Zoe is passionate about understanding the intersection of human and environmental systems. Originally from the Big Island of Hawaii, she graduated from Princeton University in 2017 with a concentration in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and certificate in Environmental Science. At Princeton, Zoe received the Smith-Newton Fellowship, a selective two-year undergraduate research fellowship, to conduct a research project investigating the impacts of pollution on coral reef ecosystems in Bermuda. She presented her findings at the 2016 International Coral Reef Symposium, where her poster presentation received an award from the International Society of Reef Studies. Prior to her work in Bermuda, Zoe contributed to a Ph. D research project studying the role of nutrients in the rainforest ecosystems of Costa Rica. This work culminated in a presentation at the 2015 Association of Tropical Biology and Conservation Annual Meeting, and was recognized with a Faculty of 1000 student award. Throughout college, Zoe also ran Division I cross-country and track for Princeton and served as a team Student-Athlete Wellness Leader. When she’s not trail running or doing science, Zoe also enjoys nature writing, poetry, and yoga. She is thrilled to work at Mpala and learn about Kenyan culture and savannah ecosystems.

Alumni Update:

Zach recently wrapped up an accelerated masters degree through the University of Chicago MAPSS program, during which he focused on cultural, moral, and evolutionary psychology and wrote a thesis reviewing psychological frameworks on global variation in nepotism. He is currently training for a two year teaching residency at a charter school in Chicago called the Great Lakes Academy. He will be teaching middle school sciences while taking coursework through the Relay School of Graduate Education, hoping to receive his teaching certification and MA in teaching within two years.

Fellow Bio:

Zach is a recent graduate of the University of Southern California where he completed his degree in Environmental Studies with a minor in Psychology in May of 2017. His time at USC was spent directing the Environmental Core student advocacy group as it worked to green USC’s campus, leading meditations as a Mindful USC Student Leader, and coordinating adventures with USC students and professors via Peaks & Professors. Zach is always hungry for interesting perspectives on complex and urgent social issues and got a glimpse of the many questions surrounding development in Africa while studying abroad at the University of Cape Town in 2016. He has combined his studies in the environment and psychology through a research position in the interdisciplinary field of conservation psychology, and believes there’s good reason to think that our ability to handle the global problems of the 21st century will start with the way we relate to our local communities. Zach is excited to fill a role in the Kasiisi Project’s conservation education programs and can’t wait to have everything he thinks he knows turned upside-down.

Weiwei graduated from Stanford University with a major in Economics and minor in East Asian Studies. Weiwei has professional experience on three continents. She spent two summers working in China, where she supported organizations ranging from an internationally renowned art gallery to a global supply chain management company. She also interned for a mobile payments startup in Ghana through Stanford SEED, an initiative by the Stanford Graduate School of Business that aims to combat poverty through innovation and entrepreneurship. Prior to Princeton in Africa, Weiwei spent two years in management consulting at ZS Associates in San Francisco, where she advised healthcare clients on sales and marketing strategy.

Alumni Update:

Walter is currently living in Philadelphia, and just began a position as a Program Coordinator at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education. Previously, he was Princeton in Africa’s Program Coordinator for over 3 years!

Fellow Bio:

Walter graduated from Georgetown University with a degree in International Politics and a certificate in African Studies.  During his time at Georgetown, he studied international institutions, African affairs, and education. His undergraduate thesis was on innovative education programs in Kenya.  Walter spent the fall of his junior year studying in Strasbourg, France.  He has also spent time abroad interning in Rwanda at a university program called Kepler Kigali, where he assisted faculty and staff, supported programming for extracurricular activities, and mentored and tutored students.  Walter has worked in Washington, D.C. as an International Programs intern at the Corporate Council on Africa and a Youth Programs intern at the Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.  Additionally, at Georgetown, Walter worked on the logistics committee for the school’s Africa Business Conference and served as a Peer Advisor to freshmen at the School of Foreign Service.  He was selected as a Global Curriculum Fellow by the D.C. Public Schools Department of Global Education; through this fellowship, he assisted in designing an African Studies course for high school students.  Walter will be working as the Geography Teaching Fellow at Maru-a-Pula school in Gaborone, Botswana. 

