Alumni Directory Display

As an educator at heart, Veda has spent a decade in several roles with the African Leadership (AL) Group, first as an Entrepreneurial Leadership Faculty at the African Leadership Academy before later serving as the Founding Dean of the African Leadership University (ALU), Rwanda for 2 years. Veda is currently serving as the Chief Executive Officer of ALC & ALU, overseeing operations across both the Mauritius and Rwanda campuses while steering the institution’s new 5-year strategy to become a ‘distributed university’ across the world. He has helped develop the leadership model of central to the mandate of the AL Group- to develop 3 million African Leaders by 2035. During a sabbatical that he took in 2019, Veda co-founded NiaDelta, a Leadership and Education consulting firm that advises corporate C-suites as well as education leaders.

Trina Swanson, from Iowa, studied Medical Anthropology at Princeton University, and earned certificates in African Studies and Global Health. She also studied Kiswahili, and spent two summers in Tanzania, continuing her Kiswahili studies and interning at a health center. These summers, she also volunteered as an English teacher at a local market, and then at a shelter for homeless girls and their children. Her senior thesis was an ethnography of maternal healthcare for Tanzanian girls and women under age 21. She conducted interviews with health care providers, young mothers, and their families, traveling throughout Arusha and the surrounding villages and holding many adorable infants. Trina spent a prior summer interning in development at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. During her third year of university, she helped PiAf out on the backend as an intern, so she is excited to now be a fellow herself. On campus, she was also involved in Matriculate, a college access non-profit, and she rode weekly overnight shifts with Princeton First Aid and Rescue Squad as a licensed EMT. Since leaving Princeton, Trina has been volunteering at her local district health center on the Covid-19 response and doing research for the JUST data lab at Princeton to build a “Pandemic Portal” on the intersection of race and COVID-19. Trina has a passion for social justice, and hopes to attend medical school and devote her career to global health. She also loves to play violin, watch musicals, and make homemade hot fudge.

Rachel, a native of Seattle, graduated from American University with a major in Public Health.  Prior to AU, she was a fellow with Global Citizen Year, where she spent seven months in Ecuador living and working in an indigenous community. As a research assistant her sophomore year, she examined the efficacy of culturally relevant programming among migrant populations in D.C., specifically focusing on recruitment of participants and organizing group meetings in Spanish. Back in Seattle for the summer,  she worked for AmeriCorps as the Outreach Coordinator for SNAP benefits for Pike Place Market Foundation. The following fall semester she spent studying health systems in Nairobi, Kenya while interning at the Center for Rights and Education Awareness, an organization that provides legal services for survivors of gender based violence. Returning to D.C. to finish her junior year she was the Development Intern for the Nothing But Nets campaign at the United Nations Foundations. While at UNF she worked on prospecting corporate and individual donor pipelines, as well as created strategic plans for congressional districts based off of qualitative research. She is excited to be moving back to Nairobi, for her fellowship year with the International Rescue Committee.

Paley, a native of Maine, graduated from Connecticut College with a degree in Human Development and International Relations. At Connecticut College, she was a scholar of the Honors Program in Community Action and Public Policy. Throughout her college career she volunteered in local schools creating curriculum around youth development and leadership. Paley was an intern at International Planned Parenthood, where she worked on the Direct Marketing team writing reports for donors about the organizations women’s reproductive rights programs in indigenous communities in Latin America. She was also an intern at Human Rights Watch, where she helped coordinate their annual dinners in 24 countries. After graduation, Paley worked at Oxfam America, an international organization fighting to create lasting solutions to poverty, hunger, and social justice. While at Oxfam, in addition to her job in fundraising, she was the Gender Advisor for her team, where she worked with staff to implement gender goals and ultimately contributed to the creation of a gender strategic plan for the next four years. Prior to the fellowship year, Paley had never been to Africa. She is excited about exploring Dar es Salaam next year and learning Swahili. She is grateful for the opportunity to pursue her passion of international development in the public health sector during her fellowship at CCBRT. 

