Alumni Directory

Alumni Update:

Jennifer is currently in her first year of the two-year Master’s Degree in Public Administration in International Development at the Harvard Kennedy School, studying development economics and policy. She is interested in climate change policy and economics, and currently hunting for an internship in that field for this summer.

After her fellowship in Liberia in 2006-2007, Jennifer stayed at the IRC for an additional 6 months as the Field Manager in the Lofa County Field office, where she managed logistics for IRC programs in the County. She moved home at the end of 2007 and joined President Obama’s presidential campaign as a volunteer and then full-time Field Organizer. Jennifer worked in the Communications Office at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the Department of Commerce in Washington, DC for two and a half years during President Obama’s first Administration and was the Press Secretary for the State of Pennsylvania for his re-election campaign in 2012. She spent the time between the 2012 campaign and starting school catching up with family and friends and travelling to a few new countries!

Sami, born and raised in South Seattle, graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a degree in the natural sciences and international studies. His work experiences in undergrad ranged from cancer research at the University of Michigan to digital health software and business development in Lagos, Nigeria at a startup he credits with opening his eyes to opportunities on the continent. This professional interest goes well with his language background – having studied Mandarin Chinese, Arabic, and Wolof through courses and a study abroad program where he conducted research on youth organizing in Sufi communities in Senegal, Italy, and France. Sami interned at Bloomberg Philanthropies where he supported early stage public-private partnerships across youth employment and business verticals. After a scholarship program in Taiwan just before COVID-19 hit the US, he is excited to be working with the African Leadership Academy.

Alumni Update:

Currently, she is working as a consultant for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Regional Office for West and Central Africa. Her work focuses on a regional research project to assess recruitment and protection mechanisms for migrant workers from the region abroad, primarily in the ECOWAS and Gulf Cooperation Country regions.

Fellow Bio:

Anna graduated in May 2017 with a Bachelor’s degree in Global Liberal Studies (concentrating on Politics, Rights, and Development) and double minoring in French, and Public Policy and Management. Anna has worked for several nonprofit organizations throughout her academic career, from Girl Rising, a documentary campaign to promote girl’s education, to Human Rights Foundation, an organization which supports political dissidents in countries with authoritarian governments. Her interest in development work in Africa was strengthened last summer, which she spent in Dakar, Senegal, interning and conducting research for her thesis on female migration and its’ impact on social and economic development. Anna returned to Senegal for a month last January to finish her research, and was awarded the best thesis overall in NYU’s Global Liberal Studies class of 2017. In her free time, Anna loves to read and hike, she is an avid backpacker, adventurer, and “Couchsurfer”. Lastly, she can’t wait for the fellowship to explore Benin, continue her research, make new friends and practice her French!

Ornella Baganizi graduated from American University with a degree in International Studies focusing on Global Inequality and Development and a regional focus in Sub-Saharan Africa. Her family is from Rwanda, but she was born in Quebec, Canada, and speaks fluent French. As a child, Ornella spent a few years living in Bamako, Mali. She has interned for Voice of America in the Central Africa Division, where she assisted in the production of two live radio shows. She also interned for the Office of Senator Chuck Schumer. She was a 2017 Boren Scholarship recipient to study Swahili in Tanzania. She also studied abroad in Kenya and interned at a community-based radio station in the Kivuli Center for at-risk youth. Her senior year of college, Ornella organized and led an Alternative Break trip to Arusha, Tanzania, which focused on the legacy of Pan-Africanism and the rights of marginalized communities. Ornella is passionate about youth development through artistic expression. She is excited to return to Tanzania as a Princeton in Africa Fellow at Mainsprings and looks forward to be working with young women.

Haja is from Freetown, Sierra Leone. She attended United World College, Red Cross Nordic from 2015 to 2017 where she transitioned to Skidmore College New York to complete her Bachelor of Arts Degree in environmental studies. Haja will be working with EL-KOONY Center in Kitale Kenya, as a Communications and Marketing Fellow. Haja is very interested in the field of development and looks forward to gaining new skills while learning Swahili. Moreover, she is very excited to learn more about issues affecting women, especially period poverty to see how best she can improve and expand her social enterprise, uman4uman, a Sierra Leonean-based business that produces reusable sanitary pads for women and girls.

