Brian Njoroge graduated from Duke University with a double major in Public Policy and International Comparative Studies and a certificate in Markets and Management. At Duke, Brian was involved with the African Conversations Club where he continuously worked with various departments to promote African scholarship on campus. Additionally, he coordinated fundraising for the school newspaper and sat on the Duke Students Alumni Board. During his junior year, Brian was involved in designing a state-wide computer science curriculum for middle school students in North Carolina. He spent his final year as part of an international workshop exploring care economies in the Global South to develop a universal care index. Previously, he has worked with Equity Bank in Kenya, and with Social Entrepreneur Corp in Guatemala consulting for local non-profits. Brian has also volunteered at a community-based micro-finance in Kampala and designed an agricultural project that was implemented in Central Uganda. In his spare time, he enjoys taking photos and running on trails. His interest in serving the marginalized communities through policy and critical development continues to shape what he does, and he is looking forward to working with Kupona Foundation in the coming year.

Livia graduated with honors and distinction in politics and a minor in history from the University of the South (Sewanee), where she was also part of the pre-public health program. Her family is from Italy and Tunisia, and she grew up in Italy and the UK. While at Sewanee, Livia served on the Executive Board of the Bairnwick Women’s Center, a student-led organization focused on social justice issues related to gender, intersectionality, and access to sexual health and education, and as a Newman Civic Fellow, where she was able to explore her passions for gender equality and equitable health access for marginalized groups. While in college, Livia was lucky to spend one semester studying at the University of Ghana in Accra, where she also completed an internship at AfricaLead, a USAID program focused on strengthening food security and agribusiness, and conducted independent research on civil society advocacy for gender quotas in the Ghanaian parliament. She also interned at the Makerere University-Johns Hopkins University Research Collaboration on AIDS in Kampala, Uganda where she supported programming for adolescents living with HIV. She is excited to continue working in public health and youth development on the African continent as a Princeton in Africa Fellow with the Botswana-Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative.

Katerina recently graduated from Tufts University with a degree in International Security. As an undergraduate, Katerina worked as a writing tutor, was a member of Tufts Mock Trial and acted as a Green Dot ambassador to improve campus culture around sexual misconduct. She has explored her interest in law, international affairs and intersecting health or environmental issues through work experience at a food-tech start-up, an INGO and the State Department. Through these internships and academic experiences, Katerina has conducted regional conflict analyses, explored the role and limits of nongovernmental peacebuilding and used GIS to explore conflict trends over time. She hopes to attend law school and pursue domestic and international peacebuilding and negotiations. She is excited to complement her academic experiences with practical training at the International Rescue Committee in Nairobi and challenge her current understanding of development and aid work.

Makeda graduated from Columbia University with a degree in Political Science and American Studies. During her time at Columbia, she served as a Research Fellow in the Laboratory of Intergroup Relations and the Social Mind under Professor Valerie Purdie Greenaway, studying intersectionality, stereotyping, and discrimination. A first-generation Ethiopian-American, Makeda has always been motivated by a passion for civil and human rights advocacy both in the United States and abroad. Prior to joining the International Rescue Committee, she worked at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School, where she focused on advancing innovative voting rights and democracy reforms. Before that, Makeda interned for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor at the Department of State, as well as the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia and for the Office of Speaker Nancy Pelosi. In addition, throughout college she served as an intern with NBC Nightly News and MSNBC, focusing on both domestic and international breaking news and ongoing deep impact coverage.

Katie graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a major in English and minor in consumer psychology. At Penn, she was involved in Wharton’s undergraduate marketing club, MUSE, where she led projects for their nonprofit consulting division. During her junior year, Katie spent a semester studying at the University of Cape Town, where her passion for serving marginalized communities grew. Following graduation, Katie developed her marketing and communication skills at Rabin Martin, a global health consulting firm, where she communicated public health programs and corporate social responsibility initiatives. She then moved to Edelman, a global communication firm, where she worked in their Corporate and Public Affairs sector driving communications strategy, executive leadership positioning and media relations for Fortune 500 companies such as eBay, Audible, and the PepsiCo Foundation. Looking for ways to further engage with her passions, Katie joined Amref Health Africa’s Young Professional Board where she works on event planning, fundraising and strategy development to forward their mission. She is excited to return to the African continent to work intimately with those fighting to protect and uplift populations most susceptible to systemic injustices.

Jessica is a Charleston, South Carolina native and graduate of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. She started her career in humanitarian work as an intern at the International Rescue Committee in Atlanta, GA assisting resettlement division caseworkers and aiding newly arrived refugee families. Later, Jes spent the summer in DC with Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service as a refugee/immigrant advocacy intern in the midst of the family separation crisis. There, she drafted written materials for the advocacy team, created digital media content, and engaged in Princeton Office of Religious Life research examining the relationship between the organization’s faith-based foundation and refugee resettlement. As a creative mind, freelance photographer, and global citizen, Jes seeks to combine creative and analytical problem solving in the humanitarian sector. She aims to produce digital media material for humanitarian organizations as a way of promoting awareness for global issues and inspiring engagement from worldwide audiences. Motivated by a deeply rooted love for language, culture, and learning, you’ll find Jes constantly on the move. This year, she’s excited to join Gardens for Health International – camera in hand – as a communications and development fellow in Rwanda.

Mary graduated from The University of Maryland, College Park with a degree in Food Science and Global Poverty. Her experiences are mainly focused in nutrition, agriculture and education. Mary’s enthusiasm for nutrition led her to work with the US Department of Agriculture’s Child and Adult Food Care Program during her Junior year of college. As she progressed through college, she completed research in International Food Safety with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Mary is a Nigerian native and believes that education and culture are vital to personal development and growth. During the late months of 2006, the United Nations predicted that some minor languages of the world would become extinct by 2025. In response to the prediction, she pioneered an undergraduate class with the University of Maryland’s African American Studies department on the native Nigerian language; Igbo. Her international work spans throughout the countries of Nigeria, Uganda, Haiti, and Taiwan. In her free time she goes on personal missions trips and volunteers with non-profit organizations like Oxfam and The World Bank.

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!

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.

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.