Cohort 10

Taylor Jackson is pursuing a master’s degree in Russian and Eastern European Studies at the University of Pennsylvania School of Arts and Sciences. She is committed to helping develop a positive and mutually beneficial relationship between the United States and Russia that is rooted in mutual respect and understanding. Her desire is to promote cross-cultural communication and assist, in any way that she can, in fostering an environment for open discourse and problem resolution between the United States and Russia. In addition to being a full-time student, she is also working at the Diversity Org as the Executive Assistant to the President of Global Partnerships. She handles research and outreach to Title 1 high schools, and she plays an active role in providing underserved students of color with professional development opportunities.

Katherine Mahon is the co-founder and CEO of Acquaint (acquaint.org), a nonprofit community of volunteers who overcome the “us and them” mentality through one-on-one conversations. She has four years of experience as a nonprofit leader and four years of experience as a 3D artist and animator. As of August 2022, Acquaint has recruited hundreds of volunteers from over 55 countries. Katherine’s role with Acquaint involves supervising employees and volunteers, building training programs, fostering partnerships, creating video content, managing social media and newsletters, fundraising, and overseeing operations. In 2018, Katherine co-founded HomeAgain VR, which was the predecessor to Acquaint. Until the pandemic, it focused on bringing virtual reality technology into assisted living, medical facilities, and other locations where people had limited mobility. The VR experiences provided an opportunity to explore meaningful and immersive spaces from home. Katherine gained experience building partnerships with various individuals and organizations, including King County (WA), the City of Phoenix, and over 50 facilities. HomeAgain VR recruited several dozen volunteers whose work included socializing with participants and helping them use the VR devices. Katherine was featured on Seattle’s King 5 News, specifically for HomeAgain VR’s work for people living with dementia. HomeAgain VR also created the beginnings of what would later become the Acquaint virtual platform. Katherine currently lives in Bellevue, WA, USA.

Kate Hibbert brings five years of experience in the nonprofit sector to her Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy program at the Fletcher School at Tufts University. She previously held various roles at Global Village Project (GVP) in Decatur, GA, U.S., the only tuition-free middle school dedicated to serving newcomer refugee girls in the United States. As Development and Data Projects Specialist, she managed major campaigns and events for the development team and data projects across departments. As Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Leadership Circle co-facilitator, she convened a team to drive forward workplace and communications projects to achieve organizational goals. At the Coalition for Refugee Serving Agencies, she represented GVP at monthly meetings, supported World Refugee Day event planning, and coordinated data collection on the Annual Report committee. In a volunteering capacity, Kate serves on the board of directors for International Education Peace Volunteers, in addition to facilitating intercultural discussions and events and serving as the budding organization’s LinkedIn community manager. Her language skills in French, Spanish, and Arabic were gained through her B.A. in World Languages from Grace College in Winona Lake, Indiana. Through her nonprofit experience, she has developed strengths in project management, organizational and peer leadership, and cross-functional collaboration. Kate hopes to strengthen DEI, peacebuilding, and conflict resolution efforts in her career in international relations and public service.

Jessica Heyer is a student at Georgetown University pursuing a master’s degree in Eurasian, Russian, and East European Studies with a focus on the North and South Caucasus. Jessica previously received a Bachelor of Arts from American University in International Relations with a minor in the Russian language. She has three years of experience living in Russia as an ESL teacher and a student. During her time in Russia, she also worked in a joint U.S.-Russian academic exchange program. Additionally, Jessica worked in a professional exchange program funded by the U.S. Department of State designed to support local leaders and innovators from around the world. These experiences have developed her capacity for intercultural dialogue, development, and Eurasian studies. Jessica intends to pursue creating and implementing multilateral programs between the North and South Caucasus, with the goal of sustainably increasing regional development in infrastructure, education, and civil society.

Mr. Ayala Fuentes is a Chilean-US American nonprofit management and fundraising professional based in New York City. He has been dedicated to working in diverse, culturally-specific, and community-driven cultural and civic spaces. Throughout his more than 10 years of experience, he has supported organizations through periods of mission evolution and leadership transition, managing relationships through change, and creatively engaging diverse teams and external stakeholders and partners, especially in multicultural and diverse settings, including the Latinx and LGBTQ+ community.

