Alumni Directory Display

she/her/hers

Blaine Thomas is a 2024 graduate of Swarthmore College, where she earned a B.A. in French & Francophone Studies and Political Science with a focus on African politics. At Swarthmore, Blaine served as tour guide for the Admissions Office and a Program Intern at the Black Cultural Center. Blaine developed her passion for global development, sustainable natural resource extraction, and agriculture during her internship at the U.S. Embassy Kinshasa at the Department of State. In this role, she produced diplomatic cables on illicit mining in eastern DRC that were circulated to U.S. embassies to support policy briefings. She continued to pursue this interest while studying abroad in Yaoundé, Cameroon. As a food security and land rights intern for the Reseau de Lutte Contre la Faim, Blaine supported the implementation of activities for populations affected by malnutrition and mining in the Centre Nord and Eastern regions of Cameroon. She leveraged this experience to write her senior French thesis on deforestation and land rights advocacy for the Baka people. Following her graduation, Blaine began working at ACDI/VOCA providing operational and programmatic support for USAID-funded agriculture and market systems development projects in Central Asia and francophone West Africa. Following the Princeton in Africa fellowship, Blaine intends to pursue a Master in Business Administration or Public Policy. In her leisure time, Blaine enjoys figure skating, traveling, and jamming to Michael Jackson.

Alumni Update:

Katie is currently the Deputy Country Director at Action Against Hunger where she focuses on program quality, program development, and future-looking strategy. She is based in Erbil, Iraq.

Fellow Bio:

Katie studied International Development with concentrations in Economics and Sub-Saharan African Studies at UC Berkeley. Her passion for international development dates back to high school when she volunteered in Latin America with the immersion and community development program called AMIGOS de las Américas. Since then, she has worked in development through NGOs (Save the Children International, Women’s Microfinance Initiative), government agencies (State Department), multilateral organizations (UN High Commissioner on Refugees), community development programs (Mutual Financing of African Women, East Bay Sanctuary Covenant), academic research (UC Berkeley, Beatrice Bain Women’s Research Group, teaching “Development Theory and Praxis in Haiti”) and the private sector (Crowdsparc). Through these various experiences, Katie has lived and worked across the world including in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Uganda and Cameroon. Most formatively, in Cameroon Katie conducted research exploring the relationship between different microfinance packages and borrowers’ incidences of domestic violence, which became the foundation of her senior honors thesis. Given her passion for fieldwork and research, Katie eventually hopes to pursue a PhD. In the meantime, Katie is looking forward to moving back to Uganda in order to see her friends, work more closely on-the-ground with refugees and learn from professionals in the field.

Olivia is from Chicago and graduated from the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan with a focus on poverty, health, and international development. During her time as a Wolverine, she led a summer volunteering trip to Peru as part of an internship with Childreach International, lobbied on Capitol Hill as a member of the ONE Campaign, and worked at Barger Leadership Institute on campus. She interned with LIFT Communities, working one-on-one with low-income and homeless individuals to help build a sustainable path out of poverty. During her semester study abroad in Cape Town, South Africa, Olivia volunteered weekly at a primary school in Nyanga Township as an English tutor for fifth grade students. She is excited to continue addressing issues of education and inequality as a Fellow with the Kucetekela Foundation. Olivia looks forward to exploring Lusaka and playing ultimate frisbee on Sundays, a KF Fellow tradition.

Alumni Update:

When her fellowship ended, Alison headed home to Fort Lauderdale, FL. She studied for the GRE while visiting family and friends before moving to Washington, D.C. in January 2014. She works in USAID’s Bureau for Global Health with a team focused on implementation science in HIV. She’s had the opportunity to return to Africa since her fellowship ended, and will be visiting Tanzania, Malawi and Benin this spring and summer.

Fellow Bio:

Alison is a politics major from Plantation, FL. At Princeton, she was a member of Wildcats A Cappella, a Project Coordinator for Anchor House and a member of the Cap & Gown Club. She enjoys singing and writing in her free time. Alison has studied abroad in Istanbul and Dakar during her time at Princeton. While in Kampala next year, Alison looks forward to learning Luganda and riding boda-bodas.

