Alumni Directory Display

she/her/hers

Merete Cowles graduated from the University of Vermont with degrees in Health & Society, Anthropology, and a certificate in Global Health. While at UVM, she was awarded the George Henry Perkins Award and the Outstanding Senior Award for her academic and extracurricular achievements. With a special interest in displacement and crisis response, Merete spent a semester studying refugee health in Amman where she interned at the Institute for Family Health, leading projects on disability rehabilitation and psychosocial support for refugee survivors of gender-based violence and torture. Upon her return, she interned with the Humanitarian Affairs team at CARE where she mobilized resources for numerous successful USAID and private grants ranging from $55k to $5M. After graduating, Merete joined the Refugee Women’s Centre to deliver emergency aid to the displaced populations navigating France’s Northern coast. While providing mobile material, medical, and psychosocial support, she also developed and implemented innovative internal communications strategies to improve staff access to safeguarding, service referral, and capacity-building resources. She continues to use her strategic design and storytelling skills to celebrate the resilience of conflict-affected women and amplify their voices to global audiences while consulting at impactful organizations such as the Batonga Foundation and the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders. Driven to create a positive impact while expanding her comfort zone, Merete loves to travel cheap, hike often, make art, and connect with friends both old and new.

Arien, originally from Kansas, is a history major from Princeton University with a certificate in African American Studies. At Princeton, Arien was the Senior coordinator for the Leadership and Mentorship Program, which helped to improve the experience of African American freshmen at Princeton. Arien studied abroad for a semester in Cape Town, South Africa and studied the socioeconomic history of Africa as well as the Xhosa language. Her time in Cape Town made her eager to study the economic and cultural effects of colonialism and globalism on African nations. Arien is excited to learn about the experiences of her prospective Rwandan friends as well as to gain a greater sense of self-reliance while in Kigali.

Fellow Bio:

Jessie Cronan ‘07 is a religion major from Boston, MA. During her PiAF fellowship year Jessie will be working at the Rift Valley Children’s Village in Karatu, Tanzania. She is an avid traveler and spent the fall of her junior year studying abroad at St. Andrews University in Scotland. On campus Jessie was the Class of 2007 secretary and a member of the Cottage Club. She is excited to spend next year in Tanzania.

Alumni Update:

After her two-year fellowship in Uganda, Erin attended law school and began working as a litigation and international arbitration associate at Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP. From 2011 to 2013, she had the opportunity to move back to Africa and live in Gabon, because her husband was posted there with the State Department. In 2013, they returned to D.C. and she is working again at Milbank.

Alumni Update:

Nicole has been working with her host organization, CHAI, since her fellowship year. She is currently an epidemiologist based in Eswatini, supporting national malaria programmes in South Africa, Eswatini and Mozambique to manage malaria surveillance systems and measure progress towards elimination.

Fellow Bio:

Nicole Dagata graduated with honors from the University of Florida with a BA in Economics. Her journey into her career in international development began when she sought funding to implement a project aimed toward improving community health. Her vision, Food for Thought, garnered support to develop and facilitate nutrition workshops for local youth. The success of the project inspired Nicole to travel to Guatemala where she had the opportunity to conduct program impact research. Her time there brought to her attention numerous health disparities which regularly effect marginalized groups. Nicole left Guatemala with the desire to devote herself to providing aid to these communities. After graduation, Nicole began working in the malaria control program for an NGO called PATH. She coordinates field activities, report writing and utilizes data management tools to provide summaries of data captured throughout health facilities in Africa. Outside the office, Nicole serves as Prevention team lead on DC’s HIV Working Group, a coalition aiming to spread awareness about HIV prevention and treatment by organizing free HIV testing. Additionally, Nicole supports Children’s National Health System as a Patient Care Volunteer, working directly with the hospital’s globally diverse group of patients to provide companionship before medical procedures.

Yasmin Dagne is from Silver Spring, MD, and is a recent graduate of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. She received certificates in Arabic Language and Culture and African Studies, and studied at the University of Cape Town. On campus, she was a member of the International Relations Council and of diSiac Dance Company. She was a 2013-2014 Fellow at the Program on Religion, Diplomacy, and International Relations at the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination. She has interned for the U.S. House Subcommittee on Africa and for the National Democratic Institute. She is excited to work for WFP in Dakar and to live in the country whose world-renowned musicians created the soundtrack to her childhood.

