself as a “nontraditional student,” unsure of her ultimate career path but certain of her mission: to protect cultural heritage through informed legal frameworks.
Before becoming president, she served as an editor on the Harvard Law Review and contributed to the Harvard Human Rights Journal and the National Security Journal. She was also active in the South Asian Law Students Association, reflecting her commitment to community and representation.
When Apsara Iyer was elected President of the Harvard Law Review, she followed Priscila Coronado, the first Latina to hold the position. Upon her election, she said she was “incredibly humbled and honored,” acknowledging the pioneers before her.
Her leadership vision includes broadening editorial participation and expanding opportunities for more voices to engage in article selection and review. For her, institutional excellence must include institutional inclusivity.