Fellows

Aida Merabet has over ten years working experience with different nonprofits and corporations in the fields of business empowerment for women and youth educational programs in Algeria. She earned an MBA in Management Marketing from ESG Paris. Aida is the Founder of the social enterprise “Power Harmony Solution.” Previously, Aida worked as the Middle East Partnership (MEPI) Alumni Local Chapter Coordinator, where she strengthened commitment to civic activism, thus creating an environment where alumni can work together to bring positive change to the region. She helped empower young people to work for their economic success as an Education & Training Officer at Injaz El Djazair. As a Hub Manager for the Middle East and North Africa Business Women Network (MENABWN), she was responsible for leading and managing a program to support business women in Algeria. She has also served as an Algerian Country Officer Alwane-Algeria, with Women’s campaign International, an initiative that seeks to empower Algerian women to hold decision-making positions and to enhance their leadership roles so that they can become role models for the region. She also enjoys volunteering, whether it be as the Under Secretary General for Algeria’s national Model United Nations conference or as the Algeria Country Coordinator for the World Peace Initiative Foundation’s Project Peace In and Peace Out (PIPO).

Host Organization: Atlas Corps | American Express

Role at Host Organization: Aida will support the overall strengthening of leadership development in the nonprofit sector through a partnership with American Express. In her role, Aida will help to expand the American Express Leadership Academy franchise. Building on the American Express role in supporting best-in-class leadership practices and capacity building, she will coordinate and grow the alumni network; manage and coordinate the global Alumni Summit, help develop and improve communication and dissemination of best practices and provide overall project support for the Leaderstories.org website.

Catherine Menéndez is a passionate communications specialist who seeks to create a positive impact in the world through her work in media. With over 10 years of experience in the fields of marketing, communications and media, Catherine graduated in Journalism and Communications in 2014. She had the opportunity to coordinate and lead volunteers for FUNTER, a non-profit organization in El Salvador, that provides therapy for people with health conditions or impairments. Previously, she was the spokesperson for APROASA, the local dog shelter in her hometown. One of her most notable achievements was developing The Anual Fundraiser in 2010, which continues on to this day. Since then, she has had the opportunity to work with several organizations in the non-profit sector. Catherine has gained skills in marketing, advertising, public relations, creative writing, social media, storytelling and human resources through her years of work within the private sector. At the moment, Catherine remains committed to providing proper education and resources for the youth in El Salvador and supporting the efforts of local and international initiatives by assisting with strategies, communication plans, and creating compelling campaigns to raise awareness on how education is the key to enhance the quality of life for all human beings, especially the ones below the poverty line in El Salvador, where she grew up. At the same time, she supports the collaboration of local entrepreneurs and companies from her country in the development of social corporate programs, creating better opportunities for people and encouraging leadership in them and in their communities.

Host Organization: Glasswing International USA

Role at Host Organization: At Glasswing International USA, Catherine will be serving as the Partnerships & Marketing Fellow. She will work side-by-side with senior staff to gain practical experience in business development, client relations, and marketing by using customer questionnaires and focus groups to support Glasswing’s customer database, collaborating closely with the US Communications team and Strategic Partnerships team, and helping to develop and execute marketing strategies with target audiences. Catherine will play an important role in further developing relationships with key stakeholders at Glasswing, including partners and current/potential clients.

Ester Pitrelli has five years of experience in the nonprofit sector. She holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Bocconi University, Italy, and she is currently enrolled in a distance learning program for a Postgraduate Certificate in Poverty Reduction from the School of African and Oriental Studies in the United Kingdom. She worked at Save the Children Italy as Communications and Donor Retention Officer where she led many direct marketing projects, including a fundraising program for the least developed Mediterranean areas. Previously, Ester worked as a Project Officer in Zambia for an Italian nonprofit organization where she increased organizational awareness, and wrote new project proposals on several topics including a home based care for people living with HIV/AIDS. . Ester is mainly interested in focusing on the topic of poverty reduction, especially for children. She hopes she will have the opportunity to use her current studies and acquired skills to become a professional in communication for development.

