Scholars

Aleksandra Sergeeva earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Hospitality Management from International Management Institute in Switzerland, and a professional degree in Nutrition from National Institute of Professional Education in Russia. She is interested in public health, especially in the area of foods and nutrition. Aleksandra has worked in a company which produces and sells peptide products for more than one year. Her main duties are providing the actual information about the achievements in the area of health promotion and illnesses prevention. She creates articles and provides consultations. Aleksandra’s working experience is related to the hospitality industry, where she had a chance to observe current trends of customer demand from service, food, and beverage sides. Aleksandra took her career pathway from hospitality management and found her passion in being a nutritionist. She would like to start a non-profit educational organization as she sees the importance of improvement in public nutrition. She believes that healthy nutrition and professionally balanced diets are important for everyone. The major skills she acquired through recent experience are social media marketing management, copywriting, and public speaking. Aleksandra’s main interests are educating people about healthy lifestyle, writing articles, and creating recipes.

Alena Kondiurina has more than seven years of professional experience in the field of business and financial analysis. Alena holds a Master’s degree in World Economy and a Bachelor’s degree in Financial Management from the Higher School of Economics. Currently, she works as a manager at the international consulting and audit company KPMG AO and focuses on financial analysis of various businesses. She has volunteered with multiple NGOs around the world such as microfinance companies in India and community organizations in Kenya, Uganda, and Cambodia. The core focus of Alena’s volunteer work is women empowerment and helping them improve their financial literacy and entrepreneurship skills. She organized financial literacy courses in several communities in Kenya and worked alongside NGOs in entrepreneurship projects for women in India, Uganda, and Greece. In 2020, she completed a fundraising strategy development project for Russian NGOs. Through her volunteer work and primary job she acquired skills such as management and coordination skills and financial acumen which are all essential for any organization. Through her participation in the Virtual Leadership Institute, Alena wants to develop a plan to bring forward financial literacy initiatives in rural and urban areas in Russia.

Alena Udalenkova is a fundraiser, fundraising consultant, and project manager. She has got three degrees — Specialist of Marketing from Saint-Petersburg State University of Economics, Master of Management from the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, and Master of Arts in Urban Studies from the University of Manchester. Her professional experience includes employment at NGOs, government, and business. Most recently, she has been a self-employed fundraising consultant and project manager. In 2021, she started to work for an NGO called Need Help which helps to fundraise for more than 300 NGOs in Russia and support the awareness of social problems in the country. Alena has also worked for World Wide Fund for Nature as a senior project manager at the fundraising department. Afterwards, for almost a year, she travelled across protected nature areas in Russia. Her areas of interest in the social change sector are environmental issues and education.

Alexandra Bakiewicz has years of experience in communications and engagement, and she has earned her degree in Business Administration from the State University of New York, Polytechnic Institute. In 2018, Alexandra founded the digital communications firm AM Bakiewicz Consulting. Having been employed at a variety of companies and international non-profits across the United States, Alexandra has worked tirelessly to amplify her clients’ voices in the digital world. While working at international non-profits, she has developed digital media strategies to further her clients’ missions on an international level. Alexandra strives to uplift the voices of emerging social sector leaders worldwide. It is her personal passion and mission to make sure their stories are continuously told.

Alexandra Vislyaeva earned her Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from a university in London. As a student, she tried different fields of the profession, such as broadcasting, interviewing, writing articles, and editing. Her best broadcasts were about social issues, such as food waste in England, and her articles were about people whose stories needed to be heard. After university, Alexandra returned to Moscow and helped a children’s hospice, House with Lighthouse, online with translating medical leaflets about palliative care. Currently, Alexandra works as a Project and SMM Manager at a charity foundation, Childhood River, which helps children from orphanages find families. Before that, and to find out how the social sector functions in Russia, she interned with Into the Future Fund. She helped to organize an animal rescue month with online and offline events (both fundraising and educational), cooperated with the fund’s partners, and made sure the donated money was delivered to animal shelters. Alexandra plans on using her professional journalistic and organizational skills to expand the sector of cancer care for adult patients in Russia, as she considers it overwhelmingly underestimated and abandoned. She is particularly interested in the age group 14-35 because it is hard for these patients to share experiences and communicate, as they are not frequent visitors to the hospitals. Alexandra aims at making it easier for these people to find each other and share their experiences.