Jessica graduated from Macalester College with a BA in Economics and an interdisciplinary concentration in International Development. In college, she participated in the four-year civic engagement program Bonner Community Scholars and worked at the youth farming organization Urban Roots.  Jessica studied abroad at Ashesi University in Ghana. Her involvement with Sesa Mu Farmers’ Initiative inspired her honors thesis, which used econometric methods to analyze the effect of loan timing on fertilizer use in Ghana. Jessica earned the Winter Mann-Hill Fellowship to design and lead a workshop on sexual violence prevention and response for Ashesi students that volunteer with Future of Africa, a nonprofit that serves street children. She served as an AmeriCorps VISTA at the International Rescue Committee’s refugee resettlement office in Utah and developed initiatives to improve access to contraception and better respond to domestic violence. Jessica has worked on a farm in Nicaragua, attended the UN climate negotiations in Paris, and is passionate about health equity. She is excited to continue working with the International Rescue Committee in Sierra Leone and support education, health, and women and girl’s protection and empowerment programs. 

Isabella graduated from Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service in May 2017 with a degree in Science, Technology and International Affairs. During her time at Georgetown, Isabella focused on the implications of environmental policy in the lives of people worldwide. Her interest was solidified during her semester in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where she worked at a BRICS Policy Institute studying the intersection between gender and climate in the BRICS countries and researching ground-up adaptive solutions to climate change pioneered by women. While at Georgetown, Isabella was a tour guide and the Director for Human Resources at the Corp, the largest entirely student run nonprofit in the world. Isabella has an insatiable curiosity for the natural world around her and as such idolizes Dr. Jane Goodall and enjoys hiking and camping.

Fenja Tramsen is a trainee at the EU Delegation to the Holy See, UN Organisations, Order of Malta, and San Marino, based in Rome. Previously, she worked as a Princeton in Africa Fellow at the International Livestock Research Institute in Kenya, where she published agricultural development communications. Her other governance, migration, and development experience includes roles at the Social Science Research Council, the Niskanen Center in the USA, and the Alliance for Social Equity in Ghana. Fenja holds an MSc in Global Governance and Diplomacy from the University of Oxford and a BA in Political Science and History with High Honors from Swarthmore College, USA.

Alumni Update:

After her fellowship, Emily spent another year working for Plan in the same capacity as a Technical Writer and took on some additional roles and responsibilities. She then returned to the US for a year to do some remaining coursework in order to apply to medical school. She is currently working for UCSF as Research and Training Coordinator for Kenya. She coordinates a program that facilitates medical and master’s students and residents to do clinical work or research here in Nyanza Province as well as connect researchers to one another since they have a multi-institutional research collaboration. She is based in Kisumu, Kenya until June this year, when she will go back to the US for medical school. She is not yet sure which school she will attend, though she has a couple of options already!

Fellow Bio:

Emily (Princeton ‘11) is an economics major with a certificate in African-American Studies from the San Francisco Bay Area, CA. During her time at Princeton she was a member of the varsity swim team, an active Cap and Gown member and occasionally bartended and tutored to pay the bills. Through Princeton she interned with the Global Fund in Switzerland, which sparked an interest in a career in global health and development.  Emily aspires to become a physician one day. While in Uganda next year, Emily looks forward to learning about and participating in local music and dance, climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, and waking up to a new adventure every day.

Fellow Bio:

Michael (Princeton ‘11) is a Woodrow Wilson School major from Fargo, ND. At Princeton, he was Academics Chair of Whitman College Council, a member of Princeton Chapel Choir, and a member of Cloister Inn. He enjoys water sports, including swimming, kayaking, rowing and water tubing. Like many North Dakotans, he is an avid sportsman, enjoying fishing, hunting, and hiking. Through Princeton, Michael worked on health policy at the Center for Rural Wealth, University of North Dakota, and studied abroad at the University of Cape Town. While in Lesotho, Michael hopes to learn more about the psychosocial factors surrounding HIV/AIDS, make new friends form Lesotho and all over the world, and bike through the Drakensburg.