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Krystin Anderson is a 2023 graduate from the University of Florida (UF) where she earned her bachelors in Anthropology with a focus on cultures and a minor in Ethnomusicology/Music History. Her academic interests intersect with sociocultural anthropology, international and diasporic organizing, Pan African History, education, and music. She seeks to ascertain how cultural understandings can impact our connection with those from different backgrounds, and how historic knowledge can impact international relations. Krystin devotes her person to building community and making and enjoying art. She served as the 2022 Director of UF’s Dr. Patricia Hilliard-Nunn Black Hair Expo, an event that opens citywide discussion of black woman-ness and black hair politics through speeches, fashion shows, and performances. She was a Housing Resident Assistant, a mentor in the International Mentor Association, and an International Scholars Program fellow. Krystin has a passion for language and culture, which has driven her travel and study abroad experiences to New Orleans, France, Colombia, Mexico. She prides herself on what she has learned working as a teacher of English as a Second Language at UF’s English Language Institute. Krystin’s passion for oral history and storytelling has been embodied in her research with UF’s Samuel Proctor Oral History Program, where she is also the 2023 Coordinator for the annual summer fieldwork research trip through the Mississippi River delta. Krystin is also a talented vocal performer and has been a member of the UF Gospel Choir, a Graduation National Anthem Singer, and one of the SEC sports singers for UF matches of multiple sports including women’s basketball, softball, and volleyball. She also performs around the state and country as a jazz, R&B, and soul singer. Krystin embraces her familial home of Jamaica and has been steadily involved in the Jamaican Student, Caribbean Student and Black Student unions, where she partakes in events, mentors, and performs on many different occasions.

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 Adam is a Diplomacy and International Relations promoter with three years of experience in Marketing and Career Development at an ed-tech startup, BAG, in Rwanda. He completed a bachelor’s degree with Honors in International Business and Trade from the African Leadership University. With his passion in IR he served as the Chief of Staff at the Kigali CFR from 2020 to 2021. Adam founded Rwanda Model UN, an organization that promotes global leadership among youth. As a natural storyteller, Adam leverages the power of social media to immortalize highlight moments in different communities he takes part of. He has been serving as an Assistant Producer at Ramansa Media a film startup and along with his team they have mobilized to raise $30,000 dollars for production funds from GIZ Rwanda. Adam envisions leveraging technology to solve some of the biggest challenges the continent faces. He runs Gazap, as the CEO, a tech startup that addresses climate change and uses big data to provide clean cooking to all.

Having traveled in over 30 countries, Michael Rivera is an interdisciplinary professional who seeks to understand how effective intercultural communication and empathy contribute to sustainable change. Michael earned dual degrees in music and biology with a certificate in Spanish medical interpreting from Florida State University. Thanks to an undergraduate research grant, he traveled to West Africa for the first time in 2016, where he conducted ethnographic fieldwork and ethnopoetic analysis of music-based health education initiatives funded by foreign and local organizations during the Ebola epidemic. His thesis was selected for presentation at the Society for Ethnomusicology’s annual meeting, and was subsequently published by Indiana University Press in Africa Today. Following graduation, Michael spent the next few years working with education and nonprofit institutions. As an AmeriCorps VISTA member, he established a mixed-methods evaluation system for Chicago-based nonprofit Harmony, Hope & Healing and co-developed the organization’s therapeutic songwriting curriculum for individuals experiencing homelessness, addiction, and incarceration. As a 2021 graduate of the Global Leaders Institute for Arts Innovation, he co-designed and facilitated a five-week program evaluation workshop for over 10 Latin American organizations promoting music education for social change. As an ESOL instructor, he taught migrant workers for two years in the States; spent a year as a Fulbright scholar teaching in secondary schools in Côte d’Ivoire; and currently designs and teaches Business and Academic English courses at the African School of Economics in Benin. He is also an advisor for the university’s pre-doctoral program, where he provides career development coaching for students applying to top PhD programs in Europe and North America. In addition to being a PiAf Fellow this year, Michael is a Master’s-level candidate for the Cambridge Diploma in TESOL. He spends the rest of his time making music, studying languages, and writing for the Human Ingredients travel blog.

Born in Austin, TX, Dylan graduated from Trinity University in 2019 with a degree in Anthropology with a French minor.  After graduating in 2019, Dylan worked as the Security Unit Intern at the NGO CARE in Atlanta, helping write analytical reports and travel advisories for the Sahel and Gulf of Guinea regions of Africa.  Since January 2020, Dylan has worked at Casa Marianella, a shelter for recently arrived asylum seekers, as a French-speaking case manager as well as the donations/operations coordinator. Through this dynamic role, he is responsible for assisting residents to find work, navigating the healthcare system, and locating stable housing.  As a French-speaking case manager, Dylan has worked with clients from primarily West and Central Africa. Currently, Dylan is also working on a documentary film highlighting the daily life of Casa Marianella residents. After completing the Princeton in Africa fellowship, Dylan strives to help build solidarity between the United States and Africa through promoting African history.

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.

