Alumni Directory Display

Sarah Rooney is a 24-year-old from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who studied Culture and Politics and African Studies at Georgetown University. She took her study of African issues to Tanzania, where she studied Community Development and Women’s Studies for a semester at Ruaha Catholic University in Iringa, and conducted a research project on women’s views towards sexual health education in Ikaning’ombe, Mufindi District. While at Georgetown, she created and managed a Sexual Assault Prevention Education (SAPE) program for the on-campus student-run nonprofit of 400 employees, served as a communications and outreach intern for the Correspondence Department of the Obama Administration, and worked on curricula development and database management while interning for Human Rights Campaign. She received a Community Service Award in 2017 for her work on the SAPE program. Following her graduation in 2017, Sarah became an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer with a small nonprofit called Fair Chance, which provides free capacity building for community-based youth organizations in Washington, DC. At Fair Chance, Sarah conducted outreach and organized workshops for nonprofit Executive Directors. Meanwhile, she volunteered with the community organizing nonprofit, ONE DC, where she organized low-income tenants around a right to decent housing and planned a local artist-focused fundraising event that brought in $125,000 to the organization for the creation of a new community center. In her spare time, Sarah loves to play soccer, paint, listen to music, meditate, and garden. Sarah is a passionate individual who plans to dedicate her life supporting organizations and movements working towards equality and justice.

Corine graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in Social Theory and Practice, focusing on arts activism, racial and economic justice, education, and the criminal justice system, and minored in Intergroup Relations Education and Community Action and Social Change. As a facilitator for intergroup dialogue, the Prison Creative Arts Project (PCAP), bystander intervention programs, and a low-and-high ropes team building and leadership course, Corine worked extensively with groups to cultivate dialogue, empower youth, and engage in justice work. At UofM, Corine was a Ginsberg Community Engagement Fellow, working to connect programs across campus in the work towards positive allyhood practices. They also participated in Semester in Detroit, interning with Alternatives for Girls in Southwest Detroit, spent 5 weeks working in Liberia in Agriculture and Engineering, interned in Izmir, Turkey teaching ESL, and were a student leader for the Center for Educational Outreach. After graduation, Corine worked for the Michigan College Advising Corps for a year as a College Adviser at Ypsilanti Community High School in Ypsilanti Michigan. Their passion for educational access and justice work took them to Porto-Novo Benin for 2017-18 as a Fulbright Scholar/ English Teaching Assistant, working in education, arts activism, and culture in the capital of Benin. Their work with the African School of Economics is both a continuation in the work for creative, welcoming, inclusive and just educational environments and a love of their community in Benin.

Emma graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in May 2018 from Barnard College with a B.A. in Molecular and Cellular Biology. Emma’s interest in community activism began in high school when she was inspired to do something about littering in the empty lot next to the site of her fellowship at the Children’s Aid Society. She founded Project Flower Street, an environmental education and visual arts initiative designed to build self-esteem and foster neighborhood pride in children. By her sophomore year of college, Emma worked with over 500 children to create seven public outdoor art installations, made entirely of recycled materials. In college, Emma developed the initiative to focus on teaching hygiene through the visual arts. She implemented workshops in New York and Nicaragua using microscopes, growing bacteria, and fostering cross cultural communication between children from both countries. Some of the grants that have supported Emma’s initiatives include: ABC Summer of Service Awards, Davis Projects for Peace, Laura Bush Traveling Fellowship, and Tamer Center for Social Entrepreneurship. Emma is on the premed track and is thrilled to combine her interest in public health with environmental sustainability through her work with Princeton in Africa as a Fellow at The Kasiisi Project in Uganda.

Nicole graduated magna cum laude from Duke University with a double major in Public Policy and Global Health and a minor in French Language. Prior to joining PSI, Nicole worked at the United Nations Foundation in Washington, DC, where she developed policy and advocacy tactics to advance the mission of UN health agencies. While at UNF, Nicole spent six months on detail to the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, supporting WHO’s resource mobilization and partner engagement efforts. She has previously held positions at Global Health Strategies in New York and at the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Global Health Diplomacy. Nicole’s passion for global health was sparked by a trip to Haiti, where she learned Creole and conducted research on mental health following the 2010 earthquake. A native of Los Angeles, California, Nicole enjoys going to the beach, hiking, listening to live music, and supporting LA and Duke sports teams. She is thrilled to be joining PSI’s West and Central Africa team and looks forward to improving her French, exploring the region and culture, and learning about the intersection of technology, data, and health care delivery in Senegal.

she/her/hers

Maya is a recent graduate of Tulane University, holding a Bachelor of Science in Public Health, a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Music Performance, and a minor in International Development. Her professional interests include infectious diseases, reproductive health, and advancing equity within global health. During her undergraduate studies, she studied abroad in Dakar, Senegal, where she interned with the Senegalese National Malaria Control Program and conducted an independent research project on female genital mutilation in Senegal. At Tulane University, Maya served as a research associate in the Center for Applied Malaria Research and Evaluation, where she led projects related to the costs of malaria vector control and supported the New Nets Project, a joint venture between Unitaid, PATH, and The Global Fund to accelerate the scale-up of next-generation insecticide-treated nets to combat growing insecticide resistance among mosquitoes. Maya also interned in fundraising for Global Health Corps, working to support the development of global health leaders in both the United States and Sub-Saharan Africa. Following the Princeton in Africa fellowship, Maya plans on attending graduate school in Switzerland, where her family is originally from, to pursue a career in global health. In her spare time, Maya enjoys playing the violin and baking. She is so excited to be joining PSI in Côte d’Ivoire!