Host Organization: Save the Children

Role at Host Organization: Ester will contribute to Global Sponsorship Growth by developing an effective ICS Fundraising Launch Approach. She will also implement the Global Sponsorship Market Intelligence to find top markets for the launch of the ICS product. Ester will support improvements of the Sponsor Experience by collaborating with SC US, SC Italy, SC Korea and SC Australia to increase the quality of acquisition and retention communication streams for various channels.

Hyun-jung has ten years of work experience in the for-profit sector as a professional marketer. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in English language and literature with a minor in Mass Communication and Global MBA at Korea University in South Korea. She previously worked at Amway Korea, CJ CheilJedang Corporation, and Double A Korea. Hyun-jung is experienced at CSR marketing, integrated marketing communication, brand management, new product development, marketing research and business data analysis. Hyun-jung’s interest in social entrepreneurship and leadership motivated her to help young social ventures as a pro bono marketing consultant, and she launched a three month social consulting academic program for university students. She has also designed and implemented a fundraising campaign to build a toy library for orphaned children. With her strong marketing background, she wants to devote herself to work in the non-profit sector in the future, with the goal to become part of making a better global community.

Host Organization: Global Good Fund

Role at Host Organization: Hyun-jung will work to manage portfolio of current and alumni Global Good Fund Fellows ensuring the Fellowship accelerates their leadership development. Not only will she identify and vet 2016 Global Good Fellows, she will also develop commercialization of leadership products.

Lara has 7 years of experience in communications with a particular focus on nonprofit work, and earned a Master’s degree in Multimedia Communication from the University of Milan in Italy. She demonstrates strong skills of a Media Relations specialist. After obtaining her masters degree, she traveled to Cote d’Ivoire, where she was the Manager of a marketing company that specialized in events and advertising. Lara previously worked as External Relations Officer for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Abidjan. She was a Public Information Officer for the United Nations Mission in South Sudan where she started up the office in the Warrap State; prior to this she was the Media Relations Officer for the Spokesperson of the United Nations Mission in Sudan. She was immediately entrusted with important assignments during active hostilities in Cote d’Ivoire and Sudan, and her performance during several UN high signor visits was praised. She was also a Web and Communication Assistant for an Italian American nonprofit with a mission to provide educational programs primarily to the Italian immigrant community in New York. While working as Media Relations Officer for the Italian NGO COOPI, apart from being in charge of designing communications plans and Media Relations strategies, she was responsible for various country-specific and institutional communications and advocacy campaigns; specifically taking the lead for communication for the 2010 Haiti earthquake, by acting as a liaison to other international organizations. In addition to being a native Italian, she is fluent in English and French, and she is proficient in Spanish.

Host Organization: UN Foundation

Role at Host Organization: Lara will join United Nations Foundation in Washington DC. She will serve in the Media and Communication Department, where she will plan and execute digital diplomacy events with the diplomatic community, manage online campaigns, support in writing projects, press releases, outreach, translating and event planning and production.

Myounghwa Hwang has seven years of experience in the nonprofit sector in South Korea. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Political Science from Ewha Womans University, South Korea. She has worked for Save the Children Korea as a marketing manager. Myounghwa has been in charge of marketing and fundraising through the pilot testing of acquisition channels and campaigns. She has planned more than 15 projects to engage people to be actively involved with the activities of Save the Children. With her dedicated commitments, Save the Children has grown more than 30%. She was awarded the most outstanding staff member in 2012 and promoted to manager in the shortest possible term, becoming the youngest manager in the process. Before Save the Children, she worked for two and half year in the Hope Institute, a civically engaged think-tank. She was in charge of running a platform, called “Social Invention Ideas”, for citizens to propose any ideas to change society for the better. Myounghwa, as a trained qualitative researcher and planner, undertook a multi-country research project, suggesting innovative and differentiated Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) programs to corporations including Samsung. She did an internship in the Office of the President of the Republic of Korea, working in the office of the Domestic Press Team. She is a member of Korea Women’s Political Solidarity and Empowerment (KWPS) and Internet Alternative News Media, Pressian. She co-founded an education scholarship for youth, “Vitsol”, in 2008. Through the scholarship, around 15 students received support to graduate from high school. She is an avid reader and loves drawing. She is also a television critic. She earned an award for this and a critique was published in a book funded by the Foundation for Broadcasting Culture in 2009.

