NYU GEF Archive Page

Asata Spears is a sophomore majoring in Early Childhood Education/Special Education with a minor in Educational Theatre. She has a passion for intersecting the arts and traditional education to stimulate student engagement, knowledge retention and work to eliminate the achievement gap. Beyond her studies, Asata is involved in the NYU Step Team, the theatre club Lamplighters, and has worked as a Peer Mentor for the T&L department. 

As the Global Equity Fellow in Accra, Asata plans to engage and listen to her peers, navigating conversations and events that will allow all students to have a better understanding of culture and communication. With the support of Global Programs’ initiative in Inclusion, Diversity, Belonging and Equity she looks forward to a great semester in Ghana.

Diya is a rising junior studying Global Liberal Studies, with a concentration in Politics, Rights, and Development. She is also pursuing minors in German and Psychology and will be spending the year at NYU Berlin. An international student from Bengaluru, India, she believes that a truly global education is one that includes multiple narratives. She is passionate about listening to and amplifying marginalized perspectives to create a more inclusive, equitable world.

Diya’s commitment to dialogue and inclusivity is reflected in her activities on and off campus. She has been a member of the Liberal Studies Student Initiative for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion since its inception, working towards diversifying syllabi and creating spaces for conversation between students, administrators, and faculty. In being a Liberal Studies Peer Mentor, she has helped to create a support system for international students in the Liberal Studies Program. She partnered with Go Project NYC as a Liberal Studies Service Ambassador in order to give back to New York City in the field of education and provide resources for the next generation of New Yorkers to grow academically. In India, she has conducted theatre-based workshops on dealing with sexual harassment for underprivileged children and worked to restructure gender education curricula in universities in her city. 

As a Global Equity Fellow based in Berlin, Diya is looking forward to exploring the city in a multidimensional way by engaging with different communities and getting to know her fellow students while working to uphold the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Sydney Lin is a 2nd year Steinhardt student pursuing a double major in Early Childhood Education and Spanish and a minor in Dance. Originally from Durham, North Carolina, Sydney has enjoyed expanding her horizons at NYU’s New York campus. However, she is even more excited to study in Buenos Aires for Spring 2020 to further her Spanish fluency and to investigate questions surrounding inclusion, diversity, belonging, and equity. 

As a student who is passionate about helping her community and her peers grow, Sydney is prepared to be a voice for NYU students in Buenos Aires as a global equity fellow as well as a friend. Sydney is always open to grabbing lunch and talking, whether about life in Buenos Aires, dance, or dogs!

Tiana Urey is a freshman in the Liberal Studies Core Program with the plan to pursue a major in English Literature. Originally from Maine, she relishes the opportunity to step into a new life in Tuscany. In Florence, Tiana volunteers with young children in the community and is an active member of the Identity, Diversity, Belonging, and Equity (IDBE) Student Committee. 

Tiana has always been deeply committed to working on IDBE issues and considers them to be a guiding influence in her work. Her past experience as a student school board representative, Seed of Peace, and equity facilitator for Maine Youth Action Network have prepared her for this position. During her first semester at NYU, Tiana co-organized an art gallery on gender-based violence titled “Break the Silence.” She plans to extend her focus on gender issues into her work as an Equity Fellow. Through this position, Tiana is eager bridge divides and forge connections even in the face of adversity. She plans to bring empathy and competency to this important role.

 I am a third year Photography and Journalism double-major. I come from an ethnically Tibetan region in Nepal known as Mustang. Growing up within the Mustangi diaspora in New York, I got the impression that pursuing anything outside the medical field was not actually a career. This made me all the more adamant on become a photo-journalist. Growing up, I also saw foreigners telling the stories of my people, I wanted to change that and bring about an insider perspective. In London, I hope to explore journalism's deep-seated history within the United Kingdom. 

As a GEF, I want to uphold the sense of inclusive community that the program was founded on. I want to provide a platform for students to enhance their knowledge of their own cultures and other cultures. 

Fun Fact, I recently designed my first children's book about a Tibetan nomad girl. 

Sania is a self-described “nonconformist oddball” from Karachi, Pakistan. She is majoring in Media, Culture and Communication and minoring in Film.

Sania has been an active debater both in high school and at university. She has served as Vice President-Membership of the NYU Parliamentary Debate Union. Through debate, she has developed a greater awareness of sociopolitical issues and has also worked with her team members to bring feminist issues to the forefront of conversations. She strongly believes that social justice is about macro-level change as well as the “little things:” being conscious of the language we use, the jokes we crack, the lyrics we sing along to.

As a storyteller, Sania cares deeply about telling stories that resonate with meaning—woven from voices that have historically been silenced. At Los Angeles, she hopes to explore the representation of national, religious, and gender identities both on the screen and behind it.

