Alumni Update:
After three years in Kinshasa, DRC, Erin has recently relocated to Geneva, Switzerland with her husband and two children. She is presently working for the Global Fund and remains on faculty at the Center for Family and Community Medicine at Columbia University.
Fellow Bio:
Katie Fiorella ’06 is an Ecology and Evolutionary Biology major from Haddonfield New Jersey. At Princeton, she was a diver on the Swimming and Diving team, spent a summer working for UNESCO in Thailand, and participated in the EEB field semester in Panama. Since graduating, Katie has been a Princeton Project 55 Fellow working at The Food Project, a youth and agriculture organization in Boston. Katie will spend the coming year in Kampala, Uganda working for the regional office of the United Nations World Food Programme. She is excited to learn more about international food security, escape the east coast cold by moving to a country that the equator passes through, and to finally have the opportunity to visit the site of her thesis research, Madagascar.
John Firestone
2014-2015 Fellow with
Olam International,
Ghana
Colorado State University Class of 2010
John graduated with a BA in Business Administration from the Organization and Innovation Management program. From New Jersey, John’s transfer from a community college to Colorado State marked his change in career direction. Discovering his love for community involvement, John quickly immersed himself supervising an after-school program for low income families and volunteering as the lead student organizer for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. Through his innovation-centric courses, John worked on projects for a local, socially conscious small business, Zero Hero, and an international NGO, Outreach Uganda. It was during this time that John realized his passion for work in developing countries: improving access to education, developing income generating activities to strengthen communities and encouraging a healthier lifestyle through innovation and shared responsibility. In 2012 John worked as a marketing intern for the Ah Haa School for the Arts and then moved to Ghana to volunteer and work as a project manager for Cheerful Hearts Foundation’s End Child Labour & Trafficking Project. He is excited to move back to Ghana and experience how the private sector can help achieve the regions development goals.
Lola Flomen
2019-2020 Fellow with
Population Services International,
Côte d’Ivoire
George Washington University Class of 2019
As a public health activist, Lola Flomen believes that every life has equal value. Having volunteered at the Jones Safe House for Youth in South Africa, the Chiang Rai Special Education School in Thailand, and Oleleshwa’s Girls Secondary School in Kenya, Lola has a plethora of hands-on experiences in youth health programs in developing countries. A graduate of International Affairs with a focus on global public health at the George Washington University, Lola is most passionate about treating infectious diseases amongst girls and women of reproductive age. Working as an intern for Save the Children’s Department of Humanitarian Response, Lola has written dozens of memos on emergency health delivery mechanisms. Her work with family planning at the United Nations Foundation’s Universal Access Project and internship with Adolescent Sexual Health and Reproductive Rights Team at Save the Children led her to evaluate and monitor development agendas. In light of her recent experience with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Kenya, Lola aspires to become an epidemiologist and alleviate global preventable communicable diseases. Lola is looking forward to her PiAf post with PSI in Abidjan where she will be the Regional Evidence and Reproductive Health Fellow.
Arielle Ford
2017-2018 Fellow with
Equal Education,
South Africa
The George Washington University Class of 2014
Arielle Ford graduated from The George Washington University with high honors in 2014 where she received a BA in Sociology. After graduating, she joined CityBridge Education, an organization vested in the creation and redesign of DC public schools that lead with intentional equity. At CityBridge, Arielle worked with teachers and school leaders to bring innovative educational practices to local classrooms and schools. She also facilitated conversations around race and identity with educators, emphasizing the intersection of human centered design and equity. Her commitment to equity work began long before college as she witnessed how disparities in public education adversely impacted the life trajectories of her childhood friends. During her undergraduate years, she was heavily involved with the Multicultural Student Services Center, working to illuminate the stories and needs of students of color on campus, in addition to serving as the Student Association Director of Diversity and Multi-Religious Affairs. She also served as a campus campaign coordinator for Teach for America, where she worked arduously to increase the number of black, Latino, and LGBTQ applicants. Arielle is excited to continue her commitment to educational equity with Equal Education in Johannesburg, South Africa where she will work with students, teachers, and parents striving for equality in South African education.
Krista is a psychology major who was born and raised in Washington, DC. Her academic focus was social and cultural psychology. In her free time, she enjoys learning new languages (Swahili) and performing Middle Eastern dance with Raks Odalisque. Krista first traveled to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, with her Swahili class in the summer after her junior year and she can’t wait to return. During her fellowship, she hopes to visit the friends she made last summer in addition to making new ones!
Fellow Bio:
Hahna Fridirici is a 2006 graduate from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Hahna has conducted research and labored hand in hand with the most underserved people groups living with HIV/AIDS both in her own backyard and across the globe. Most recently, she was a health sector analyst with strategic philanthropy group Geneva Global, but she has thoroughly enjoyed moonlighting as a chef since finishing a year as a Fellow with the Trinity Forum Academy in which she explored philosophical and theological anchors for international development. After years of researching and funding HIV/AIDS initiatives, Hahna looks forward to time on the ground with a Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative Clinical Center of Excellence in partnership with Bristol-Myer Squibb: Secure the Future. She is interested to find out how a year in Burkina Faso will expand her culinary repertoire and hopes there will be opportunity to “parler beaucoup de francaise” while cutting the rug and navigating bike traffic with her new neighbors.
In 1999, a group of Princeton alumni, faculty, and staff launched Princeton in Africa as an independent affiliate of Princeton University inspired by the University’s informal motto, “Princeton in the Nation’s Service and in the Service of All Nations.” In 2010, the program opened up to include graduates of any US accredited university in order to meet the growing demand from host organizations and allow more young professionals access to the unique opportunities afforded by PiAf. During the past 20 years, we have placed over 600 Fellows with more than 100 organizations in 36 countries, while developing more strategic partnerships across Africa and creating more opportunities for our alumni community to engage with the continent and with one another.