Alumni Directory Display

Bear (Princeton ’17) is from Dallas, Texas. His full name is Sierra Moon Goldstein, but he goes by Bear. He graduated from Princeton University in 2017 with a degree in Psychology and Highest Honors. At Princeton, Bear was a member of the men’s varsity lacrosse team, where he was a two-time captain, a three-time All-Ivy and Academic All-Ivy selection, and USILA Scholar All-American. During his summers, Bear worked for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency and the Nature Conservancy. He spent one summer in Hawaii conducting independent research on the cognitive underpinnings of mental toughness in triathletes. He also was a research assistant for a lab exploring intergroup relations, prejudice, and stereotyping in an academic setting. For fun, Bear enjoys playing sports, hiking, and music. He has a propensity for visual arts, especially photography. Prior to the fellowship year, Bear had never been to Africa. He is most excited about the new perspectives, skills, and relationships he will develop at Nyumbani Village and beyond.

Alumni Update:

In Fall 2019, Sofia began a Masters in Teaching at the University of Chicago as a part of the Urban Teachers Education Program (UTEP). During her fellowship year, she had the opportunity to focus on school management at the primary level and she is thrilled to have the opportunity to focus on educational equity in the United States over the next five years.

Fellow Bio:

Sofía, a native of Chicago, graduated from New York University, Abu Dhabi with a double major in Theater and Political Science with a concentration in Social Research & Public Policy. Sofia completed her final two years of high school at the United World College of Southern Africa. During her time at NYUAD, Sofia co-founded the Girls’ Education Network (GEN), a leadership development program for middle and high school girls in Abu Dhabi. Throughout her undergraduate career, Sofia held a variety of internships related to education, public service, and human rights. She has interned at the Human Rights Advocacy Centre in Accra, Ghana. At NYUAD, Sofia worked in the Office of Community Outreach and Office of Spiritual Life and Intercultural Education. Sofia has received numerous awards including the Associate Vice Chancellor’s Award for Excellence, NYU President’s Service Award, NYUAD’s Campus Life Community Service Award, and the Dalai Lama Fellowship. She is firmly committed to her values of empathy, humility, and hard work and believes that the first step when entering a new community is to listen.

Elaina, a Maryland native graduated from Princeton University with a major in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and a certificate in Global Health and Health Policy. Her interest in science and research began in high school when she was a part of the Science National Honor Society. She continued exploring biology fields the summer after freshman year at the Food and Drug Administration helping to research better ways of blood and platelet transfusions. After her junior year, Elaina spent 6 weeks in South Africa carrying out her Senior thesis research on the effects of African Elephants on ecosystem health. After spending the summer in South Africa she knew she wanted to go back to the continent to attempt to carry out more research in the field of conservation biology. She is excited to gain more experience in the field and continue to explore national parks as well as the African continent. 

Uma Guarnaccia graduated from New York University with a Bachelor’s in Applied Psychology and a minor in Media, Culture, and Communication. At NYU, she made the Dean’s List two years in a row. Her interest in travel and service began with her trip to the Dominican Republic, where she developed curricula and taught English. She also spent a year fundraising for the same project. Uma expanded on this experience while studying in Ghana for four months. In Ghana, she volunteered at City of Refuge, an NGO, where she produced, directed, and developed two documentaries. While there, she also mentored children who were survivors of child slavery. Additionally, she developed curricula, tutored children on reading comprehension and English language skills, and created the school’s yearbook. Uma also has extensive research experience from her time as an intern at the Yale University Child Study Center. While there, she conducted structured assessments on anxiety disorders affecting parents and children. She analyzed data using SPSS to create two research projects. The results were presented at various research fairs and conferences. She also interned with Columbia University’s Global Mental Health Program, where she conducted qualitative interviews for a research project on intimate partner violence and substance abuse in Uganda. In addition, she wrote news content for the Global Clinical Practice Network website and produced a short video to raise awareness for refugee mental health. Subsequently, she also interned at The Quad Manhattan, an after-school program where she taught children with special needs.

Sofia graduated from Yale University in 2018, majoring in Environmental Studies with a concentration in in Urban Environment. Throughout university, she was heavily involved with the Yale Refugee Project. Raised in Mbabane, Sofia attended Waterford Kamhlaba UWC. In university, she maintained strong ties to the African continent, returning to work at the Wonder Workshop arts studio in Dar es Salaam, and later as an international volunteer and backhandler at Cheetah Outreach in Cape Town. During her junior year, Sofia studied as an exchange student at Université Paris IV: La Sorbonne, and was granted fellowship funding to return  to Paris the following year to pursue an independent urban studies research project using GIS and interviewing refugees and asylum seekers about urban green space. Sofia has also worked for MAD/Yale Leadership Summit and for the Louisville city government’s Office of Performance Improvement and Innovation. Sofia is passionate about making cities more accessible to marginalized groups.