Zina Karas is a rising junior, double majoring in Global Liberal Studies and French. While she is part Liberian and part American, she grew up in parts of both East and West Africa, namely Rwanda, Kenya, Djibouti, Ghana, and most recently, Tanzania. As the daughter of U.S diplomats, she is strongly considering a career in the Foreign Service herself, UN Women being of particular interest. She has interned with the U.S State Department, the U.S Agency for International Development and with UN Women through an internship with USAID. 

Regardless of the organization, her goal is to live and work all over Africa.

Having been in the French school system up until 9th grade, she is fluent in French, spent 3 semesters at NYU Paris, and is looking forward to exploring NYU Madrid and Spain as a whole. She is eager to learn more about how minorities find their place in Spanish society, namely the Roma community, and the racial and socioeconomic factors that can make this difficult. She is also passionate about women’s rights, led the Feminism Club at NYU Paris, and is eager to learn more about feminism in Spain.

Lastly, having grown up in countries and spaces that offered her tremendous diversity and acceptance, she hopes to work towards making that a reality at NYU Madrid as the Fall 2019 Global Equity Fellow.

Oyetunde “Oye” Olubowale is a junior at NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study. She is pursuing an individualized concentration in Global Marketing, Media, and Propaganda. She is also working towards a Minor in Francophone Studies. Oye owes her exposure to diversity and various cultures to her travels to Switzerland, Kenya, Myanmar, Côte d’Ivoire, Rwanda, and Nigeria. As a Nigerian immigrant to the United States and extensive traveller, she is no stranger to culture shock and difference. Oye further developed her understanding of diversity and inclusion at the Wheeler School in Providence, Rhode Island where she served as head of the Black Affinity club and attended national student diversity leadership conferences.

During her first year at NYU, Oye was a part of the Rubin Poverty and Affluence stream where she researched and wrote about the disparities in the US public education and the barriers to voter access in New York. She also was a volunteer tutor with the New York French American Charter School in Harlem.  At NYU, Oye serves as the treasurer for UndocNYU( formerly known as Dream Team), a student activism club dedicated to advocating for and creating community with undocumented folks at NYU and beyond. As the Paris Global Equity Fellow, Oye hopes to explore media’s relationship with multiculturalism and diverse representation in France.

Shoshana Ehrenkranz is a junior studying Film and TV and minoring in Irish Studies. She participated in the Bridges Interfaith trip her freshman year, working with Jewish and Muslim peers to help communities in Houston affected by Hurricane Harvey. Inspired by interfaith work, she joined Students of Multifaith Advisory Council (SoMac) in 2019. Shoshana hopes to use her studies to encourage difficult but necessary conversations between diverse communities.

In addition to her religious and multifaith interests, Shoshana values humor in storytelling. She participated in NYU Portraits during Welcome Week  2018 speaking of her experience growing up in a Jewish bubble. She also holds a spot on one of NYU's improv teams and values her job as an America Reads tutor- a position she has proudly held for five semesters with the same middle school.

Nia Harris is a second year studying Global Public Health and Anthropology in CAS, along with a minor in Food Studies. She is a proud native of Charlotte, North Carolina. Nia's personal experiences with healthcare have encouraged her to pursue a career in holistic and herbal medicine to implement sustainable health practices in low income communities. 

Nia serves as a Program Assistant for NYU's Academic Achievement Program, a program centered on enhancing the experiences of underrepresented students. She is the Public Relations Chair for the Black Women's Health Collective and a Writing Tutor at NYU's Writing Center. Nia also works at the Avery Fisher Center of Music and Media in Bobst Library. 

Nia is passionate about learning and exposing herself to different cultures and backgrounds. As NYU Sydney's Global Equity Fellow, Nia hopes to increase her knowledge of different identities and create spaces in which all students feel comfortable and included! 

My name is Katherine and I am a current third year who is spending the year at NYU Tel Aviv. I am studying with a double major in Political Science and Global Liberal Studies, with a minor in Hebrew and Judaic Studies. 

I was born and raised in Southern California but love seeing the world and pushing myself out of my comfort zones. I am thankful for the opportunity to be studying abroad and to be learning so much about the world’s different lifestyles and cultures. 

I look forward to supporting smoother transitions to my NYU TLV peers as a Fellow and hope to offer my experiences as a student who has been living in Tel Aviv for a semester already. I am excited to work towards building a more diverse and inclusive community and a safe atmosphere for all.

I will be interning at an organization called Kav LaOved, a workers hotline in Tel Aviv. In my free time, I love riding my bike, going to the beach, and reading a good book.  

Jolie is a sophomore majoring in Global Liberal Studies with a Concentration in Politics, Rights and Development. Originally from San Francisco, CA she grew up dancing as a student of the San Francisco Ballet School. After advocating for a truant youth Jolie wants to continue fighting for a variety of important causes. She is very passionate about education and wants to become a human rights lawyer both domestically and abroad. During the spring 2020 semester Jolie plans on researching issues in Washington D.C. relating to poverty and education as well as segregation within public, private and charter school systems.