Alumni Update:

Last year Lauren started a job as a Grants Coordinator for Elevate, a grant writing and non-profit strategy firm in Washington DC. She is excited to continue to use the experience she gained working with Integrate Health to make her an effective member of her team!

Fellow Bio:

Lauren graduated from George Washington University’s Elliot School of International Affairs with a BA in International Affairs, concentrating in Global Public Health and International Development and used her French to spend a semester at Sciences Po in Paris. Since her freshman year, she has worked for the Grassroot Project, a non-profit that trains student- athletes to teach middle school students sexual education, specifically addressing the HIV/AIDS epidemic in DC. She is a founding member of No Lost Generation, a student initiative partnered with the State Department aimed at providing quality education for refugee youth. She has interned in the West Africa office of Human Rights Watch, focusing on media monitoring for Senegal and Gambia. She spent 6 months as an intern in the Office of Strategic Partnerships and Intergovernmental Affairs at Peace Corps supporting the Acting Director. Lauren utilized a summer interning with WomanCare Global, where she worked on a USAID project to support the introduction of new woman-initiated technologies to meet the reproductive health needs of women and girls. She also interned for Athletes for Hope where she connected Olympic and professional athletes to charitable organizations, including Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move Active Schools initiative. As a member of the D1 Cross Country/Track team at GW, Lauren was selected by coaches for the Athletic Leadership Academy and was nominated for an Excellence in Student Life Award for contributing to a culture of philanthropy and voluntarism on campus. She is looking forward to continuing her commitment to public health at Integrate Health as their Capacity Building Fellow in Kara, Togo!

Edom Tadesse is an Ethiopian American with a passion for helping youth in Ethiopia. Edom graduated from American University with a degree in international relations with a focus on development in Sub-Saharan Africa. Throughout her studies, her concentration was young girls empowerment through understanding gender inequalities and promoting education in rural areas of Ethiopia. As promoting education for young girls in Ethiopia is an interest of Edom’s, she designed and led a group of students on a service-learning trip to Ethiopia in 2014. The objective of the trip was to advocate for education and provide resources needed for young girls to pursue their education. This included fundraising over $20,000 for school supplies and equipment to renovate classrooms. Edom is the Program Outreach Coordinator for EthioBridge for Education, a nonprofit that aims to improve the learning experience for children in Ethiopia. In her role, she establishes partnerships with organizations in Washington, D.C. and contributes to fundraising initiatives. Over the years, Edom has had internships at PartnersGlobal and Management Systems International in Washington, D.C. where she was on the Sub-Saharan Africa teams. She was supporting project development in Nigeria and Congo while using her French to translate one-pagers of active projects. Her experiences have only solidified her passion for the African continent and played part in her interest in becoming a project manager. Edom currently works as Project Coordinator at Education Development Center, an organization that improves education, promotes health and expands on economic opportunity globally.

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 Kristen Tam graduated from UCLA with a degree in environmental science and a minor in food studies. At UCLA, she conducted research under Professor Jennifer Jay in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering analyzing the concentration of heavy metal levels in the soil in LA farms and promoting more sustainable food choices in the dining halls as the UCLA Sustainable Food Task Force’s Undergraduate Representative. Kristen culminated her studies at UCLA as the GIS lead and External Communications Officer in her environmental science senior practicum. Their team partnered with the Cameroon-based nonprofit, Agriculture for Africa, to implement soil testing, GIS mapping, and a solar irrigation system on the nonprofit’s farms in Nkongsamba, Cameroon. She also worked on an organic coffee farm on the Big Island of Hawaii during COVID to get hands-on farming experience. Following that, Kristen moved to North Platte, Nebraska and conducted research, discovering the positive effects on beneficial insect populations from planting native grasslands adjacent to corn fields. From the fields to Capitol Hill, Kristen interned with the House of Representatives Agriculture Committee to engage in how policymaking can affect farmers and sustainable food systems. Following the Princeton in Africa fellowship, she plans to pursue a joint graduate degree in environmental science and law school and pursue a career in sustainable agriculture law. Originally from San Francisco, Kristen enjoys running, road cycling, hiking and baking. Kristen was also President of the UCLA Triathlon Team and organized two Crowdfunding campaigns to send the team to Nationals.