Host Organization : Save the Children

Role at Host Organization: Myounghwa will provide account management support to existing global sponsorship partners (SC Italy & SC Korea) and will support the cultivation of new business through prospective Members. Myounghwa will also be responsible for supporting the management of the Child Guardian product (including Member relationships and marketing) and for supporting the development of a global marketing strategy to increase coordination among partners and improve operations, marketing and knowledge sharing.

Nourhan has around three years of experience in journalism. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Economics from The American University in Cairo (AUC) and just completed her law degree at Cairo University. She worked as a reporter in several reputable Egyptian news outlets, including Mada Masr, where she compiled daily press reviews for the Morning Digest, Aswat Masriya, and Daily News Egypt. Previously, she worked as a researcher and archivist at the Law and Society Research Unit at AUC for 1.5 years. There, she conducted socio-legal research and devised archive collection strategies with the aim of compiling legal documents for the digital legal archive Manshurat Qanuneya. Throughout her career, she has primarily focused on human rights issues, media freedoms, judicial affairs, and significant court verdicts in Egypt. She has acquired strong research, writing, editing, outreach, and marketing skills through her various work endeavors. Nourhan finds media governance and criminal justice reform as fields of particular interest and has a strong passion for legal and judicial development in Egypt.

Host Organization: Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy

Role at Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy Nourhan will serve as the Bassem Sabry Democracy Fellow: developing an independent research paper or project of her own design in conjunction with TIMEP’s directorial staff.

Santiago earned a Bachelor’s of Institutional Communication and Advertising from Argentinian´s Catholic University and has almost three years of experience in the social sector. While working for the Government of the City of Buenos Aires he received training in public management and supported the communication of the various programs carried out by the government in health, education, public works and transport matters. He travelled to Africa as part of AIESEC´s Global Community Development Program and volunteered for one year in a boarding school for kids with disabilities in rural Kenya. This experience opened his eyes to a more inclusive community approach by integrating vulnerable communities into society. He used his storytelling and photography skills to fundraise and install solar water pumps to bring water to the school in a sustainable way. He holds a Post Graduate Certificate in Social Innovation Management from the Amani Institute in Nairobi, Kenya, and utilized new skills to design, prototype and implement his first social innovation venture as Co-Founder and Managing Director of Drums in the Dark, an initiative to change the existing paradigms & mental models around blind people in Kenya´s society. In acknowledgment for his work towards the prevention of blindness, rehabilitation, training and education of the blind, he was given an Appreciation Certificate issued by Kenya Society for the Blind and awarded a recognition diploma as East Africa`s Emerging Social Innovators issued by Ashoka and American Express Foundation. As an apprentice at Ashoka East Africa he was exposed to different social entrepreneurs and systems change theory models that helped him comprehend the value of sustainable solutions to address social issues. He coordinated and supported Africa Yoga Projects (an Ashoka Fellow) Disability Team in writing funding proposal, budget planning and communications best practices in order to scale their impact. His passion for long lasting and positive change, his communication skills and his empathetic personality to connect with a wide range of people from various social sectors made him quickly find a job as Communications Officer & Social Entrepreneurs Coordinator in Socialab´s headquarters in Argentina. Interested in exploring new ways for innovation he joined Neelus, a consultancy that leverages creativity and innovation in both private companies and public institutions.

Host Organization:  American Red Cross

Role at Host Organization: Santiago will serve as a Disaster Preparedness Associate for the Global Disaster Preparedness Center (GDPC) within ARC’s International Services Department (ISD). GDPC offers support services to the global Red Cross/Red Crescent network in areas related to disaster preparedness and innovative solutions for national societies for knowledge management, research and technical assistance.