Alanis is a fourth year student at Gallatin where she studies power, identity and Black feminist ideology, with a minor in Web Programming and Applications. She is a New York native of Caribbean descent who will be studying in Accra, Ghana in Fall of 2019, where she hopes to gain an enriched experience that will not only aid her in her ongoing learning of how identity affects social navigations, but in her life as well.

She has long held a penchant for social justice issues and community building within student life as a student leader, serving in a diverse array of roles that have challenged her thinking and exposed her to the variegated landscape of people and spaces that NYU and NYC has to offer.  As a global equity fellow, she firstly hopes to learn from her peers while examining and furthering what the tenets of inclusion and diversity mean at a globally serving institution like NYU, as well as what possibilities lie in store for its surrounding enclaves to play leading roles in its diverse future.  She is looking forward to an insightful term of unfettered scholarship and conscious engagement.

Brian is a rising junior and HEOP student at NYU's Gallatin School of Individualized Study pursuing a concentration on Prison Abolition. Brian wants to focus on how the Prison Industrial Complex affects marginalized communities and groups of color in New York City. In particular, he is interested in the ways in which he can utilize his experience in community organizing, transformative justice, and film-making. Brian seeks to center marginalized communities and groups of color, dismantle the current oppressive carceral system, and create a new system that ensures accountability, healing, and community. Brian is Domincian and a New York resident from Washington Heights, a predominantly Latinx community. He greatly values community as it is essential to forming relationships, trust, and a love for the land.He is a grassroots community organizer who has done work in the South Bronx and Bushwick on anti-carceral, anti-gentrification, and immigration-related topics.

During his time at NYU, Brian has worked with other students to cultivate spaces for inclusive and diverse communities through his work in the HEOP Alternative Break to Puerto Rico, Gallatin Sophomore Student Council, and Gallatin Diversity Council. Brian looks forward to working with many grassroots community organizers, artists, and students in Buenos Aires as to not only create spaces of diversity, inclusion, and belonging, but also confronting and resisting political and social issues as a means of radically transforming our societies and systems.

Mariah Harilall is a 2nd year Global Liberal Studies student with the plan to pursue a dual major in Computer Science and Mathematics. She was born and raised in New York and has always been a “city girl” at heart, even from a young age. The opportunity to be a part of the NYU community as an on-campus student has truly been a dream come true. She currently works within the NYU Office of Sponsored Programs and is also a member of the intramural women’s lacrosse team. 

She is honored to be the Global Equity Fellow for NYU Florence and is looking forward to immersing herself into a new culture and working with both her fellow students and local community. She is passionate about being an advocate for change in diversity, inclusion and LGBTQ issues in particular, and hopes that her past experiences within the Legal Outreach program at Fordham University, a volunteer within the local Youth Court, as well as being Lieutenant Governor of her High School Key Club will provide her with the skillsets needed to be a true resource and leader in this role.

Apurva Kothari is from Jaipur, India. She is a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences pursuing a double major in International Relations (Honors) and Environmental Studies. On campus, Apurva is involved with the IR Society serving as the club’s Events Development Chair. She also writes for the South Asia section of the society’s publication, IR Insider. Apart from IR Society, she has been a part of the TEDxNYU speaker curation team since her first year. Apurva is currently interning at the UNHQ in New York with the Permanent Mission of India. She works on humanitarian and social affairs and human rights issues of the Third Committee of the General Assembly. In her free time, Apurva likes to explore New York City’s food-lover friendly neighborhoods. If not eating, you would find her in one of the city’s quaint bookstores, delving into the works of Zadie Smith or Chimamanda N. Adichie or books on her Recommended list.

Ellen is a third-year student at NYU Shanghai, majoring Social Science with a concentration in Psychology and minoring in Philosophy. She is a lover of classical music and books, and just started her training as a pianist a year ago. She looks forward to studying away in Prague as well as the music journey and unforeseeable exciting challenges there.

Caring about the equality of gender and sexual minorities, Ellen works as the treasurer of Queer and Ally Society and has organized a wide range of events to raise awareness on campus. As a Shanghainese who has lived in this city for 20 years, she has the ambition to promote diversity and inclusiveness in the local community. Ellen launched NYUSH First Annual Intercollegiate Queer Trivia Night with her team members, inviting students of gender and sexual minorities and allies from other universities in Shanghai, where this topic is usually in a grey area. She has also been a volunteer for ShanghaiPRIDE for two years. 

Although Ellen has mainly acted for gender and sexual minorities in the past, she is also interested in other issues related to diversity and identity as well as approaching them from an academic and theoretical perspective. As the first Global Equity Fellow from the Shanghai campus, Ellen is excited to meet and make friends with students from all over the world in Prague

Cordelia is a junior studying Global Public Health and Anthropology, with a minor in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies. After graduation, she hopes to work in developing accessible healthcare for populations in need, both domestically and globally, an interest that was further deepened during her time in Fall 2018 studying away in Abu Dhabi.