Alumni Update:

Mallary is a Grants Manager with the Health Technical Unit at International Rescue Committee, based in New York. She works closely with in-country and HQ staff on business development and grants management for health programs across 25+ countries.

Fellow Bio:

Mallary Taylor graduated with honors from Furman University in 2016, with a B.A. in Political Science and a B.S. in Psychology. During her time at Furman, Mallary spent two months on a travel study program through South Africa, Namibia, and Botswana, where she completed coursework in poverty and child development, global health inequalities, photography, and history. She has also studied the interaction between oceans and human health in Bermuda and travel writing in Cuba. In 2015, Mallary served as a Voices of the Future Delegate representing the United States at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Manila, Philippines, collaborating with other delegates from around the Pacific Rim for youth action towards sustainable and inclusive economic development. Mallary’s undergraduate career culminated in a thesis exploring the relationship between gender and support for foreign assistance among members of Congress. Since graduating, she has worked with the Women, Girls, and Population team at the United Nations Foundation, the Global Policy team at the ONE Campaign, and the International Visitor Leadership Program at FHI 360. Mallary is honored to join the PiAf network alongside this year’s fellows, and is thrilled to have the opportunity to gain a more nuanced understanding of humanitarian policy and practice in East Africa through her work with IRC— hopefully joining a few pick-up soccer games, exploring Kenya’s hiking trails, and channeling Anthony Bourdain by trying tons of new foods along the way.

Mariama graduated from The George Washington University with a degree in International Affairs with a concentration in global public health and a minor in public health. Following graduation, Mariama worked as an Events Associate for POLITICO Live, building targeted guest lists, coordinating social media platforms, and managing video and website production to ensure a lasting digital impact for all summits, series, and panel conversations. Mariama received the “Unsung Hero” award, given to those who embody the values of collaboration, disruption, talent cultivation, and relentless contribution. To remain active in global health, Mariama also worked as a part-time Research Assistant for the World Faiths Development Dialogue and contributed to the country mapping investigation of the religious landscape in Lesotho, Nigeria, and Senegal, formatted field interviews, and researched religious views to universal healthcare. She previously held internships with JBS International’s Disability Services Center and Georgetown University Law Center’s O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law and held on-campus positions as an orientation leader and a resident advisor. A first-generation American with parents from Ireland and Sierra Leone, Mariama grew up in Dallas, TX and is thrilled to have the opportunity to combine her passions of global health and communications at CCBRT!

Kyilah Terry was born and raised in Chicago, IL and graduated with her Bachelor’s degree in International Studies and German from UCLA in 2019. In May 2021, she graduated from Georgetown University with her Master’s in International Relations with a concentration in migration diplomacy and refugee law. During her graduate studies, Kyilah worked as a research assistant at the Council of Foreign Relations (CFR), the U.S. Institute of Peace (Africa Center), the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), and the Institute for the Study of International Migration (ISIM), where she focused on forced displacement and migration management with a regional focus in Europe and Africa. These experiences culminated in her master’s capstone, which was later published in an academic journal, and focused on EU migration externalization policies in North Africa. As a result of her desire to gain more practical experience, she became a policy associate for an immigration consulting firm, where she authored legal and advocacy reports for non-profit immigration organizations in the D.C. area on climate-induced displacement in East Africa. Right before becoming a PiAf Fellow to IRC Kenya, she worked as a Congressional Fellow on Vice President Kamala Harris’s Domestic Policy team and handled VP Harris’s immigration portfolio.