Elena is an Eritrean American and a graduate of Occidental College in Kinesiology & Public Health. She is passionate about fostering sustainable public health development, dedicating herself to both service and research. At Occidental, her primary research endeavor was a longitudinal study examining the impact of schoolyard greening renovations on physical activity and social behaviors among schoolchildren in Los Angeles. Using SPSS & ArcGIS, she organized and analyzed large-scale data sets to provide quantifiable evidence supporting environmental equity. Elena’s efforts made her the first Kinesiology student to receive Occidental’s Science Scholar Fellowship grant to develop and implement several innovative research protocols for the study. Additionally, she helped conduct research studies examining the accessibility of oral health coverage through Medicaid and the potential health burden of consumer products targeted towards women of color. Elena also served as a Community Health Worker for Every Woman Counts, which provides free mammograms and pap tests to uninsured and undocumented individuals across LA County. Upon graduation, she worked as a COVID-19 Case Investigator & Contact Tracer for the LA Department of Public Health. She most recently served as a Clinical Research Coordinator for a study addressing post-traumatic stress symptoms among assault-injured youth at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Elena’s experiences have nurtured her lifelong commitment to community-driven development and evidence-based health intervention, which she is eager to continue exploring with BIPAI Eswatini!

Jayme majored in Public Relations and minored in African American Studies and Business. While at the University of Texas, Jayme was selected to represent her university as an Archer Fellow in Washington, D.C. Since graduation, Jayme has worked at Google in a wide range of roles in both San Francisco and New York City. Most recently, Jayme managed a Learning & Development program at Google. In her free time, Jayme enjoys yoga, skateboarding, photography, and hosting dinner parties for friends. While in Kenya this year, Jayme looks forward to exploring a new culture, learning Swahili, and engaging in the world of social enterprise in Nairobi.

Alumni Update:

Beverly is currently freelancing with lifestyle magazines, where her most recent assignment focuses on the arts in West Africa. She’s based on the East Coast.

Fellow Bio:

Beverly Danquah graduated from St. John’s University where she studied communications with a concentration in journalism and a triple minor in business, legal studies and international studies. At St. John’s, Beverly made the Dean’s List every year and was the student commencement speaker. Born and raised in the Bronx, Beverly’s interest in journalism and travel began when she studied abroad in Italy, Ireland and France on the U.S. Dept. of State Benjamin A. Gilman Scholarship, where she studied international relations with a focus in migration. While abroad, Beverly visited a total of 14 countries.

Beverly has had internships with: Moda Operandi as a fashion copywriter, the New York City Council’s Press Office, CNN’s Reliable Sources with Brian Stelter in production, ABC News’s Nightline in production, MSNBC as a digital editor, Saturday Night Live as a writer’s researcher and MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show in production. While at MSNBC, Beverly curated MSNBC’s daytime and primetime programming through social posts and was on the frontlines of producing compelling videos to show audiences what the journey was like for immigrants after they crossed the southern U.S. border.

She is an alumna of the New York Times Student Journalism Institute and served as peer mentor of about 12 students in undergrad. Beverly’s talk show at the Manhattan Neighborhood Network received a Public Media Award for Most Educational Youth Talk Show. She is a freelance event producer at the Apollo Theater, more recently assisting with production on the Apollo’s AFRICA NOW Jesus & Jollof Live Event.

Fellow Bio:

Carolina Danspeckgruber ’08 is a politics major from Princeton, NJ. She also earned a certificate in European Cultural Studies. At Princeton Carolina was a Community Action leader and coordinator, a French Story Hour reader, and a member of the Ivy Club. Through Princeton, Carolina also worked for the Financial Institutions Department of the Raiffeisen Bank in Vienna, Austria. An avid traveler, tennis player, and skier, Carolina is excited to spend the coming year in Cape Town to learn more about public health NGOs as well as the NGO world in general.