Cohort 04 | Russian & American Women Scholars

Stephanie Kasten is originally from Northern California and currently lives in Cuenca, Ecuador. After studying Communication and Political Science at UC Davis, Stephanie joined the Peace Corps as an English Education volunteer in Ecuador, which became her home for seven years. Later, Stephanie joined the global “bridge year” immersion program, Global Citizen Year, as a coach to a cohort of international Fellows, eventually managing the Ecuador programs and building coalitions with local partner families and organizations. Since moving back to the United States, Stephanie has worked as a Learning & Development Manager with Aura, a mission-driven lending company delivering credit-building loans to underbanked communities. Stephanie cares about supporting immigrant communities in the US by connecting them with the legal and financial resources to build generational wealth and stability. Eventually, she intends to approach this mission by studying immigration policy and working toward its reform.

Rachel O’Connell is an educator in Houston, Texas, where she works to support higher education access for refugee youth and displaced persons. She is passionate about streamlining international policy implementation and enhancing outcomes as they relate to education equity. Rachel believes that the power of education can change entire communities, and every child deserves the right of equitable access to succeed. Born and raised in Pakistan, she soon became impassioned to contribute to a dialogue of education equity and opportunity in international communities with limited access to formal education. After gaining her Masters of Science in Education at the University of Pennsylvania, Rachel had the honor of being featured in the Graduate School of Education’s newsletter for her graduate work in education equity initiatives for first-generation low-Income college students. She is currently continuing her work at the Partnership for Advancement and Immersion of Refugees, a nonprofit organization geared towards improving education access and success for the largest population of refugee youth in the United States. In addition to working, she volunteers for an education nonprofit, Momentum Education, and has been working on a funded research project tracking geographic education enrollment amongst low income youth in Philadelphia. She hopes to continue her work in International Education Policy and contribute to positive development in equitable education access for international populations, particularly for immigrant and displaced persons.

Rachel Wallace is the Director of Outreach & Engagement at the humanitarian aid agency, IsraAID. To engage U.S. audiences in IsraAID’s global work, she has overseen and facilitated interactive programming for over 25,000 individuals per year, including refugee programming, disaster response simulations, and self-care sessions. Rachel is a consummate public speaker, representing IsraAID to many audiences, including faith-based, government, diplomatic, and university audiences. She also directed IsraAID’s university Humanitarian Fellowship. In her previous role, Rachel directed the American Jewish Committee LA’s young professional leadership, empowering young leaders to foster relations with LA’s diplomatic corps, diverse faith and ethnic communities, and elected officials. She spearheaded advocacy programs with General Consuls from Europe, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. In preparation for these programs, she held trainings for young leaders on diplomatic etiquette, advocacy, and on various nations’ politics and foreign policy. Rachel significantly expanded the young professional leadership network and led the formation of a new board. Prior to AJC, she was a Staff Leader on an academic gap-year program, helping to lead her students to 12 countries exploring interfaith relations, politics, and culture. Outside her professional role, Rachel chairs a Women, Peace & Security Channel to elevate women’s involvement, expertise, and leadership in diplomacy and peace building. Moreover, she is active in interfaith relations, primarily Muslim-Jewish, both on local and global levels. She has presented to several audiences the importance of young professional involvement in interfaith relations, including IVLP State Department delegates. She is a UCSC Phi Beta Kappa graduate and studied both Law and Psychology.

Maria Medvedchikova is a Programme Associate at the Unit of ICT in health education of the UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education. She works on awareness raising projects in topics such as HIV prevention, sexual and reproductive health, and violence prevention in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. She is a University of Nottingham graduate in International Media and Communications Studies and is currently focusing on using innovative ICT-powered tools in health promotion campaigns for adolescent and young population as well as for parent education. Maria’s areas of interest include integrating persuasive health communication into social media and gaming formats, the use of chatbots and Al for sexual and reproductive health campaigns, tackling stigma and misinformation on HIV and other health issues.