In addition to academics, Cordelia works on-campus as an Admissions Ambassador and is involved in the Dancers/Choreographers Alliance and Youthmappers (a club which teaches and utilises GIS software to aid humanitarian organizations). She also works in a lab focusing on sustainable healthcare and has done research projects relating to public health in both Abu Dhabi and New York. She has held an internship with a non-profit health insurance law firm and volunteers for a non-profit summer camp program for children with epilepsy. In past summers, she has also spent her free time choreographing for a professional theatre in her hometown.

In their own way, each of these opportunities has helped shape her commitment to balancing structural similarities and contextual differences, a balance that is necessary when developing communities inclusive of a diverse population. She is looking forward to sharing this commitment with her future classmates in Sydney and working with them to create safe spaces for all students.

Maya Vargas is a rising second year undergraduate student in Liberal Studies. She is very excited to take on the role of Global Equity Fellow for Washington, D.C. as a part of the Global Leadership Scholars. She is committed to fostering an environment at this NYU Study abroad site where all can feel welcomed, safe, and be able to learn and thrive in the environment. In her first year at the New York based campus, she was elected the first year representative for the Commuter Student Council and was a performing member in NYU's urban latin dance club, Ritmo. She also enjoyed petitioning for political candidates, attending rallies and marches, and trying various activities around NYC, such as hot yoga, hip-hop classes, and flying trapeze classes. Maya is eager to connect with students and has plans to create community dialogues and events surrounding the values of diversity, equity, culture, and inclusion. 

Cheyenne Morillo is a third year Steinhardt student double majoring in Applied Psychology and Global Public Health with a concentration in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Studies. Being born into an Air Force family has allowed Cheyenne to live in places such as Turkey and Japan, but she spent most of her adolescent years in New Jersey. 

Coming to NYU helped Cheyenne discover her passion for fostering a positive student life environment among other NYU students. This passion is best seen through her work as a Resident Assistant and her dedication to the Organization of Black Women At NYU. Starting off as an Event Planner in the Spring ’18 semester led Cheyenne to become the President of OBW during the Fall ’18 semester. Through this role, she hoped to form an inclusive, warm, and supportive environment for members of the community.

Along with her commitment to student life, Cheyenne is also an advocate for ending Mass Incarceration and the policing of Black and brown communities. She has been working on a research team since her sophomore year studying the prevalence of trauma among adolescents involved in the Juvenile System and the need for the implementation of trauma-informed care to truly rehabilitate adolescents involved in the system. 

Cheyenne is excited to serve as the Global Equity Fellow for Ghana during the Spring ’19 term and hopes to encompass the core values of the fellowship through inclusive leadership practices. 

Raghuveer Vyas is an NYU student born and raised in Kenya. He is in his third year and pursuing a double major in Global Liberal Studies and Politics, with a concentration in Politics, Rights & Development.

He is a staunch advocate for improving and solidifying the foundations of multinational organizations and international law in order to promote more equitable and accountable governance. Raghuveer firmly believes that education and dialogue are instrumental tools in combatting major contemporary problems, including the mainstreaming of right-wing xenophobic policy and the harsh reaction to the global immigration crises—both of which are of keen interest to him.

His passion for dialogue is best seen through his service for the U.N. Initiative at NYU. Through the Initiative, he has organized and moderated discussions with several U.N. officials, including the Director of UNICEF Communications, and the Ambassadors of Russia, Nigeria, Japan and Pakistan to name a few. 

Raghuveer will be studying at NYU Berlin for the 2018-2019 year and is extremely excited to be a Global Equity Fellow. He hopes to learn more about fostering diversity, equity and inclusion within an international student body, and is keen on applying his diplomacy-based dialogue experience to this effect. 

Casandra is a sophomore in NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study pursuing a concentration in Institutional Justice: Public Policy and Law, with a minor in Spanish through the College of Arts and Science. After graduating from NYU, she intends to go to law school and engage in public policy relating to criminal law reform. Raised in Detroit in a Puerto Rican household, Casandra appreciates the diversity in cultures, languages, and ethnicities in her community at NYU, and aims to make the space more inclusive for all backgrounds. Throughout her years at NYU, she has worked within various organizations to make NYU a more comfortable place for students of marginalized backgrounds. She has served as the Community Service chair for the Academic Achievement Program, an Admissions Ambassador, and an intern on multiple political campaigns. She looks forward to engaging in important dialogue surrounding issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion while studying at NYU Buenos Aires. 

Sandra is a junior studying Global Liberal Studies, with a concentration in Contemporary Culture and Creative production, and Politics at NYU. She spent the fall semester in Florence as a Peer Advisor and Communications Intern at La Pietra Dialogues and has thus become familiar with the Florentine and NYU Florence Community. She will be a Peer Advisor at NYU Florence this Spring semester as well.

