Alumni Directory Display

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.

Alumni Update:

Since her fellowship, Ritu has gotten a Master’s Degree in Bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania, worked in India on a medical device startup, and worked as a scientist at Roche developing new medical diagnostics. She currently works at Stanford University, managing global projects for a medical technology entrepreneurship program. Ritu works with student teams who are developing new medical technology products appropriate for use in the Global South (think low-cost jaundice diagnostic or limb prosthetic). She also conducts and publishes research on medical technology innovation for emerging markets in Asia and Africa.

Fellow Bio:

Ritu Kamal ‘07 is an electrical engineering major from India with a minor in neuroscience and bioengineering. Ritu will be working with the mothers2mothers program in Cape Town, South Africa. At Princeton, she has been involved in the international center and the religious life council, in addition to spending lots of time in her stem cell lab. She is also very interested in reading and writing philosophy, and in traveling to crazy places. She’s hoping to learn about public health in Africa next year, and to have a fantastic time.

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.

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 Max Kaye recently graduated from the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, where he majored in Culture and Politics (CULP) and obtained an African Studies certificate. Max designed his CULP major to look at strengthening state capacity on the African continent. He also closely follows developments in South and Central America and studied during his junior year in Argentina in a program centered on transnationalism and comparative development in South America. Max has a strong interest in philanthropy and has worked in business development at several nonprofits. As the Peace Programs Development intern at The Carter Center in Fall 2022, Max helped develop grant proposals and researched and created presentations related to European and Asian donors. Prior to that, Max was the Development Intern in the Global Economy and Development Program at Brookings Institution, where he supported the grants management and reporting process. Additionally, Max interned at PeaceTech Lab, a nonprofit dedicated to using tech and media to promote peace, and at the Culmore Clinic, a health care clinic for low-income, predominantly Spanish speaking clients. Max was raised in the Washington, D.C. area. During his free time, he loves to connect with friends and family, work out, watch a variety of sports, and read about new international developments.

Alumni Update:

Erin is currently completing a Master’s of Science in Nursing degree.

Fellow Bio:

Erin hails from Chicago, Illinois. While she loves all things Windy City, Erin’s first love is her alma mater, the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she majored in African Language and Literature and International Studies and minored in African Studies. Erin studied abroad twice: at Trinity College Dublin and at the University of Ghana-Legon. Additionally, she participated in various service projects working with vulnerable populations in Ghana, New Orleans, Rwanda and Nicaragua. At UW, Erin served as a Director and Executive Board Member for an organization dedicated to supporting children and families affected by HIV/AIDS. After graduation, Erin spent two years working in the Development Department of Invisible Children, an organization dedicated to dismantling the Lord’s Resistance Army in Central Africa. At Invisible Children, Erin was involved in everything from corporate partnerships to fundraising to stewardship, and also assisted with donor relations during the Kony 2012 campaign. Prior to her fellowship, Erin served as a Global Health Corps fellow at Kyetume Community Based Health Care Programme in Mukono, Uganda as the Fundraising and Development/ Human Resources Officer. While in Tanzania, Erin is excited to add Swahili to her African language repertoire and put her motorcycle skills to use in Dar es Salaam traffic.

Fellow Bio:

Stephanie Keene ’08 is an English major and African American studies certificate student from Coral Springs, FL. At Princeton, Stephanie was a member of the JV tennis team, a Mathey RCA, and a Sustained Dialogue Moderator. As an English major, Stephanie’s independent work compared African American literature to Francophone-African literature, and she is very excited to explore West African culture as a fellow in Dakar, Senegal next year.

Colleen graduated from Kenyon College with degrees in Film and English. She was awarded Honors by the college’s Film and Theater Department for electing to complete a thesis project of an original screenplay and television series. She also studied International Film in Wellington, New Zealand. Colleen served on KGD Film’s production staff, working with local small business owners and nonprofits to boost their community presence. She is dedicated to advocating for social justice causes by crafting narratives that position marginalized groups at the forefront of their own stories. She worked for the nonprofit Identifying Dyslexia, documenting dyslexic students’ personal experiences as a tool to raise awareness for education reform. She held an internship in digital media advocacy, where she developed a social media campaign and an oral history project to educate audiences about challenges faced by foster-care children in her home state, New Jersey. A four-year member of Kenyon’s varsity cross country and track team, she enjoys *casual* twelve mile runs, in her free time. As a communications fellow for the Nyaka Aids Orphans Project, Colleen looks forward to blending her creative and humanitarian passions to share the stories of those in the Nyakagyezi village.

Jon was born and raised in Washington, D.C. and graduated from Georgetown University with a degree in Psychology and a Certificate in African Studies. By mixing his a focus on cultural psychology and neuroscience with his affinity for Africa, he hopes to find new solutions to problems facing the continent. After studying African politics and development for two semesters abroad in Cameroon and Paris, France, he could not resist pursuing an African Studies Certificate and honors thesis to continue critical reflection on corruption and NGO accountability in Africa. In Yaoundé, Jon interned with LAGA and Anti-Corruption, creating partnerships between businesses in the community and the city’s population of street children. He worked as a translator and consultant for corruption cases. Recently, Jon has co-founded the Social Innovation in Development Lab that consults with NGO’s and businesses in Africa to promote best practices in the development industry. Jon is a Board Member of School Girls Unite – a student-run activist organization and an avid producer and performer of electronic and rock music

Esther graduated from Duke University with a degree in Political Science. She has a diverse background working internationally and domestically and is driven to develop sustainable avenues of assistance that foster thriving local economies. Most recently, she worked for the City of Cleveland’s Department of Economic Development where she worked to stimulate the attraction of private investment and support entrepreneurship and small business development. Her portfolio invested over $20M, leveraged over eight times of private investment, and caused the creation of ~1500 jobs in the local economy. She also has significant field experience, having conducted qualitative research with displaced populations in eastern Nepal and Cairo, Egypt, worked in Amman, Jordan on conflict prevention, and conducted outreach with immigrants at the Legal Aid Society in the boroughs of New York. Esther sees the potential for social enterprise development and impact capital to deliver financial inclusion and economic development globally and looks forward to joining Global Partnerships in Nairobi, Kenya as a Social Investment Associate to invest in and scale sustainable, impactful enterprises.

Isaac Kim is a recent graduate of Georgetown University with a major in International Politics and a certificate in African Studies. Originally from Northbrook, Illinois, Isaac focused his undergraduate education on the human impacts of environmental change and policy. Previously, Isaac worked as an external relations intern at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in the Multi-Country Office of Washington, DC, supporting the external relations team’s engagement with US government officials to sustain support for UNHCR’s humanitarian work. Additionally, he has interned at the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, worked as a community development intern at the Lalibela Game Reserve in South Africa, and helped organize the Georgetown Africa Business Conference. In his free time, Isaac enjoys singing choral music and working as a camp counselor at Lac du Bois, a French language immersion camp.