Alumni Directory Display

Dara Bernstein is a young professional with experience in international development program monitoring and evaluation. She is passionate about connecting innovative solutions to poverty at the household level with macroeconomic growth strategies. Since graduating from Brown University in 2018 with a degree in Economics and French Studies, Dara has worked as a program associate in the international division of Mathematica, a policy research institute. In this role, she contributes to research in an array of fields, including energy, financial services, secondary education, and workforce development, primarily in West Africa and Morocco. She sees promise in initiatives aimed at improving the skills and capacity of women and youth in developing communities, such as micro-lending to women, strengthening family planning systems, and improving education and workforce development programs. Dara is continually refining her quantitative and qualitative research skills, which are complemented by her proficiency in French and Stata programming. She also has extensive experience in project management and budgeting for large-scale international projects funded by the Millennium Challenge Corporation and the Gates Foundation. Dara is looking forward to her role as a Junior Consultant/MEAL Fellow with the West African Rice Company (WARC) team in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Alumni Update:

Abhit is currently a PhD student in political science at Columbia, where he studies the political economy of development with a focus on Africa.

Fellow Bio:

Abhit is from Knoxville, TN and was a Political Science and African Studies major in college. During his time at Northwestern, he was the co-director of the Undergraduate Africa Seminar, the editor of the Political Science Communiqué, and the director of A&O Films. He also spent time working as a teaching assistant for an African politics class and interning at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Through Northwestern, he was able to study abroad for a semester in Paris and conduct independent thesis research for a summer in Senegal. Abhit looks forward to returning to Senegal, improving his Wolof, and taking in the incredible music scene Dakar has to offer.

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.

Martha is originally from Sleepy Hollow, New York and graduated from Scripps College in Claremont, California with a degree in Organismal Biology in 2015. Martha also studied Wildlife Management for a semester with The School for Field Studies in Rhotia, Tanzania and Kimana, Kenya. At Scripps, she completed her senior thesis on inorganic pollutants in Costa Rican watersheds, and she completed an additional directed research thesis on the implications of human encroachment on the Kimana-Kikarankot River during her time studying abroad in Kenya. She also has spent the past two summers interning with the Wildlife Conservation Society at the Bronx Zoo, which has been an invaluable experience. Martha’s future career interests include wildlife conservation and field research, but a Master’s degree inevitably must come first! Outside of academia, Martha enjoys Zumba fitness and alternative comedy. Martha is very excited to return to East Africa as well as to travel throughout the region, keep up with her Swahili, and learn Rutooro at her fellowship post in Kibaale. Her experience teaching English while abroad in Tanzania as well as her passion for wildlife conservation make her a happy and ready Fellow for The Kasiisi Project.

Fellow Bio:

Mark graduated with degrees in African Studies and Social Policy. While at Northwestern, he held leadership positions on the African Students Association, the Global Engagement Summit, and the Undergraduate Africa Seminar. Off campus, he studied Public Health and Forced Migration at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, and interned with the Refugee Law Project, the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, and the Center for Forced Migration Studies. Raised in suburban Illinois, Mark is excited to experience life in the country of his father’s birth. He especially looks forward to improving his Amharic, interacting with hyenas at Harar, visiting other fellows in their respective countries, eating injera every day, and exploring the Addis music scene.

Alumni Update:

Shameika started a joint MDiv/MBA program at Eastern University’s Palmer Theological Seminary this Spring. Elected to the Student Assembly as Chaplain Ambassador, she supports the spiritual needs of the community. As a self-taught photographer, Shameika continues to spend time in nature and hone her skills. 

Fellow Bio:

Shameika is originally from Seattle, WA. At Swarthmore College, she majored in Africana Studies and spent a year abroad in Accra, Ghana. Since graduation, Shameika has worked at Philadelphia VIP, a nonprofit legal services agency, through the Philly Fellows program. In her free time Shameika enjoys learning languages, reading about the most recent developments in astro-physics, and kickboxing. While in Gabon next year, Shameika looks forward to learning French and Fang in addition to learning about Gabonaise culture.

Nasya Blackwell is a cum laude graduate of the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and a bachelor’s degree in English with a minor in Spanish. She served as a Gilman scholar in Costa Rica, completed an exchange program in South Korea, and studied abroad at the University of Ghana. After graduation, Nasya worked in the U.S. House of Representatives as a full-time staffer and at Emerging Public Leaders in Accra, Ghana, as North Carolina A&T’s first Princeton in Africa Fellow. After her PiAf fellowship, Nasya moved to Taiwan to complete a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant grant, where she taught English to elementary school students and started learning Mandarin Chinese. 

Nasya attends Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, pursuing a master’s degree in International Relations as a Charles B. Rangel and Public Service fellow. In graduate school, she is exploring gender policy and intercultural communications with a regional focus in Africa and Asia. After graduating, Nasya plans to join the U.S. Department of State as a Foreign Service Officer promoting cross-cultural connection, strengthening the possibility of making the world we live in a more understanding, empathetic, and equitable place, where the voices of marginalized communities are heard and respected on the global stage. 

Originally from the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California, Hannah graduated from Middlebury College with a degree in International and Global Studies and minor in Global Health. While at Middlebury, Hannah served in board positions with clubs like GlobeMed and danced with Midd Masti, a South Asian dance group. Throughout her academic career, Hannah held internships at Gardens for Health International, Global Brigades in Ghana, and the U.S. Embassy in El Salvador; she also spent a wonderfully warm winter term teaching English in Costa Rica. Hannah assisted in a long-term research project with a Middlebury professor and spent one summer in Amhara, Ethiopia collecting field-notes on the Women’s Development Army, a government program seeking to empower women and improve health outcomes from a grass-roots level. Her passions for health equity and access were strengthened during her junior year abroad in Argentina and Tanzania. While in Buenos Aires, she interned at a maternal hospital and conducted independent research on comparative health policy. In Tanzania, Hannah studied political ecology, Kiswahili, and spent a month living and studying with a Maasai healer. Hannah is excited to relocate to Gaborone, Botswana to join the Young 1ove team, learn Setswana, and finally escape harsh winters of Vermont.