She was born in Cairo, Egypt, and immigrated to the States when she was 9 years old. Her multicultural background has provided her with a unique perspective regarding diversity, inclusion, and equity, as she has watched those qualities manifest in different cultural settings. She hopes to pursue a masters degree in journalism following graduation, before pursuing a law degree. Sandra is passionate about governmental policy and immigration and hopes to pursue a career in foreign affairs and international relations.

Raymond is a sophomore studying Economics and Computer Science. Born and raised in Manila, he moved to New York from the Philippines to start university at NYU. Prior to attending New York University, Raymond was a member of the Philippine National Debate Team and captained his high school’s debate team to an an Asian Debate Championship. From this background, Raymond is passionate about leading discourse that addresses the different avenues in which discrimination and inequality persist in modern society. As a die-hard football fan, Raymond hopes to use London’s robust sporting scene as a starting point of discussion for issues surrounding xenophobia, homophobia and LGBT discrimination that occurs in the English Sporting Industry as well as English Society.

Kohtaro Kosugiyama is a junior majoring in Global Liberal Studies with a concentration on Politics, Rights, and Development, as well as minoring in Peace and Conflict Studies. He was born in Japan and lived in Japan, Canada, the States, and Spain.

As a proud Davis UWC scholar, Kohtaro has been keen to learn and take action to create a world where people can take diversity as a community’s strength in order to achieve peace. He has served in multiple committees and organizations on campus to make NYU a more inclusive and welcoming environment since he believes in NYU's potential and responsibility to be the leader of the global educational institutions.

Kohtaro is thrilled to be a part of the GEF community as he looks forward to taking his previous actions to a further level.

Kennedi is currently a junior at Tisch majoring in Performance Studies with a double minor in both Music and Business, Entertainment, Media and Technology. As a Tisch student, She is excited to explore the arts scene within Paris as well as immerse herself in the history and culture of the city.

Through her studies at NYU, she has developed an insatiable curiosity to learn about how bodies of color have existed in historical spaces and how they are existing now specifically through the lenses of art and various methods of expression. Recently, she discovered the rich history of diversity Paris has and is excited to explore the spaces where this insurgence of culture flourished.

In order to help imbue her thirst for historical knowledge, she is looking forward to participating as the Paris Global Equity Fellow as a way to mindfully explore the city. She hopes to further educate herself and her peers on creating and maintaining inclusivity at NYU as well as continuing to find ways to foster meaningful conversations on diversity as she continues her journey in life.

Kyle is a second year student in Gallatin studying international journalism, cross-cultural writing, and social justice. He was born in Seoul, South Korea and immigrated to the U.S. at the age of six. Having lived in neighborhoods of varying demographics, he became interested in issues of race, culture, and immigration.

In his first year at NYU, Kyle was a part of the Poverty and Affluence pilot program where he participated as an activist in social justice initiatives in NYC and volunteered at non-profit organizations such as the St. Bernard Project (SBP), NYC Votes, and the New York’s Department of Homeless Services. Through this program he became interested in the disparity in wealth and power in the U.S., especially as it pertains to race and color. He was also a research assistant for the L-FELD team where he assisted in the language progression and cognitive development of children of color and immigrant students in the Bronx.

Kyle is also a news contributor, editor, and podcast producer for WNYU. He runs a podcast called Culture Talk on which he interviews people of diverse backgrounds and uses the podcast as a platform to discuss issues of cultural differences, language barriers, discrimination, and power dynamics. Kyle believes that the exposure of underrepresented people and cultures through the use of the media is essential to the understanding and acceptance of difference.

As a Global Equity Fellow, Kyle is looking forward to working with the students and staff to promote a global campus which upholds the core values of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Dimitri Pun is a sophomore from Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He is currently in the Stern School of Business studying Finance and Computer Science and has a passion for expanding his horizon and learning more about diverse groups of people and their different narratives. Owing from his upbringing in Haiti, he has learned the importance of hearing people’s individual stories because he feels it allows for increase of empathy and stronger connections. Dimitri has studied abroad in Shanghai and served as Freshmen Class President if Stern c/o 2021.

Mia Foucek is a rising junior majoring in Global Liberal Studies with a concentration in Law, Ethics, and Religion. Mia will be spending the 2018-2019 academic year at NYU Tel Aviv and conducting research for her senior thesis project.  Mia plans to narrow my focus on Israeli start-up culture, specifically female-led entrepreneurship. She just completed an internship at a non-profit law firm that advocates for and legally assists victims of domestic violence.  In Mia's spare time, she enjoys running, playing tennis, and watching the NY Yankees.  Mia is excited to represent the Global Equity Fellowship while at NYU Tel Aviv.