Dennis Dias is a teacher with over a decade of experience in education. He is a 35-year-old resident of New York City. Dennis was born in southern California. He completed an undergraduate degree in history and English at the University of California, Riverside. As an undergraduate, Dennis volunteered with organizations supporting LGBT youth. After graduating, Dennis served as a United States Peace Corps volunteer in Albania, contributing to youth development and English instruction. His experiences in Albania instilled an ongoing concern for international development and-cultural exchange opportunities. Dennis completed a master’s degree in Intellectual Disability/Autism at Teachers College, Columbia University, and is currently completing a master’s degree in International Policy Management at Kennesaw State University. Dennis works as a special education teacher for the New York City Department of Education. Dennis specializes in inclusive and literacy instruction as a special education teacher. Dennis is interested in international and comparative education, particularly institutional policies that promote access, equity, and inclusion for all students, regardless of their gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, home language, ability status, or migratory status. He believes that educational policies and practices are deeply entwined with matters of social justice. Although often regarded as a secondary concern, education is a central pillar in sustainable development.

Dawn Le joins Atlas Corps with four years of experience in local community engagement and youth leadership development. With her strong interests in diplomacy, public service, and social innovation, she founded The Inkformant, a social enterprise that promotes her flagship project called Panels & Me. Panels & Me guides underserved youth to create their own comics stories. In addition to discovering their unique voices through comics, young people have the chance to serve their community, develop leadership skills, and engage with the public at large. Dawn designed the comics storytelling curriculum for Panels & Me and formed partnerships with artists, businesses, and local nonprofits to spearhead pilot projects in the United States, Vietnam, and Malaysia, where over 150 original student stories have been created so far. In 2020, she received a Fulbright Grant from the U.S. State Department to engage with students in rural Malaysia and foster relations between Malaysians and Americans. Prior to the grant, she led a team of bilingual staff, founded an immigrant youth-led council, and managed several programs to serve immigrants, refugees, and communities of color in the United States. Dawn holds a Bachelor of Arts in Cultural Anthropology and a Minor in Nonprofit Administration at the University of Oregon. She is currently a Master of Science in Foreign Service candidate at Georgetown University, where she is concentrating in Global Politics & Security.

Anya has 5+ years of experience working with small companies and non-profits, and earned a Bachelors of Arts in Religion and Philosophy from Smith College. She currently serves as Corporate Communications Project Manager at MAPS Public Benefit Corporation, an organization focused on addressing unmet needs in the mental health field through the development psychedelic-assisted therapies, where she supports the leadership team with communications and company culture. Prior to her current role, Anya worked as a project manager, marketing research assistant, and ‘chief of staff’ in a variety of industries including: environmental advocacy and wildlife rehabilitation, cybersecurity, entertainment, wellness, and career coaching. Anya also spent a year serving the homeless population through a volunteer program, where she gained a greater understanding of the complexity of addressing poverty and public health, at scale for those who need it most. Throughout these experiences, she developed a greater understanding of the many systemic issues that get in the way of social innovation and development.

Alexandria Sasek has a B.A. in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies from the University of Oregon and an M.Sc. in Urban Strategy from Drexel University. Ms. Sasek has over a decade of experience with nonprofits and community development, from activism to academia. She currently leads an internship program connecting youth and local social-impact businesses and nonprofits with paid internships and a professional development workshop series. As a volunteer girls’ softball coach and co-founder of a womxn-run farming collective, Alexandria strives to facilitate safe, creative spaces for youth to experientially learn and imagine their futures. Her experience with community development spans from historical societies to food banks, including leading visioning exercises and a political campaign. Alexandria is passionate about environmental justice, youth empowerment, mutual aid, community engagement, and facilitating spaces for groups to imagine and plan for a shared future on an environmentally precarious planet. She wishes to see more equitable and accessible spaces for truly community-centric plans and public engagement.

Alex Szebenyi is a software engineer and the CTO for Acquaint, a nonprofit community of volunteers who overcome the “us and them” mentality through one-on-one conversations. As CTO, Alex is responsible for all the organization’s technical aspects, including developing the Acquaint software platform, which volunteers use in over 55 countries. Separately, at insurtech-startup AssuranceIQ, he has worked as a principal software engineer. Over the last three years, he led critical teams before and after one of the world’s largest and fastest fintech startup exits. Additionally, Alex has worked at tech startups focused on machine learning/AI and immigration. His career started after receiving a BA in Biological Sciences from SUNY Buffalo. He performed neuroscience research in a chemosensory lab, contributing to several papers before transitioning to software engineering roles. Alex’s interests include neuroscience and building software systems that empower personal growth on a global scale. At Acquaint, he focuses on building social cohesion and international solidarity by using technology and volunteerism to facilitate positive contact across divisions of all kinds. Generally, he is also excited about ways to sustainably empower the nonprofit sector to innovate in the tech space.