Alumni Directory Display

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.

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 Kristen Tam graduated from UCLA with a degree in environmental science and a minor in food studies. At UCLA, she conducted research under Professor Jennifer Jay in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering analyzing the concentration of heavy metal levels in the soil in LA farms and promoting more sustainable food choices in the dining halls as the UCLA Sustainable Food Task Force’s Undergraduate Representative. Kristen culminated her studies at UCLA as the GIS lead and External Communications Officer in her environmental science senior practicum. Their team partnered with the Cameroon-based nonprofit, Agriculture for Africa, to implement soil testing, GIS mapping, and a solar irrigation system on the nonprofit’s farms in Nkongsamba, Cameroon. She also worked on an organic coffee farm on the Big Island of Hawaii during COVID to get hands-on farming experience. Following that, Kristen moved to North Platte, Nebraska and conducted research, discovering the positive effects on beneficial insect populations from planting native grasslands adjacent to corn fields. From the fields to Capitol Hill, Kristen interned with the House of Representatives Agriculture Committee to engage in how policymaking can affect farmers and sustainable food systems. Following the Princeton in Africa fellowship, she plans to pursue a joint graduate degree in environmental science and law school and pursue a career in sustainable agriculture law. Originally from San Francisco, Kristen enjoys running, road cycling, hiking and baking. Kristen was also President of the UCLA Triathlon Team and organized two Crowdfunding campaigns to send the team to Nationals.

Alumni Update:

Yassi is the Global Leadership Programs Senior Associate for the Leaders Africa program at The Obama Foundation. Her career started as a Princeton in Africa Fellow in Johannesburg, South Africa with the Student Sponsorship Programme (SSP). She then spent five years working in project management for cohort-based learning programs in leadership & professional development for NYC nonprofit leaders at Community Resource Exchange (CRE) where she began as a Public Allies AmeriCorps Member. In her most recent role prior to The Obama Foundation, she helped to design and lay the groundwork for an impactful course for high school students in African History at Success Academy Charter Schools, also in NY.

Yassi earned her B.S.F.S in International Politics and African Studies from Georgetown University and her Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from The Fletcher School at Tufts University in International Communication, International Negotiation & Conflict Resolution, and African Studies. She is a proud alumna of Global Kids and the Institute of International Public Policy (IIPP) Fellowship.

Yassi’s work up until now has made a deep, lasting impact, fueled her own personal growth as a leader, and is propelling the leadership journeys of others forward now at The Obama Foundation.

Fellow Bio:

Yassi (Georgetown ‘11) is a graduate of the School of Foreign Service and is from Queens, NY. At Georgetown, she majored in International Politics and also earned a certificate in African Studies. She was actively involved in campus ministry groups such as GU Sisters for Christ and GU Gospel Choir. Yassi has visited Chad and Central African Republic, where her parents are from, and studied abroad at the University of Cape Town in the spring of 2009. While there, she fell in love with the South African people, learned a great deal about the country’s history, politics, and culture and is excited to return and experience a new city as she works with Student Sponsorship Programme in Johannesburg.

Gordon graduated with a degree in Finance. During college, Gordon was a member of the Texas State Men’s basketball team. He served as the Chief of Staff of the student body and was awarded the Lyndon B. Johnson Outstanding Senior Award. Additionally, five years ago, Gordon started a non-profit organization called Focused, which was founded on the principles of mentoring and accountability. Since graduating, Gordon has worked as a Business Technology Analyst in Deloitte’s Consulting practice. He has worked in a variety of industries, but has recently been aligned with the consumer goods sector. Gordon looks forward to learning Bemba, meeting/making new friends and enjoying the local cuisine.

Alumni Update:

Mallary is a Grants Manager with the Health Technical Unit at International Rescue Committee, based in New York. She works closely with in-country and HQ staff on business development and grants management for health programs across 25+ countries.