Charley Whitman is a third year undergraduate student in the College of Arts and Sciences. She is pursuing a degree in Public Policy with a minor in Spanish. Charley was raised by a military family in southern California where she first became interested in Veterans’ issues and ocean sustainability. She later moved to Colorado where she became politically active within her local community. Charley is passionate about using public policy to improve upon some of the issues she really cares about, such as environmental sustainability, animal rights, and criminal justice reform, to name a few. As an NYU student, Charley’s devotion to learning has furthered her understanding of these issues in her own community and across the globe. She is very excited to serve as the Global Equity Fellow in Washington D.C. during the upcoming spring semester and is hopeful that in the pursuit of diversity, equity, and inclusion at her site, she may continue to explore her passions as they relate to her new NYU D.C. community.

Red Ama Ali is in her third year at the College of Arts and Sciences where she majors in Africana Studies and is on the Pre Law track. Born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, and identifying herself as a generational African American, she thanks her southern, Black community for passing down Afro culture orally and fostering organic social awareness.

Presently the Vice President of the Black Student Union for the year 2018-19, and former Political Action Chair (17-18), Red frequently visualizes what Liberation will look like for the African Diaspora. As a poet, novelist, and playwright, her core belief is that storytelling is the biggest mechanism for consciousness-raising, and that the body retains generational narratives for which the tongue does not remember the words.

Raghuveer Vyas is an NYU student born and raised in Kenya. He is in his third year and pursuing a double major in Global Liberal Studies and Politics, with a concentration in Politics, Rights & Development.

He is a staunch advocate for improving and solidifying the foundations of multinational organizations and international law in order to promote more equitable and accountable governance. Raghuveer firmly believes that education and dialogue are instrumental tools in combatting major contemporary problems, including the mainstreaming of right-wing xenophobic policy and the harsh reaction to the global immigration crises—both of which are of keen interest to him.

His passion for dialogue is best seen through his service for the U.N. Initiative at NYU. Through the Initiative, he has organized and moderated discussions with several U.N. officials, including the Director of UNICEF Communications, and the Ambassadors of Russia, Nigeria, Japan and Pakistan to name a few. 

Raghuveer will be studying at NYU Berlin for the 2018-2019 year and is extremely excited to be a Global Equity Fellow. He hopes to learn more about fostering diversity, equity and inclusion within an international student body, and is keen on applying his diplomacy-based dialogue experience to this effect. 

Jazmin is majoring in Education Studies with an area of specialization in Arts, Languages, and Cultures. She is passionate about diversity, equity, and inclusion as it particularly relates to quality public education. During her undergraduate career, Jazmin has served as the president of Generation Meditation, NYU’s only student led mindfulness and meditation club. She was also a fellow in the Leadership Initiative and worked with others in the program to create the first Bystander Street Harassment Training at NYU. This interactive training provided the skill set to recognize street harassment, act safely given the situation, and reflect on our identities and comfort levels with intervening. As a senior, Jazmin is doing research on the intersections of positive psychology and social justice to create a college course syllabus for her capstone project. In the future, she hopes to create social justice curricula with a focus on racial justice for high school students.

Vanessa Hernandez is a rising junior studying Media, Culture, and Communications at Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. Her concentrations are Media Institutions & Politics, and Global & Transcultural Communication. She will be pursuing a minor in Politics at the College of Arts and Sciences. Vanessa was born and raised in Marble Hill of The Bronx, New York by a single Dominican mother. Coming from the Bronx has influenced Vanessa because it has exemplified just how significant equity, diversity, and inclusion are in communities. She will be pursuing a masters in International Relations and thus pursuing a Juris Doctor Degree at law school. Her dream is to work at the Federal Bureau of Investigations to serve her country as a special counsel or special agent. During her sophomore year, Vanessa was head of the ad-hoc committee in the student government at NYU Madrid addressing student conflict and advocating for marginalized groups within the student body during their experience abroad. This semester, she will also be the Site Ambassador and a Peer Advisor at NYU Florence. Vanessa believes that defending under-privileged and underrepresented populations is a pursuit that keeps on giving back. She is passionate about issues such as higher education access, class disparity, immigration, and women empowerment. She is excited to learn, train, and implement these core values in a global context !

Johileny Meran is a Dominican immigrant who moved to New York at age 8 with her mother for medical treatment for Cerebral Palsy. During her public school education her family lived in a shelter. Nonetheless, she used this obstacle as fuel to power forward. She is a rising senior at NYU’s College of Arts and Science majoring in Global Public Health/Sociology. Fall 2017, Johileny studied in Washington, DC as an NYU Global Leadership Scholar and interned at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History as a Curatorial Intern in the department of Medicine and Science. Where she learned about museum outreach programs for people with disabilities as well as research the History of the Disability Rights Movement. This summer Johileny is part of the 2018 American Association of People with Disabilities internship program and was place at the National Disability Rights Network as a Public Policy intern. Johileny often describes her leadership role on campus as Co-President of the Disability Student Union as one she stumbled across while searching for a disability community on campus. Her leadership beliefs are based on integrity, quality, and service. Johileny participates and enjoys rock climbing, scuba diving, sled hockey, tennis, track, basketball, writing poetry, and sharing her motivational story.

