CLAUDIA PEREZ-PELLICER

College of Arts and Science

Bachelor of Arts, May 2010

Major: International Relations, Honors Program

Bio and Resume (.pdf)

Claudia Pérez-Pellicer is currently pursuing a Bachelor's degreee in International Relations, which is an honors program. As a Cuban exile who has lived most of her life in Austria, she has experienced worlds of socio-political and economic extremes that have driven her personal and professional interest in sustainable development and human rights advocacy. Claudia is particularly interested in the integration of minority groups and victims of socio-political or religious oppression in Latin America and Western Europe. She will continue to apply her fluency in Spanish, German, Italian and English, and her advanced knowledge of French and Portuguese, to dissolve communication barriers that contribute to the marginalization of oppressed communities.

As a founding member of the Red Cross Youth Group in Vienna, Claudia participated in Disaster Aid Training Modules, which inspired her 'hands on' approach to activism and defined her view of the function and impact of international humanitarian organizations. As a contribution to the "2005 Red Cross Children's Awareness Weekend," she developed workshops for children and young adults to raise awareness about the devastating effect of residual landmines, and the role of entities such as the International Campaign to Ban Landmines in alleviating human suffering. She also created and implemented educational activities for a Youth-Integration program in the Austrian refugee shelter: "JUPITER".

While studying in Florence, Claudia helped manage the Center for Peace Education and Human Rights in an Italian public school where she developed interactive lesson plans in Spanish, English, and Italian to encourage reflection on global peace and tolerance. In New York, she became involved in the coordination of events at the Center for Global Affairs at NYU, where she gained further exposure to key issues in geopolitical and economic affairs. She was also employed as an independent field worker at the NYU Center for Research on Culture, Development and Education, where she studied the impact of social integration on academic achievement. Claudia is currently a Resident Assistant at NYU, where she does crisis-response, community-building and designs programs to educate students on the impact of microfinance initiatives and organizations such as Kiva.org. She is also collaborating with Pro Mujer International, an exceptional organization that helps Latin America's poorest women build livelihoods for themselves and their families, by increasing access to microcredit, business training, and healthcare services. Here, she has researched and proposed new strategies to promote the organization's efforts and strengthen the bond between Pro Mujer, its clients and its donors.

For a project commemorating the 60th Anniversary of Austrian Liberation, in collaboration with the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF), Claudia conducted an interview with a WWII veteran who witnessed torture and genocide. "Freedom, Claudia," he repeated time and time again, "is something we have to fight for every day."

Claudia is determined to further this fight for freedom by combining a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations with a Masters in Public Administration, so that she will have an understanding of effective management policies at international institutions dedicated to social change. Ultimately, she plans to fuse in-depth knowledge of international law, geopolitics, and development-economics to sustainably aid and reduce the number of refugees worldwide.

Claudia spent last summer in Bogotá, Colombia working with AVINA, an organization that builds alliances among social and business leaders, in a new approach to promote sustainable and inclusive development in Latin America. She plans to explore new networks and supply chains that can be leveraged to produce inclusive businesses, reduce inequality and thus empower the poorest members of a national as well as greater regional community.