Here's another round of alumnae updates. This batch features GW graduates and even includes a member of the first WLP class ever. Please email us if you want to share your update - we would love to hear from you!
Jenna Ben-Yehuda is a graduate of the inaugural WLP class at the Mt. Vernon campus in 1998-1999. Here is a bio about what she's been up to since she left WLP and GW:
Jenna Ben-Yehuda is a Vice President in WWC's Washington practice and a seasoned national security professional with 12 years of experience at the State Department, where she completed her service in February 2013 as the Senior Military Advisor to the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs. Jenna has served in a variety of policy, intelligence, communications, Congressional, and programmatic roles and has regional expertise in Latin America and the Caribbean and North Africa, with an emphasis on Colombia and Central America. Jenna developed programming for Secretary of State Clinton and accompanied her on foreign travel and led intelligence briefings for and traveled with Secretary Powell. She has written for President Obama and four Secretaries of State (Albright-Clinton) and represented the State Department in numerous interagency settings, including at the National Security Staff. Her previous assignments include serving as Senior Democracy Officer in the Office of Policy, Planning, and Coordination in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs; Intelligence Analyst for Haiti, Central America, Canada, and the Western Caribbean where she authored Presidential Daily Brief articles in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research; and Case Manager for the Western Hemisphere and Western and North Africa in the Bureau of Consular Affairs, Office of Children's Issues Abduction Unit. She has served in the political sections of U.S. embassies in Panama and the Dominican Republic. A fluent Spanish speaker, Jenna holds a BA in International Affairs and Spanish Literature from the Elliott School of International Affairs at The George Washington University; an MS in National Resource Strategy from the Eisenhower School of National Defense University (formerly the Industrial College of the Armed Forces); and an MS in Strategic Intelligence from the National Intelligence University. A Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, she is the recipient of five State Department Superior Honor and Meritorious Honor Awards and a frequent lecturer on U.S. policy in the Western Hemisphere. Jenna is also the founder of the Women's Foreign Policy Network, a group for women in national security leadership positions to connect, engage, and share ideas. Jenna lives with her husband and three young children in Chevy Chase, Maryland.
Brittany Zale (IAC 2005-06)
I'm about to finish up a junior fellowship at the Asian University for Women, an international, liberal arts university
in Chittagong, Bangladesh. I've spent the last academic year working with young women from 16 different Asian countries and from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. During my first semester, I was a writing center tutor, a TA for two political science courses, and a project coordinator for a research center on urban development. This semester, I took on a project with the admissions office and I taught a leadership seminar for first-year students.
After graduating from GW in 2009 with an international affairs degree, I worked at a law firm in DC. I sought out the fellowship because I wanted to re-enter the IR field and gain international work experience. I also wanted to learn about South Asia first-hand. I like to think I've been successful in these goals. Bangladesh is certainly an interesting country in which to live. Chittagong has few westerners, so everyone wants to talk about where I'm from and what I'm doing here. My favorite weekend activity is to jump on a bus and head out to the rural areas or beach towns to escape the chaos and pollution. But from January to March, we experienced daily political strikes and violence, so this became nearly impossible to do. I'm definitely ready to head home and throw on a pair of shorts or a sundress!
Brittany Baron (WLP International Affairs Cohort, 2002-03) wanted to write in to tell us about some of her peers accomplishments. Brittany said, "I was so impressed by these women after learning of these accomplishments, so I thought it might be appropriate to pass on to you (in case they don't want to toot their own horns)."
Adette Contreras is running her own Event/Marketing company in NYC.
Ashley Jane Kneeland was in the 2001 “Politics and Policy Program,” an early WLP cohort. She wrote to us with some recent new in her life:
I live in Concord, NH with my fiancé and his daughter. A chronic illness has hindered my career over the past decade, but recently a few projects have taken off:
A little book I wrote is available via Kindle. It’s called, “Living Incurably Despite Chronic Illness” and was endorsed by the Lupus Foundation magazine, Lupus Now, as an “editor’s pick for its humor, honesty, and humility.”
The book’s blog, “Living Incurably” can be found at livingincurably.com and on Instagram/Twitter @LivingIncurably
I graduated from my five year term on the Concord Junior Service League, whose mission is to help local women and children in crisis.
Carolyn McGann (SHM 2005-06) is now in Pediatrics Residency at Yale and is getting married in July. Congrat Carolyn!
Becky Wailes (SHM 2006-7) writes:
This week I am graduating with my PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Wake Forest University. My dissertation, "Carbon Nanotubes Attenuate Cancer and Improve Healing," discusses how I developed a new, mechanically-based method of controlling cell activity. I also have a patent pending for this work. My next move is to Berlin, where I had a fantastic time last year while on a summer fellowship with SAP and the Free University of Berlin.
Ashley Wells (GEB 2006-07) writes: " I'm at Wharton Business School, just finished my first year and am heading to San Francisco to intern at Google in their Strategy & Scaling practice this summer. I'm very excited to live and work on the West Coast for the first time ever!"
Aleksandra Marciniak (IAC 2008-09) writes, "I am happy to announce that in the fall I will join the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Michigan as a PhD student. I will initially focus on Russian Language and Literature, with a concentration on nationalism."
Christine French (IP 2006-07) is moving back to Omaha after teaching math for 5 years in Mission, SD at her Teach For America placement school. She's been given the opportunity to work at the high school she attended (Skutt Catholic High School) and will be their Campus Minister in charge of retreats, Catholic liturgies, prayer groups, Bible studies, and service trips. In addition Christine is closing on her first house this June. Last summer Christine finally achieved her goal of traveling to all 50 states when she took a trip to Alaska. She is also looking forward to a mini WLP reunion this summer at the wedding of one of the women from her cohort of WLP!
Jillian Kaiser (IAC 2010-11) is a special education teacher at the District of Columbia PUblic School through the TNTP Teaching Fellows program.
Paris Bienert (IAC 2010-11) is the National Programs Director at the National Wopmen's Political Caucus.
Here is a picture of Kanika Metre & Arielle Goodman (IAC 2005-06) in Cambodia. Arielle is working with the Peace Corps there and Kanika is working in Indonesia.