Aldo is a junior majoring in Business & Political Economy (BPE) at NYU Stern with a minor in Public Policy & Management. Aldo is a proud Chicano born in Tijuana, Mexico, but raised in Southern California.

As a BPE major, Aldo had the privilege of studying away at NYU London and at NYU Shanghai his sophomore year. Aldo worked as a student life volunteering assistant and as a RA at each respective location. In NYC, Aldo is involved with the Gould Standard, NYU Social Impact Council, and the Stern Street Team. 

In his first two years, Aldo developed a dedication to cultivating potent diversity and inclusion mechanisms across the Global Network. In general, Aldo believes that inclusive communities in academia can transcend the boundaries of a college lecture hall and impact wider society. Specifically, Aldo sees inclusive educational structures as the precursors for more equitable human capital formation and sustainable economic growth across regional divides. 

Aldo sees the practice of adaptive and inclusive leadership as a necessary catalyst for this more favorable economic future. In Madrid, Aldo looks forward to providing opportunities for students to engage with adaptive leadership models and “train” empathy in order to work towards a representative global campus.  

Jailene is a junior majoring in Social and Cultural Analysis with a concentration in Africana Studies, Latino Studies, and Gender and Sexuality Studies. A native of New York City, she is interested in community building through education, access to resources, and community engagement. She is especially passionate in the use of lived experiences to foster conversations that produce change as well as create innovative ideas to achieve such change. Throughout her years at NYU she has worked within various organizations to make NYU a more comfortable place for students of marginalized backgrounds and identities She is on the Pre Law Track and intends to use that degree to be a voice for those silenced. Among her various leadership roles, she is currently the President of LUCHA and strives to engage Latinidad at NYU through programming and policy.

Ingrid Adams is a second year student at the Stern Undergraduate College. She was inspired to concentrate in global business and management after growing up in Murrieta, California and spending summers with her family in the Philippines.

Ingrid is a national award-winning speaker with the goal of helping others gain confidence in their own speaking skills. In her TEDxTemecula talk, she spoke on the importance of giving people the opportunity to speak and be heard. To help spread the idea, Ingrid volunteers at a local middle school debate camp to help develop the skills of young students.

Prior to attending NYU, Ingrid served as both a prosecution and defense Youth Court Attorney for minors in misdemeanor hearings before a county judge. As an attorney, Ingrid helped the minors articulate their thoughts to help the jury deliver a reasonable rehabilitating sentence. While at NYU, Ingrid has served in hall council as the Director of Communications and in Stern Student Council as a Cohort Director. She wants to use her experience to help connect people in conversation and ensure the representation of all ideas and concerns. She believes that when people begin to communicate and listen, then they will be able to further diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Juliana is a senior at New York University’s College of Arts and Science majoring in English and minoring in Law and Society. Born and raised in New York City and a daughter of Brazilian immigrants, Juliana appreciates the diversity in cultures, languages, and ethnicities in her community.  

In her sophomore year, Juliana studied at NYU DC as a Global Leadership Scholar and interned at the Department of Justice in the Environment and Natural Resources Division. There Juliana translated the DOJ Environmental Justice Strategy and Guidance into Portuguese to provide Brazilian and Portuguese communities with accessible material informing them of their environmental and civil rights laws.

Juliana joined the #CLOSErikers campaign aimed to close the inhumane Rikers island and towards reforming the criminal justice system. As an advocacy intern, she participated in grass-roots movements towards closing Rikers and aided with the launch of upcoming municipal campaigns across the United States.

As a NYU student, Juliana became the Secretary of NYU’s Advocate Coalition Against Trafficking (ACT), a student-led organization which spreads awareness about modern day slavery. She also is a Mentor for high school students through the NYC DOE Youth CareerConnect Mentorship Program.

Juliana hopes that as a Global Equity Fellow she can further promote equity, diversity, and inclusion and empower those around her, while also advocating for social justice issues.

Mia Foucek is a rising junior majoring in Global Liberal Studies with a concentration in Law, Ethics, and Religion. Mia will be spending the 2018-2019 academic year at NYU Tel Aviv and conducting research for her senior thesis project.  Mia plans to narrow my focus on Israeli start-up culture, specifically female-led entrepreneurship. She just completed an internship at a non-profit law firm that advocates for and legally assists victims of domestic violence.  In Mia's spare time, she enjoys running, playing tennis, and watching the NY Yankees.  Mia is excited to represent the Global Equity Fellowship while at NYU Tel Aviv.

My name is Paola Martinez Parente, and I’m a sophomore in NYU Liberal Studies. My mom, siblings and I moved to The Woodlands, TX, from Mexico City before the start of my freshman year of high school. After graduating, I took a gap year and move to the Philippines to volunteer in construction and the rehabilitation of the mangrove forests. Afterwards, I started my college career at NYU Florence. While I was there, I was a member of the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee, an intern for the Office of Student Life, a tour guide at Santa Maria Novella, and the leader of the Giglio Viola Ethics Society. I look forward to serving as this year’s DEI Fellow at NYU DC while taking part in the Leadership Scholar’s Program. 