Alumni Update:

Desiree is an English teacher at Saint Ann’s School in Brooklyn Heights, NY, although she was recently granted a leave to attend a graduate creative writing program at NYU.

Fellow Bio:

Desiree (Georgetown ‘11) is an English major and African Studies minor. She was born in Trinidad and Tobago and lives in Queens, NY. Desiree has a deep interest in education and was involved in the DC Public Schools System through programs such as DC Reads and DC Schools. She is also involved in the written and performing arts, performing original poetry on campus and around DC. Desiree pursued her love for education and the arts while studying abroad at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa. She is excited to return for a year and hopes to deepen her knowledge of the nation’s history and culture.

Alumni Update:

Becca is back in the U.S., at Georgetown Law, where she is focusing on Refugee and Humanitarian law (and missing the field every day). She’ll be here this summer at Human Rights Watch, and would love a PiAf get-together!

Fellow Bio:

Becca ’10 is an International Relations and History major at the University of Pennsylvania. Becca was editor-in-chief of the Journal of International Relations through Sigma Iota Rho, the national honors society for international studies and helped plan student-led consulting projects in the developing world through Penn International Business volunteers. Becca earned certificates in French language and African Studies. While at Penn, she studied abroad in Paris and worked in Ghana doing education and community development and research for the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia. Becca is thrilled to learn about Liberia’s fascinating history, enjoy local beers and music, and gain some crazy West African tales next year.

A native of Arlington, Virginia, Luisa graduated from Princeton University in 2017 with a B.A. in Religion. Her academic work focused on interreligious encounter; she conducted independent research on Christian-Muslim dialogue in Berlin, Germany, as well as the Syriac Orthodox community in contemporary Germany. Luisa has spent considerable time abroad for her studies and internships; she has lived, learned, and worked in St. Petersburg, Russia; Rome, Italy; and Berlin, Germany. While in Rome in summer 2015, Luisa worked with the Community of Sant’Egidio, an international peacemaking organization that serves Rome’s homeless, migrant, and refugee populations. Luisa was also part of the student coordinating team for the 2014 and 2017 Poverty and Peacemaking Conferences in partnership with Sant’Egidio and the Princeton Office of Religious Life. A lifelong Girl Scout, Luisa served on the board of directors of her council, serving over 80,000 members. Luisa enjoys cooking, hiking, and creative writing. She is looking forward to the many lessons that wait in store for her in Gaborone, Botswana, where she will be a history teacher at Maru-a-Pula.

Fellow Bio:

Audrey Banks was a Princeton in Africa Fellow with the International Rescue Committee in Sierra Leone from 2008 – 2009. Following her fellowship, she went on to work with the IRC in Afghanistan, Jordan, Iraq, and South Sudan, where she focused on human rights protection and emergency response programming until 2015. She is now an “International Ninja” on the legal team at Palantir Technologies, a company that builds software platforms designed to enable organizations to analyze data at scale. At Palantir, Audrey’s work includes international expansion and corporate governance, privacy and civil liberties matters, and contracts related to Palantir’s philanthropic engagements with UN agencies and NGOs. Audrey holds a B.A. in History from Princeton University and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

he/him/his

Michael Banks holds bachelor’s degrees in journalism and international affairs, with minors in business and anthropology from the University of Georgia. His interdisciplinary education spanned four colleges at the university, driven by a curiosity about cultural formation and cross-cultural interactions, particularly through media and business channels. At UGA, Michael conducted research on the impact of US foreign aid in Africa and educational disparities in post-Apartheid South Africa, igniting his interest in international development. He gained valuable experience in media strategy and healthcare communications while collaborating with health equity advocates in West Africa and the Caribbean through work with the United Nations Foundation’s United to Defeat Malaria team. He proposed a restructuring of McKinsey & Company’s Careers Blog to underscore colleague and talent narratives of the firms’ offices in Africa, Asia, and Latin America as one of their inaugural communications interns, and he explored how the higher education research ecosystem on the continent can inform STEM partnerships between the US & African states through work with the US State Department. Michael hopes to pursue a career in international development that joins his passion for cultural advancement with his varied experiences in communications across the private, public, and non-profit sectors. Outside of work and academia, Michael is a classically-trained singer, former long-distance swimmer turned gym-goer, and an aspiring polyglot.