Lora Uhlig is a recent graduate of the University of Oxford’s School of Global and Area Studies, where she received a Master of Philosophy degree in Russian and East European Studies. During her time at Oxford, Lora engaged in comprehensive research focused on the role of nationalism in post-communist foreign policymaking, along with developing a particular interest in the study of gender politics throughout the post-communist world. In addition to her academic experience, Lora has extensive experience in working with NGOs, think tanks, policy journals, and university organizations in a variety of roles. She has also held positions at the British Foreign Policy Group and the International Relations Council of Kansas City, along with work for Women for Women International. Lora is particularly interested in engaging with US-Russian relations, searching for areas of cooperation in order to find and pursue a more collaborative future.

Chloe Alexander graduated from Bentley University in 2016, where she combined her Business degree in Accounting with Liberal Studies in ethics and social responsibility. She was recognized for her civic leadership, was an active leader in the Bentley Microfinance Group, and continues to volunteer as a business competition judge each year. For three years, Chloe provided internal audit consulting, managed business services, and provided business process improvement services to banking and technology clients. After an opportunity to visit a refugee camp and meet with asylum seekers in Jordan, she decided to take the leap to pivot her career into the public and social sectors. In 2019, Chloe joined the Peace Corps as a Community Economic Development Volunteer in Ukraine, where she completed language, cultural, and technical training to successfully partner with local organizations seeking to build their capacity for social impact. Chloe hosted English-speaking clubs, assisted with grant development activities, and facilitated organizational capacity assessments to identify training opportunities. All Peace Corps volunteers globally were evacuated due to the global Coronavirus pandemic, which led to a new opportunity for Chloe to further develop grant management skills at a government agency and reconnect to her hometown of Prince George, Virginia, USA. Chloe is passionate and extremely curious about many facets of international development, including activating the private sector to bridge resource gaps between the needs of vulnerable groups and limited public and nonprofit capacity, social entrepreneurship as a tool for economic development, and the interconnectedness of religion, gender, and economic development.

Ksenia Makovetskaya has seven years of experience in both the private and non-profit sectors. She has earned a Specialist’s degree in Law from one of the leading law schools in Russia. She also obtained a Postgraduate Diploma in Translation from the same university. Since joining an international law firm in 2014, a major part of Ksenia’s work includes cooperation with non-profit organizations and providing them legal advice pro bono. Ksenia advised the biggest Russian non-profit organizations, such as World Wildlife Fund Russia and Enjoyable Aging, which provides care to elderly people. In addition to pro bono work, Ksenia coordinates donations to non-profit organizations on behalf of her company’s office and organizes the participation of her firm in charitable events in Russia. Through the unique combination of for-profit and non-profit experiences, Ksenia mastered the art of effective communication with people from different backgrounds, developed strong organizational skills, and learned how to ease the engagement of corporate professionals in community services. Ksenia is enthusiastic about the implementation of IT solutions in the non-profit sphere, especially she is interested in using technology for easement of animals’ adoption from shelters, development of e-democracy, and protection of civil and political rights.

Jamie Salazar has ten years of professional experience managing and implementing development projects in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Over the past eight years, she has been providing financial, administrative and compliance support to projects financed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S. Department of State and private sector foundations in sectors such as agriculture, governance, higher education, environmental, infrastructure and community development. Jamie has traveled to Sri Lanka, Nicaragua, Honduras, Colombia, Brazil, and Peru to work with local teams to develop procedures for program management, start-up and close-out of projects, and engagement with beneficiaries and stakeholders. Currently, Jamie works at Palladium LLC as Program Manager for a USAID blended finance initiative in the Peruvian Amazon. She also volunteers as a board member for the Online Learning Initiative — a US-based NGO that focuses on improving learning by closing the gaps between curriculum and teaching practices in Guatemala. Jamie holds a Master’s degree in Latin American Studies from Georgetown University and a Bachelor of Arts in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland, College Park. Born and raised in Bogota, Colombia, Jamie is fluent in Spanish and has a working knowledge of Portuguese.

