Prior to becoming a Leland Fellow, Natalie worked as a Gender Integration Associate with EnCompass on the USAID Feed the Future Advancing Women’s Empowerment program, providing technical assistance for gender integration in agriculture and market systems programs. She conducted qualitative research and developed practical tools focused on increasing women’s decision-making … Read more

Host Organization: NCBA CLUSA First Year Placement Dakar, Senegal Natalie worked as a Gender and Research Fellow with NCBA CLUSA, supporting the USAID Feed the Future Kawolor program in Dakar, Senegal. The aim of this program was to improve nutrition … Read more

Mary Kate holds an MPH from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis with a concentration in Global Health. Her thesis, completed in partnership with USAID’s Feed the Future Fish Innovation Lab, utilized qualitative methods to understand the barriers to fish consumption during the complementary feeding period in … Read more

Host Organization: Tanager First Year Placement Nairobi, Kenya Based in Nairobi, Kenya, Mary Kate worked as a Research and Nutrition Specialist providing nutrition-sensitive and gender mainstreaming support to the Impacting Gender & Nutrition through Innovative Technical Exchange in Agriculture (IGNITE) … Read more

Elizabeth is an experienced policy and data analyst in the field of food and gender, with strong communications skills and a passion for humanitarian response and social development. Her research has focused on Food Systems, Security, Sovereignty, and Anthropologies, Social Development and Protection, Sexuality and Gender, Latin America and Guatemala, … Read more

Host Organization: World Vision International First Year Placement Denver, Colorado (remote) As a recipient of the Mickey Leland International Hunger Fellowship (’21-’23), Liz worked in humanitarian advocacy and food security policy with World Vision International. She was responsible for food … Read more

After working in international trade and public procurement for several years, Alexandra Kirton made a career transition to focus on food systems and emergency management. She began this transition at New York University’s Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service where she earned her Master of Public Administration with a … Read more

Host Organization: Mercy Corps First Year Placement Washington, D.C. (remote) During her first year, Lexi worked with Mercy Corps as a Program Specialist for Resilience, Sustainability & Integration. In this role, Lexi contributed to Mercy Corps’ work on the USAID … Read more

Felipe Cook was born in Fairbanks, Alaska, at 30 below. He later graduated from the University of New Mexico with a BA in Political Science and included a year of international policy studies at the University of Leeds, U.K. Felipe worked in education in the Teach For America Phoenix Cohort … Read more

Host Organization: ACDI/VOCA First Year Placement Phonsavan, Laos Felipe was based in the Philippines, working primarily on the Cooperative Development Program Philippines at ACDI/VOCA as a cooperative development specialist. Felipe concentrated on improving the cooperative’s business performances by delivering market … Read more

Farah Ahmad graduated from The Friedman School at Tufts University and Tufts University School of Medicine in 2020 with an MS/ MPH in Public Health Nutrition. For her Master’s of Science Internship, Farah joined the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) as a Tisch International Nutrition Fellow. While at the USDA … Read more

Host Organization: Mercy Corps First Year Placement Washington, D.C. For her first year, Farah supported Mercy Corps’ US Policy and Advocacy team in bringing education, technical program understanding, and policy awareness to internal and external audiences in the food security … Read more

Doug holds a dual BA in History and in International Studies from the University of Utah. He studied international development in Dakar, Senegal, and with RECODEF, a Senegalese NGO which promotes economic development, sustainable agriculture, and women’s equality in the rural community of Fissel. He has experience working in communities … Read more

Host Organization: ACDI/VOCA First Year Placement Siguiri, Guinea Doug worked at SADA and CDP, programs by ACDI/VOCA to strengthen cashew and other agricultural value chains in northern Guinea. He worked with the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) team to track … Read more

Casey is from Los Angeles, California. She graduated from the University of Washington in June 2019 with a Bachelor of Arts in both Medical Anthropology and Global Health, and Political Science, and from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in May 2021 with a Master of Health Science … Read more

Host Organization: Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT First Year Placement Nairobi, Kenya Casey was based in Nairobi, Kenya, working with the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT as a Food Systems Specialist within the Food Environment and Consumer Behaviour Team. … Read more

Breanna Gomillion holds a Master of Public Policy from Michigan State University. Her master’s capstone applied a systems approach to expand and integrate workforce development programs with social service systems to address the variety of causes and consequences of chronic disengagement from school and work like access to safe and … Read more

Host Organization: InterAction First Year Placement Washington, D.C. Breanna supports InterAction’s food security and climate workstreams. She coordinates InterAction’s Food Security, Nutrition, and Agriculture monthly working group meetings, which seek to support and strengthen U.S. NGOs active in implementing field … Read more

Bailey holds a Masters in Global Human Development from Georgetown University with specializations in nutrition, food security, and humanitarian emergencies. During her tenure at Georgetown, Bailey worked with the Office of Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition at USAID and served as a consultant and research analyst alongside the team … Read more

Host Organization: UN World Food Programme First Year Placement Phnom Penh, Cambodia Based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Bailey worked as a Nutrition Officer with the UN World Food Programme (WFP). In this role, she provided technical advice and specific recommendations … Read more

Alyx Ruzevich is currently a Master of Public Administration student at New York University, where she served as Co-Chair of the Wagner Food Policy Alliance. She also holds a B.A. in French with a minor in International Development. Prior to graduate school, she spent two years as a Sustainable Agriculture … Read more

Host Organization: Land O’Lakes Venture 37 First Year Placement Chimoio, Mozambique For her first year, Alyx worked as a Climate Smart Agriculture Specialist for Venture37 with the “Resilient Agricultural Market Activities in the Beira Corridor” project (RAMA-BC) in central Mozambique. … Read more

Onyịnye Alheri is an artist, doula and scholar-activist who is active in movements that address food & land justice, police & prison abolition, and maternal/infant health. Ọ recently served as Co-Principal Investigator on a qualitative research project exploring the mental health and psychosocial needs of climate activists in Baltimore and … Read more

Host Organization: UN World Food Programme First Year Placement Maputo, Mozambique Onyịnye worked as a Monitoring, Evaluation, Reporting and Communications (MERC) Officer in support of a cross-cutting project called GTNS (Gender Transformative & Nutrition Sensitive), aimed at preventing stunting and … Read more