Alice Aluoch is a Senior Associate for Grassroots Expansion at RESULTS. She is responsible for starting new RESULTS advocacy chapters and developing partnerships with like-minded organizations interested in learning about global health issues including child survival, child nutrition, diseases of poverty, and learning advocacy skills. She also leads RESULTS efforts to reach more diverse underrepresented communities in the RESULTS movement, with a particular focus on African Diaspora with direct experience related to RESULTS global campaigns. She has over seven years of experience in health advocacy, social justice, and economic empowerment on women and girls, as well as significant experience in grassroots organizing, advocating with members of congress, and community engagement. Alice has firsthand experience in living and working in developing countries. Previously, she worked as a network engineer in Kenya leading technology firms and — after personally experiencing the inequality and vulnerability that young women living in poverty in Kenya face — Alice founded Mfariji Africa, an initiative focused on ensuring girls and young women to complete their education. In 2014, she served as a Global Youth Ambassador for A World at School, a global movement of young leaders working to get every child in school. In 2015, she was awarded the Social Entrepreneur Award of the year by Start Up Africa for her commitment to empowering young girls. She is also a recipient of a three-year fellowship from the Vital Voices which offers training and mentorship to women who are pioneering change for women and girls in communities and countries across the globe. She joined RESULTS in 2014 and started the RESULTS Delaware chapter where she was a group leader for 3 years before transitioning to full time staff.

Amelia Hagen brings ten years of experience across education, entrepreneurship, and event management. Amelia earned a Master in Science in International Event Management with a focus on Sports Mega-Events at the University of Brighton (UK) and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Iowa. She currently serves as the Entrepreneurship and Business Development Manager for the Swiss Institute of Hospitality Management and the North American Development Representative for Sport and Sustainability International. In 2018-19, Amelia developed the new Social Entrepreneurship and Design Thinking Program at the American University of Central Asia in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. She also worked as a UNDP Environmental Management Consultant for the 2018 World Nomad Games. To further understand opportunities for grassroots development within Sports Mega-Events, she volunteered at the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics and multiple FIFA events in Russia, including the 2018 World Cup. Prior to moving to Central Asia in early 2018, Amelia co-founded and led a university social enterprise boot camp in Manila, Philippines, and coached university students in developing their own sustainability-related initiatives in the UK. Throughout her global career, Amelia has fostered essential skills in diplomacy, project management, leadership, capacity building, and event management. Her purpose in leveraging international events for peace development is rooted in global education coordination and teaching experiences in Italy and Japan. She is particularly interested in harnessing the global sports event world to promote gender equity and sustainability initiatives among youth under the Sustainable Development Goals umbrella.

Anastasia Gorokhova holds a Master’s degree in Marketing and Management, as well as a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from a top Russian university. Anastasia speaks French and English fluently and is currently studying Italian. Anastasia works at Skyeng, one of the biggest Edtech companies in Russia, where she is the head of offline studies. She is in charge of organizing offline and online classes for corporate clients in various cities, recruiting teachers, and designing educational programs and tests. Previously, Anastasia worked as a course leader at a top university in Moscow. Anastasia also has experience in trade marketing and has worked for large multinational companies, such as Ferrero and Metro Cash & Carry. Anastasia is skilled with various software, has a solid work ethic, has well-developed communication skills, and is a reliable team player. Anastasia has previous experience in teaching and volunteer work. She has been an “older sister” for a girl with special needs within the Big Brothers Big Sisters Russian program. She has also been a successful YouTuber with 10k subscribers and more than 800k views on her channel. The videos were geared towards young girls and were mostly about making DIY projects. Anastasia’s particular area of interest in the social change sector is education. She believes that every child should have access to high-quality education when educational instruction is provided by empathetic and professional teachers, regularly, and in a safe and supportive environment.