Georgina Capetillo has ten years of non-profit experience and holds a Master’s degree in International Affairs from The New School. She earned a graduate certificate in International Conflict Resolution from the University of Massachusetts, Boston. Her undergraduate degree is in political science and philosophy from Howard University. Georgina is currently working for the Jewish Community Center of Staten Island as is part of their COVID-19 response team. Her work consists of bilingual outreach, coordinating PPE, and free meal distribution. Georgina managed membership engagement and growth at International Sites of Conscience, a coalition of over 300 museums, memory initiatives, and historical sites that promote transformative justice in civil societies around the globe. Previously, Georgina worked at 360 Campaign Consulting where her work evaluated data and performed outreach to newly registered voters to inform citizens about the democratic process in the United States. Her academic research at The New School centered on democracy and armed forces in Nicaragua, where she lived for 14 years. Both her research and work experience revolve around political education and community engagement in the democratic process. During her work with several civil society organizations, she focused on the relationship between community wellbeing and active citizenry in politics. As an advocate of evidence based practices, her skill set includes data-driven solutions to social participation for collective welfare.

Emily Brandt is a doctoral student at the University of Texas, Arlington, where she studies non-profit and citizen participation in poverty alleviation policy implementation. She previously earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of North Texas, where her capstone project researched the Yugoslav Wars’ domestic policy implications. With eleven years of experience in non-profits working in domestic violence prevention, economic development, women’s financial independence, and arts education, Emily is passionate about sustainable non-profit growth, financial transparency, and community support for development initiatives. A Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, Emily credits her time working with the YWCA of Armenia with igniting a passion for grassroots development, women-led initiatives, and non-profits’ role in improving lives.

Elizabeth Andrews received her Master’s degree from the Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University with a focus in economics. She has extensive experience working with social enterprises, startups, and international NGOs as a consultant, project manager, and team leader. Her passion for building women’s leadership networks and community building has taken her to South America, East Africa, Southeast Asia, and Europe. She is currently the Director of Business Development at InsightPact, a global design consultancy firm that creates virtual and in-person spaces for inclusive and fair dialogue. Previously, she lived for four years in Bangkok where she was the Director of Strategic Partnerships and Programs at Wedu. During this time, she piloted and scaled an annual leadership Academy for young professional women across Southeast Asia and co-founded the YSEALI Women’s Leadership Academy Alumni Network. Before moving to Asia, she worked at Vital Voices Global Partnership where she led the VVLead Documentarian Project across 12 countries that focused on the significance of women’s leadership networks among female community leaders. After publishing the report, she was invited by the Department for International Development to present her findings to European government officials. During graduate school, her capstone group was awarded funding to conduct qualitative research in Colombia and Rwanda on the topic of sustainable income diversification practices among artisan women and was later asked to present their published findings at the U.S. Institute of Peace. She is a Coaching Fellowship (TCF) alumna, a global leadership program that provides executive coaching for high-potential female leaders working in social impact, as well as TeamUp mindfulness Peer Coaching recipient.

Elina Valeeva has nine years of experience as an executive business consultant and is the founder and CEO of Meditivity, as well as an ambassador of Women in Tech in Russia. Meditivity is the positive behavior change app for people who want to achieve goals and live a mindful life. As a start-up founder and the leader of the Russian Women in Tech community, Elina is responsible for team management, communicating, and implementing the vision and overall direction of these organizations. Within one year under Elina’s leadership, Women in Tech Russia grew to include more than 2000 members and organized a series of events with an audience of more than 15 000 participants. In 2020, Elina got accepted to the StartUp Chile accelerator. In 2019, she was selected at the Young Transatlantic Innovation Leaders Initiative Fellowship, funded by the U.S. Department of State and the German Marshall Fund. Before Meditivity, Elina started Brainfest, an intellectual entertainment company, which, in two years, grew to include 14 cities and 25 000 participants.