Joshua is a current third year student at New York University's Steinhardt school of culture, education, an human development with a major in Applied Psychology and minor in Social and Cultural Analysis who is originally from Buffalo New York. Joshua is passionate about diversity equity and inclusion, especially in the context of access to higher education and occupational opportunities. With Joshua's academic foundation in psychology, he is increasingly interested in the intersections between social psychology and historical socio-political contexts, and how this colors our minds as members of society. Joshua emphasizes the act of critically thinking about social conventions, and understanding how social conventions operate. He understands awareness is the first step to change, and hopes to bring marginalized narratives into mainstream awareness and discussion. In the future, he hopes to facilitate and call attention to the power of discourse and execute important conversations that are necessary for progressive social change for all 

Shahinaz is a second year student pursuing a double major in Social Research and Public Policy and Art Practice at NYU Abu Dhabi. She is the daughter of first-generation Egyptian immigrants to the United States and lived in Southern California for nine years before moving to Abu Dhabi to pursue her undergraduate degree.

Shahinaz’s interests include such issues as immigration, educational accessibility, and art-related activism. She fundamentally believes that all marginalized communities must be uplifted and heard and is particularly concerned with how marginalized individuals can best be empowered.

During her time at NYUAD, she has been the Vice Chairperson of the Anchorage LGBTQ Student Interest Group, one of the co-founders of the Student Government Diversity Committee, and involved in several other issues surrounding LGBTQ identity, university sexual misconduct, etc. She has also assisted in research on the effects of economic empowerment on South Asian women with a member of the NYUAD Political Science faculty.

Shahinaz will be studying at NYU Berlin in the Spring semester and is excited for how her work as a Global Equity Fellow can allow her to continue to further aid in creating social change, as well as to concentrate on specific issues surrounding Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
 

Michelle is a rising junior majoring in Global Liberal Studies with a concentration in Politics, Rights, and Development and a minor in Spanish. During her time at New York University she became the very first Political Action Chair of the Black Student Union where she worked hard to keep the community of Black students on campus aware of events going on in our nation as well as the rest of the world. She also worked hard with the rest of the executive board to increase inclusivity and acts of solidarity with other cultural clubs on campus. Michelle also has worked as a Liberal Studies Student Leader where she welcomed new students and helped them navigate during their first year. Lastly, Michelle works at LivewellNYU as a community engagement intern. Michelle looks forward to continue working in her passions of social justice and diversity during the rest of her time at NYU and in her future

 

As a minority student at NYU, the idea of everyone having equal access to resources (regardless of background) has been an issue close to her heart, regardless of the context. But as a priority, Aliyah has a vested interest in equity as it concerns public health and healthcare, especially in regards to access and affordability. Since choosing to major in Global Public Health and Anthropology, she has been engaged in learning about the social determinants of health and corresponding health outcomes as they affect minority communities. Professionally, she has taken steps to gain more knowledge in the subject, and will begin pursuing her Master’s degree in Health Policy and Management through NYU Wagner’s BA-MA program. However, her initial experiences with community engagement and passion for educating others on the importance of diversity and cultural competency have led her towards seeking a more active role in affecting positive change outside of her academics. In 2016, she interned at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage to help educate children on the importance of engaging with and appreciating the value of cultural difference, as opposed to ignoring or avoiding it. Continuing this more active approach, in the future Aliyah wants to work with local officials in her hometown to implement more or improve on current wellness programs in poorer communities that are geared towards diminishing some of the aggressive health disparities that negatively affect them.

Mahalia is a rising third year at CAS pursuing both her BA and MA through a joint degree program at NYU. She is originally from Frankfurt, Germany but has lived in the states for over 10 years. For undergraduate, she majored in Politics on the American Political Practice and Leadership Track with minors in Social and Public Policy as well as Sociology. As a Martin Luther King Jr. Scholar, Mahalia is interested in topics such as equitable policy making, particularly with the Justice System. As such, she is also pursuing her Master’s in American Politics with a concentration in social and urban policy and criminal justice reform. During her time at NYU, Mahalia has been director of volunteers for NYU Votes, co-founder of NYU for Bernie, and on the planning committee for Politics Society’s Annual Public Policy Symposium. She will be going to Berlin in the following fall semester as a Global Equity Fellow.
Last semester, Mahalia went to Washington D.C. as a Global Leadership Scholar where she had the opportunity to intern at the Justice Policy Institute. There she was able to develop as a scholar of the criminal justice system and gained new insights on the on-the-ground advocacy occurring all over the country. Mahalia hopes to one-day work in a research and advocacy organization to pursue criminal justice reform and policies based on equity and inclusion."