Fellow Bio:

Mallary Taylor graduated with honors from Furman University in 2016, with a B.A. in Political Science and a B.S. in Psychology. During her time at Furman, Mallary spent two months on a travel study program through South Africa, Namibia, and Botswana, where she completed coursework in poverty and child development, global health inequalities, photography, and history. She has also studied the interaction between oceans and human health in Bermuda and travel writing in Cuba. In 2015, Mallary served as a Voices of the Future Delegate representing the United States at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Manila, Philippines, collaborating with other delegates from around the Pacific Rim for youth action towards sustainable and inclusive economic development. Mallary’s undergraduate career culminated in a thesis exploring the relationship between gender and support for foreign assistance among members of Congress. Since graduating, she has worked with the Women, Girls, and Population team at the United Nations Foundation, the Global Policy team at the ONE Campaign, and the International Visitor Leadership Program at FHI 360. Mallary is honored to join the PiAf network alongside this year’s fellows, and is thrilled to have the opportunity to gain a more nuanced understanding of humanitarian policy and practice in East Africa through her work with IRC— hopefully joining a few pick-up soccer games, exploring Kenya’s hiking trails, and channeling Anthony Bourdain by trying tons of new foods along the way.

Mariama graduated from The George Washington University with a degree in International Affairs with a concentration in global public health and a minor in public health. Following graduation, Mariama worked as an Events Associate for POLITICO Live, building targeted guest lists, coordinating social media platforms, and managing video and website production to ensure a lasting digital impact for all summits, series, and panel conversations. Mariama received the “Unsung Hero” award, given to those who embody the values of collaboration, disruption, talent cultivation, and relentless contribution. To remain active in global health, Mariama also worked as a part-time Research Assistant for the World Faiths Development Dialogue and contributed to the country mapping investigation of the religious landscape in Lesotho, Nigeria, and Senegal, formatted field interviews, and researched religious views to universal healthcare. She previously held internships with JBS International’s Disability Services Center and Georgetown University Law Center’s O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law and held on-campus positions as an orientation leader and a resident advisor. A first-generation American with parents from Ireland and Sierra Leone, Mariama grew up in Dallas, TX and is thrilled to have the opportunity to combine her passions of global health and communications at CCBRT!

Led by his interest in the power of media to influence culture, Malcolm majored in Culture and Communication with a minor in Latin American Studies at Ithaca College. While studying abroad in Quito, Ecuador, Malcolm volunteered with Chicos de la calle, a local non-profit organization that provides academic support to school-aged street vendors. This experience grew his interests in economic development and youth-capacity building. He later returned to Ecuador and traveled to Ghana as part of Ithaca College’s Martin Luther King Scholar Program to develop a comparative case study on regional disparities in economic development and social mobility. Back in Ithaca, NY, Malcolm served as an English tutor to Guatemalan migrant workers and interned with the Committee on U.S.- Latin American Relations (CUSLAR) at Cornell University. After graduating, Malcolm returned home to Phoenix, Arizona where he managed casework for constituents as an intern in the Office of U.S. Senator John McCain, before moving to Beauvais, France to teach English and U.S. Culture in a public high school. He enjoys swimming, playing the piano and dancing bachata, and is beyond excited for his new adventure in Rwanda with the UN World Food Programme. He looks forward to studying Kinyarwanda and learning more about development through food security.

Kyilah Terry was born and raised in Chicago, IL and graduated with her Bachelor’s degree in International Studies and German from UCLA in 2019. In May 2021, she graduated from Georgetown University with her Master’s in International Relations with a concentration in migration diplomacy and refugee law. During her graduate studies, Kyilah worked as a research assistant at the Council of Foreign Relations (CFR), the U.S. Institute of Peace (Africa Center), the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), and the Institute for the Study of International Migration (ISIM), where she focused on forced displacement and migration management with a regional focus in Europe and Africa. These experiences culminated in her master’s capstone, which was later published in an academic journal, and focused on EU migration externalization policies in North Africa. As a result of her desire to gain more practical experience, she became a policy associate for an immigration consulting firm, where she authored legal and advocacy reports for non-profit immigration organizations in the D.C. area on climate-induced displacement in East Africa. Right before becoming a PiAf Fellow to IRC Kenya, she worked as a Congressional Fellow on Vice President Kamala Harris’s Domestic Policy team and handled VP Harris’s immigration portfolio.