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.

Urvi, a native of Delhi, India, graduated from Skidmore College with a degree in Environmental Studies & Film. Her choice of major as well as other endeavors are motivated by her desire to make positive contextual change. While at Skidmore, Urvi followed her passion for conservation as a North Woods steward and an environmental educator at the Wilton Wildlife Preserve and Park. She used Media as a medium to communicate the importance of these natural ecosystems. In doing so, Urvi discovered her interest in the intersection of storytelling, and conservation. She pursued this new-found passion in Tanzania during her semester abroad, where she better understood the linkages between her theoretical/field experiences and the working world. After her semester abroad, Urvi decided to dive deep into the interconnections between the Sustainable Development Goals. This took her to Washington DC where she interned with the Grameen Foundation, UNICEF, and the Vicente Ferrer Foundation over the summer working on marketing, communication, and grant writing. Preparing for life after college, Urvi will be spending her summer interning at the Rainforest Alliance and Vicente Ferrer foundation before setting off to Kenya. She is excited to apply her skills to creating impactful and effective stories for the BOMA Project in Nanyuki, Kenya.

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.

Originally from Accra, Ghana, Vanessa grew up in Romeoville, Illinois, a town next to the city of Joliet, Illinois. A Shakespeare fanatic, she heartbreakingly had to leave Romeoville to attend the University of Minnesota, where she graduated in 2016 with degrees in Journalism and History. Vanessa has written for The Minnesota Daily, Minnesota Public Radio, and The Reporters Inc., a nonprofit journalistic house. Vanessa is interested in all aspects of journalism, including philanthrojournalism and global communications. A longtime history buff, she served as the diversity outreach intern and a National History Day mentor for the Minnesota Historical Society. Vanessa was involved in various campus organizations, but counts her time as a 2014 Orientation Leader as her favorite. Vanessa believes in getting a well-rounded experience in academics and work, which led to her interning for Congressman Keith Ellison and working as an ESL classroom assistant for adult refugees. Due to her internships at organizations that work to strengthen communities in Minnesota and throughout the world, she was named a Kevin Mossier Award Scholar. Vanessa is a soccer fanatic and spent the summer of 2015 in Berlin researching German soccer history. This resulted in a 60 page research paper on the formation of German national identity through World Cups. Vanessa is beyond excited to come to the rainbow nation and work with the future leaders at the African Leadership Academy – and possibly beat some students in soccer. She is especially excited to learn from the students at ALA and explore Johannesburg!

Tomas graduated from Davidson College in 2015, majoring in Political Science and minoring in Economics. As an undergraduate, he worked with a professor on a study of the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria, sparking an interest in African conflict that led him to intern at the Enough Project and culminated in a senior thesis on the M23 rebellion in the Democratic Republic of Congo. After graduating, he joined the Congressional Research Service, where he assisted Africa analysts with research on a range of projects. While at CRS, he was fortunate to co-author reports on Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, Boko Haram, and the Lord’s Resistance Army, among others. Tomas is very excited to join the International Rescue Committee in Freetown, Sierra Leone, where he hopes to expand his knowledge of Sierra Leone and West Africa, gain insight into the challenges of governance and development in post-conflict societies, and (with any luck) learn a little Krio.

Hailing from a small, Midwest town, Udita graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in Anthropology and Global Health Studies. Her passion in for “glocal” health has led her to have meaningful experiences both domestically and globally. She spent two summers in both Tanzania and Uganda where she had the opportunity to conduct community-based research and learn more about the health infrastructures in both countries. While at Northwestern, she co-founded and ran a community engagement organization called NU Community Health Corps, that aims to empower individuals to take ownership of their own health and wellbeing. Through NUCHC, she launched the HIRCULES Health Hub, which are health information desks focused on connecting community members to qualified health information and resources. She also served as a Partnerships Fellow at the GlobeMed Global Headquarters where she works closely to manage the 56 global partnerships between undergraduate chapters and grass-root organizations in Asia, Latin America, and Africa. Udita is extremely excited to be returning to Tanzania and working Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative this upcoming year!