Academics: AA - Green River College (2006-07), BA International Studies - University of Washington - Seattle (2007-2009), magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa; MS Gobal Governance and Diplomacy - University of Oxford (2010 - 2011), with distinction; PhD International Development - University of Oxford (2011 to 2018)
Share a bit about yourself and what you have been up to since you left Green River.
My professional journey began at Green River, where I gained my first experience in international affairs by helping facilitate a U.S. Department of State-sponsored program for Bangladeshi student leaders. After transferring to the University of Washington, I studied in Southeast Asia and at the American University in Cairo, Egypt.
My path since then has included plenty of uncertainty and persistence. One of my earliest jobs was canvassing on the streets to raise funds for UNICEF, the UN’s fund for children. I later moved to New York for an unpaid internship in the Office of President Bill Clinton at the Clinton Foundation. It was an extraordinary opportunity, although I struggled to cover my rent and living expenses while trying to make the most of the experience in the big apple.
After completing my master’s degree at Oxford, I received a Clarendon scholarship to pursue doctoral research on how authority, institutions and social order emerge in communities affected by conflict and violence, focusing on urban slums in Brazil. I conducted fieldwork in Brazil and initially pursued the doctorate full-time. During this period, I also moved to Harvard for a fellowship at the Weatherhead’s Transnational Studies Initiative. However, because my scholarship funding came to an end, I subsequently accepted professional development positions with the European Union in Cabo Verde and Luxembourg’s development agency, LuxDev at Headquarters in Luxembourg. For several years, I worked in these demanding professional roles during the day while completing my doctorate on nights, weekends and annual leave.
Shortly after finishing my doctorate, I unexpectedly lost my day job, leading to a sharp unexpected turn of events. During the ensuing period, I returned to Oxford’s Changing Character of War research center and completed the manuscript that eventually became my book: Sovereignty and Illicit Social Order. It was an uncertain period, but it gave me the time and determination to transform years of academic work into a published book.
My professional path eventually brought me back to Cabo Verde with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations’ lead agency for international development. The book was published soon after I arrived in the middle of the COVID pandemic. At UNDP, I initially worked on economic policy, development strategy and sustainable finance in Cabo Verde. I later led strategic and economic policy work in Guinea-Bissau before moving into global headquarters roles.
I am currently Policy Advisor for Environment and Development Finance at the United Nations Development Programme. I work across climate, biodiversity, circularity, pollution prevention and sustainable development, helping countries establish integrated financing frameworks, platforms, capital-market instruments and partnerships that can attract public and private investment aligned with development priorities. Among the initiatives I created is Cabo Verde’s Blu-X sustainable finance platform, through which more than USD 40 million has been raised through thematic bonds as well as the launch of Angola’s first sustainable bond instrument of approximately USD 100 million in local currency equivalent.
How did your education at Green River College prepare you for where you are today?
Green River gave me the opportunity to discover what I was capable of academically. The accessibility of the faculty, my basketball coach who made me feel like part of his family, the diversity of the communty, the strong international outreach efforts, and the individual attention I received helped me develop confidence, intellectual curiosity and disciplined study habits.
Green River also allowed me to explore different subjects before committing to international and global affairs. That foundation prepared me to succeed at the University of Washington and eventually at Oxford. Just as importantly, my first professional experience in international affairs came through Green River’s US State Department program for young international leaders, giving practical meaning to what I was learning in the classroom.
What kind of advice would you give a GRC student who dreams of getting into a top university?
Take full advantage of the opportunities immediately around you. Build genuine relationships with professors, choose courses that interest you and spark your curiosity, and pursue experiences that connect those interests with the wider world through practical or applied work, if possible. Strong grades matter but leading universities also look for intellectual direction, resilience and evidence that a student will contribute something distinctive.
Students should not underestimate the value of beginning at a community college. Green River provided an excellent platform from which to develop academically, mature personally and build a compelling record. My own path from Green River to the University of Washington and then Oxford before starting a career in international development policy shows that where you begin does not limit how far you can go.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
Careers rarely unfold as neatly as they appear in a biography. My own journey has included financial struggles, unpaid work, years of balancing a doctorate with full-time employment, unemployment and repeated moments when the next step was unclear. Each of those experiences nevertheless contributed to the work I do today, while giving me the confidence to venture towards uncertain paths ahead.
Green River occupies a special place in that story because it was where my academic and professional direction first began to take shape. I am grateful to the faculty and staff members who encouraged me and I hope my experience can reassure current students that an unconventional path, pursued with curiosity and persistence, can lead to extraordinary opportunities.
Through my experience at Green River and the journey thereafter, I came to learn that you cannot truly find yourself until you’ve been lost. It is precisely this journey of discovery and rediscovery that makes us more resilient, sharpens our abilities, and leads us towards our full potential, even if the road can become a bit rocky along the way.