Born and raised in Charlottesville, Virginia to Nigerian parents, Temi developed a unique insight on the transnational incidents that affect the African continent. As such, she devoted her personal and academic career toward addressing these circumstances especially as they relate to education and post-conflict reform. She sees the implementation of effective educational policy as the backbone for ensuring peace amongst Africa’s next generation. Temi holds a B.A. in global security and justice as well as French from the University of Virginia. While at UVa, Temi galvanized support for advocacy campaigns centered on girls’ education in Sub-Saharan Africa by working as Vice President of the University’s ONE campaign where she encouraged students to write petitions in support of international initiatives to local senators. During university, Temi worked with adult language learners as an ESL tutor through the International Rescue Committee. As a part of her studies, she conducted qualitative research on the relationship between international bodies like the ICC and their effect on human rights abuses on the continent. For her capstone thesis, she compiled data from over 100 different African news sources to assess the public response to international criminal intervention. Temi completed an internship in the U.S State Department’s Bureau of Human Rights, Labor, and Democracy where she conducted legal analysis on International Human Rights cases within several African nations. Temi is a 2020-2021 recipient of a Fulbright Grant to Côte d’Ivoire where she teaches English at an all-girls high school and conducts peer-tutoring programs for prospective university students. She looks forward to gaining a more holistic view on the educational needs within the region while supporting the mission of The African School of Economics.

Afi Apefa Bello is originally from Togo, West Africa. At the age of 6, her family immigrated to the United States. Having grown up aware of the circumstances which faced her family and others across the African continent, Afi was inspired to address them in her career, especially those concerning disparities in education and gender. Afi graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in May 2019, where she majored in African, African-American, and Diaspora Studies. While at UNC-CH, Afi studied several languages spoken across the African continent, including Kiswahili and Lingala. In 2017, she was awarded the U.S. Foreign Language and Area Studies fellowship to study intensive Kiswahili in Tanzania through the Howard University Swahili Study Abroad program. Driven by her passion for education and gender equity, Afi returned to Tanzania in 2018 as an intern with non-profit organization Students for Students International (S4Si), in partnership with NGO Forum for African Women Educationalists where she worked to address gender disparities in secondary education in Zanzibar. Afi later became Co-Executive Director of S4Si. Through the Okun Foundation grant, Afi conducted research exploring Afro-Diasporic community relations. Afi remains curious as to the role which the African Diaspora plays in development in Africa. At UNC-CH, Afi was awarded the Annexstad Family Foundation Leaders of Tomorrow scholarship in its inaugural class, 2015, and was named a 2017 Harvey Beech scholar. After graduating from UNC-Chapel Hill, Afi served as a College Advisor with the Carolina College Advising Corps, working to increase college access and other post-secondary opportunities for low-income, first-generation, and underrepresented high school students. Afi volunteers with Refugee and Immigrant Community Partnership in North Carolina to address the needs of its immigrant communities. Afi enjoys sewing with African fabric, African literature, and learning new languages. She is excited to work with the African School of Economics this year!

Rachel graduated from American University with a BA in International Studies and focused her studies on sustainable international development and African regional studies. While studying abroad in Nairobi, she interned with SAVO, where she worked on project design, grant-writing, survey administration, and site visits in Kibera. Rachel also studied in Morocco and interned at Transparence, Maroc. Upon her return to the United States, Rachel interned with Roots of Development, an NGO that empowers people in Lagonave, Haiti, to direct their own development, then worked with the organization as the monitoring and evaluation coordinator, where she developed project’s M&E and impact assessment strategies. Prior to the Princeton in Africa fellowship, she worked with the Tahrir Institute of Middle East Policy as the projects and communications assistant. Rachel looks forward to learning about social and economic development in West Africa and supporting the capacity-building of aspiring Beninese thinkers as a Projects Coordinator at the African School of Economics.

Zara graduated in 2015 from Davidson College where she majored in Political Science and minored in Economics. Her senior honors thesis explored the role of ethno-federal arrangements on economic development in Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia. During her time at Davidson, Zara attended the Rift Valley Institute’s Horn of Africa field course in Jinja, Uganda and interned for Spark Microgrants in Musanze, Rwanda, where she created a resource guide for facilitators covering various topics relating to international development. She also spent a semester at Sciences Po in Paris and had the opportunity to travel to Colombia to study the country’s internal conflict. Most recently, she interned for the Children’s Rights Division of Human Rights Watch, where she researched child labor issues within mining and cocoa farming sectors in various West African countries.  She is excited to spend the upcoming year working with the African School of Economics and specifically its Institute for Empirical Research in Policy Economy, using her French, and integrating into Beninese culture.

Alumni Update:

Sarah currently works as a Senior Project Manager at Dimagi, focusing on digital health engagement and strategy throughout West Africa. After three wonderful years working for Dimagi in Senegal, she has spent the past three+ years working at their HQ in Cambridge, MA.

Fellow Bio:

Sarah graduated with a double major in History and Political Science and a minor in French. Originally from Newton, Massachusetts, Sarah has spent the year since graduation working in Washington, DC at Americans for Peace Now. While at Vanderbilt, she studied abroad in Dakar, Senegal, and served as Secretary-General for the 2011 Vanderbilt University Model United Nations Conference. Sarah has completed internships with Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, and the Institute of International Education. During her year in Cotonou, Sarah looks forward to riding zémidjans, sharing stories with friends at home and abroad, and learning more about food security in Benin through the World Food Programme.