Katie graduated from Harvard University with a degree in Economics and a secondary degree in Energy & Environment. During her time at Harvard, Katie pursued her passion for sustainable and inclusive economic growth both internationally and domestically, culminating in a thesis quantifying the political and economic impact of China’s growing presence in Africa. Katie has spent a significant amount of time living in China, with a summer conducting economic research in Beijing for the Harvard-China Project and a fall semester studying at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. Domestically, Katie has explored her interest in the intersection of economic and environmental issues as a Sustainable Finance Intern at the Environmental Defense Fund in Boston, where she led a project to catalyze state level investment in clean energy. On campus, Katie worked as an analyst for the Harvard Consulting on Business and the Environment club, offering data-driven insights and actionable solutions for clients, and also served as a Freshman Outdoor Orientation Program leader. Additionally, Katie was selected as a Young Future Energy Leader to discuss solutions to climate change with a global cohort of students at the 2017 World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi. Katie is deeply grateful for the opportunity to continue to explore her interest in development while working for eleQtra in Mozambique!

Isaiah graduated as an Ervin Scholar from Washington University in St. Louis in May 2017 with a BA in International and Area Studies, concentrating in Global Development, and a minor in Religion and Politics. On campus Isaiah was  involved with Sigma Iota Rho, an international affairs academic honorary, and the Washington University International Relations Council, which hosts the university’s model United Nations team. He has also spent the last four years working for Development Programs at the university for the School of Engineering and the Siteman Cancer Center on projects including donor outreach and management, third-party event coordination, and report writing. Isaiah spent the Spring of 2016 studying abroad in Tunis, Tunisia where he was able to work on his French and Arabic skills while exploring the causes and effects of the Arab Spring movement up close. The end of his semester abroad was spent researching the effects of state land policy in a small town in rural Southern Tunisia. Isaiah interned with The Carter Center’s Democracy Programs in summer 2016 where he was involved in grants and program management for the Center’s Tunisian field office and a limited election observation mission to Zambia’s national elections.

Elijah graduated from the University of Georgia with majors in international affairs and economics. He spent six months in Kenya working with the African Prisons Project, where he taught law courses and served as a paralegal to death row inmates in three maximum-security prisons around the country. He was an investigative intern at the Georgetown University Law Center Criminal Justice Clinic, where he worked with attorneys to create defense theories for indigent and mentally ill clients. Scott also conducted client intake and legal research at the Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights to investigate claims of education discrimination. In addition to his experience in the legal field, Scott has extensive experience mentoring and educating youth, as he spent over a year facilitating weekly restorative justice trials and leading courtroom etiquette and public speaking trainings for middle- and high-school students with Athens Peer Court. He has researched the intersection of minority rights and conflict in northeastern Kenya and the Xinjiang region of China through the Universitatea Babeș-Bolyai Conflict Studies Center in Cluj, Romania. Scott has studied abroad at the University of Oxford and the London School of Economics, and he has conducted independent research on the future of the regulatory structure of Antarctic Treaty in Ushuaia, Argentina and West Antarctica. Finally, Scott was the Operations Director of the Georgia Political Review for one year, during which he managed an eleven-person Editorial Board and thirty-person Writing Staff and planned and organized lectures and debates. He is looking forward to exploring his host country!

Anisha Sehgal, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, graduated from Georgetown University with a B.S. in Global Health. She is committed to working towards the social, political, and economic empowerment of all people and believes in the power of sustainable, high- impact public health initiatives to aid in this objective. Anisha has published research on antibiotic resistance, written blogs on reproductive health policy, and contributed to an accepted grant proposal regarding the inclusion of individuals with disabilities in research activities. As an advocacy intern at Save the Children, Anisha successfully organized an event at the Open Government Partnership Summit in Tbilisi, Georgia. The event brought together civil society organizations and government officials from Kenya and Liberia to discuss and advocate for increased public participation in governance. Most recently, she lived in Tanzania for four months where she interned at the National Institute for Medical Research. While there she designed and conducted a study on the prevalence, drivers, and reproductive health implications of child marriage in Mwanza, Tanzania. Anisha is excited for the opportunity to return to the continent as a Princeton in Africa fellow and looks forward to working for the International Rescue Committee in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Priscilla Takondwa, from Malawi, graduated from Smith College with a BA in African Studies and the Study of Women and Gender. At Smith, she served as President of the African and Caribbean Students’ Association for 2 years and was an inaugural recipient of the BOLD Women’s Leadership Network Scholarship. She is a published author and founder of an educative children’s book series called The Ekari Book Series, for which she won the OZY Media Genius Awards and the Draper Competition for Collegiate Women Entrepreneurs. She was also selected as one of the Hilliard P. Jenkins Fellows at Frontline Solutions, a consulting firm in Washington DC that engages young leaders interested in the intersection of social justice, entrepreneurship, and consulting. She has spoken at several conferences, including The Economist Africa Summit and The African Leadership Network and the AGCO Africa Summit. Recently, she received a TED Global Emerging Leader Scholarship to attend the TEDGlobal gathering. For three years, she contributed to the Huffington Post and her articles have been featured in Ayiba Magazine, which strives to break down African stereotypes and amplify African stories. Priscilla is an alumna of Watson University (’14) and the African Leadership Academy (’13). She enjoys reading, podcasts, and lengthy conversations about postcolonial theory. Priscilla’s PiAf placement is with the African Leadership Academy in Johannesburg, South Africa.