Nora Hammond is a graduate of the University of California – Berkeley where she studied political science and minored in human rights and Middle Eastern studies.  While there, she studied abroad at the American University in Cairo and took graduate-level classes from the Center for Migration and Refugee Studies. Outside of class, she observed the after effects of the Egyptian revolution and taught English to refugees. Since graduation she has lived in Washington, D.C. where she has most recently worked as a proposal manager for an international development and research institution.  She earned the President’s Volunteer Service Award at the Gold Level, the highest level available, for her extracurricular community service as an AmeriCorps volunteer. In addition, she has had program management and research internships, including with a member of the US Congress.

Mikaila Harper graduated from The George Washington University with a bachelor’s degree in international affairs concentrating in International Development. During her undergrad years, Mikaila created a mentorship for young women of color at the middle school level. Her GWU Chapter of Women Everywhere Believe served local DC communities teaching lessons of cultural competency, professional skills, and body positivity. During the Fall of 2020, Mikaila interned at Safe Project, a nonprofit fighting the addiction epidemic in the United States and at the Society for International Development, a network of professionals dedicated to sustainable economic, social and political development. In the Spring she began her internship at Women for Women International, a nonprofit helping women survivors of war and conflict learn the skills they need to rebuild their families and communities. Additionally, during the 2020-2021 year Mikaila completed a yearlong research project with the United States Agency of International Development. The project was a comprehensive analysis of seven different social movements from around the world. At the culmination of the report, Mikaila was able to provide multiple recommendations to USAID officials on how to help advance the seven social movements. Since graduating Mikaila serves as an Americorp Vista researching racial disparities in Philadelphia’s Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disability studies.

A Southern California native, Khadija Hassanali graduated from Claremont McKenna College with a B.A. in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. As an undergraduate, Khadija returned to her mother’s home country of Tanzania to work with the Asante Africa Foundation, an NGO that administers programs to increase the accessibility and quality of education in East Africa. During her sophomore and senior year, she competed in the Hult Prize Competition, in which she developed social enterprise solutions to tackle the issues of Early Childhood Education and the Refugee Crisis. Inspired by the intersection of business, technology, and social innovation, Khadija interned with Tectonica Studios, a start-up in Buenos Aires, Argentina that creates websites for political campaigns and NGOs. The fall of her junior year, Khadija studied in Granada, Spain, where she honed her Spanish language skills and studied the history of the Andalucia. Most recently, she interned with Deloitte Consulting, where she worked with a major healthcare client in the Bay Area. Khadija is looking forward to developing her interests in technology innovation as a Data Analyst and Project Manager at mSurvey in Kenya. Climbing shoes packed, she is eager to scramble around Nairobi and learn about the city her parents immigrated from.

Alumni Update:

Nicholas is based in Durham, NC while completing a Master’s in Biomedical Sciences at Duke University School of Medicine. Nicholas applied to the 2020 medical school application cycle, and ultimately hopes to focus on sexual health amongst LGBTQ* adolescents.

Fellow Bio:

Nicholas, a native of North Carolina, ( UNC ’17) graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a degree in American Studies and minor in Social and Economic Justice. While at Carolina, he co-founded UNC’s chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) to challenge stigma surrounding mental illness. He worked with University administration to enhance mental health-related policies and procedures affecting students, faculty, and staff. He has also worked with the Infectious Disease Clinic at UNC Hospitals to craft a nutritional program for the clinic’s HIV patients, with a focus on the intersection of nutrition, race, and class. Nicholas is an alumnus of Columbia University’s Summer Public Health Scholars Program (SPHSP). While studying at the Mailman School of Public Health, he served as an HIV/AIDS Prevention and Outreach Intern with CAMBA where he facilitated focus-group sessions comprised of parents of LGBTQ* youth to communicate the relationship between familial acceptance and positive health outcomes in queer adolescents. For fun, Nicholas enjoys spending time with friends, watching sports (go Heels!), staying active, and binge-watching Rupaul’s Drag Race. He’s honored to join BIPAI Botswana and explore Gaborone and beyond!

Alumni Update:

Ela is currently the Communications Manager for Habitat for Humanity’s Terwilliger Center for Innovation in Shelter, an international unit focused on housing market systems development in more than 40 countries.

Fellow Bio:

Ela, a native of Canada, graduated from Davidson College with an honors degree in History focusing on colonial Africa and the diaspora. While at Davidson, Ela studied abroad in Dakar, Senegal and completed independent research at the British Library as a Kemp Scholar and Kelley Scholar, which culminated in an 80-page honors thesis on the British East India Company’s dependence on African slavery. After graduating, Ela worked for Habitat for Humanity International in Washington DC, supporting their global programs in WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene), land tenure, gender, and urban development. As a fellow, she helped organize regional conferences on land tenure in South Africa and the Philippines and represented Habitat at the ninth World Urban Forum in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Prior to working for Habitat, Ela served on the international Board of Directors of WE Charity, traveling as a speaker. She also shared the stage with Al Gore, on various occasions, addressing top media executives, including CEOs from Fox, Time Warner, and Universal McCann. Ela is also a proud alumni of Pearson College UWC in British Columbia, Canada.