WAGE Fellows

Introducing our new fellows for the 2012-2013 Academic Year:

SENIOR WAGE FELLOWS:

Alissa Orlando is a senior in the School of Foreign Service studying African Studies and International Business Diplomacy. She is the Chief Operations Officer of the Hilltop Microfinance Initiative, a non-profit that provides business consulting and microloans to low-income entrepreneurs in D.C. Under her leadership, HMFI has loaned out over $18,000, served six clients, and retained a 100 percent repayment rate. She is also the Founder of the Citizenship Fund, which provides microloans to low-income permanent residents in D.C. to cover the costs of applying for U.S. Citizenship. Alissa has also worked in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Kigali, Rwanda. Alissa will spend the summer learning about social entrepreneurship through the StartingBloc Fellowship and working as a Summer Business Analyst at McKinsey and Company.

Morgan McDaniel is a senior at Georgetown University, majoring in Culture and Politics and minoring in Arab Studies. Morgan has served as a Diversity Fellow and vice president of H*yas for Choice, and is also the chair of the CSJ Advisory Board for Student Organizations. Off campus, Morgan has interned for WEAVE, an organization serving domestic violence survivors, and Vital Voices, an international women’s leadership development organization. She spent the fall of 2011 studying Arabic in Jordan. In her spare time, Morgan enjoys reading, cooking, and attempting craft projects.

Brittanie Leibold is a senior in the College majoring in Women’s and Gender Studies and Justice and Peace Studies. She is often found at the Women’s Center, where she works as the undergraduate assistant. Brittanie is committed to gender equity and is involved in several organizations that draw attention to issues such as sexual assault, pay equity, political representation, and domestic and violence. Last summer, she interned at the Feminist Majority Foundation and worked closely with FMF’s government relations director to monitor congressional activity, research legislation, and attend committeemeetings on the Hill. This summer, Brittanie plans to get a jumpstart on writing her senior thesis on domestic violence and restorative justice, as well as take art classes in Savannah, GA.

Rosa Kang: I am a senior in the SFS majoring in STIA. My studies are focused on global health and development. I am also an RA in Kennedy Hall and involved with Students Stopping Trafficking of People as well as DC Schools Project. Most of all, I am a WAGE fellow! I’m interested in women’s social and economic empowerment and access to health care especially in developing countries.

Lisa Frank is a senior in the College majoring in Spanish and Government. Lisa is from Portland, Oregon and now lives on the Justice and Diversity in Action Living Learning Community in McCarthy. She has been involved with GU Pride, Hoyas for Immigrant Rights, the Day Laborer Exchange Program, and the Jewish Students Association. Lisa is currently a Deputy Chief of Staff in GUSA.

Melissa McClure is a senior in the college double majoring in Women and Gender Studies and Government. When not running around DC, she spends her time in Ann Arbor, MI and Hartford CT. She is very involved in other programs that are run through the women’s center, such as R U Ready? and Sexual Assault Peer Educators. She has taken some of this knowledge with her to her summer internship at the Rape Abuse and Incest Network where she works the online hotline. This is her second year as a WAGE fellow and she could not be more excited about the new class. Even when the meetings were at 8 am, the weekly WAGE meeting is one of her favorite times during the week. Welcome!

Neyat Daniel is currently a senior in the College. She is pursuing a double major in Psychology and Sociology. She is interested in development, with a particular focus on gender and education. She has recently returned from her junior year abroad when she spent semesters in Ghana and Turkey. On campus, Neyat is involved with the African Society of Georgetown and the Justice and Diversity in Action community. She also teaches with the One World Youth Project as a project ambassador helping develop and teach a global awareness curriculum to middle school aged students in Washington D.C. Her hobbies include learning about new cultures and gourmet cooking.

Selene Ceja: I am a senior at Georgetown University pursuing a dual degree in Government and English. Originally from Los Angeles California I am the daughter of immigrants and a first generation college student. I became interested in women advocacy after acknowledging the domestic abuse at home and realizing the divides women encounter through cultural and gender biases. As a Latina I share different beliefs and mannerisms as to how Latino culture views women in society. I have come to realize that women from other backgrounds share these differences in their culture of origin. Yet there are no conversations surging to encourage the creation of dialogue as a form of empowerment through cultural identity. My passions include women’s advocacy, fighting for educational equality in the United States and American foreign policy in the Middle East and South Asia. I hope to join the Department of State and eventually the Presidential Cabinet to the United States as Senior Advisor on South Asian Affairs and Women Development.

JUNIOR WAGE FELLOWS:

Stephanie Johnson: I am from Willingboro, New Jersey; however I grew up in Hershey, Pennsylvania. I absolutely love children and I work at Georgetown’s very own pre-school, Hoyakids Learning Center. In my free time I like to watch Grey’s Anatomy, go to baseball games, visit museums, and go to the movies. I am very interested in medicine and want to pursue a career in the medical field. As of now I am looking into Physician Assistant, Nurse Practitioner, or Nurse Anesthetist. I also volunteer at Georgetown Hospital in the Pediatric Unit. One of my dreams is to become fluent in Spanish, French, and Italian in my lifetime and I would love to backpack through Europe one day.

Kat Kelley is a junior in the school of Nursing and Health Studies, majoring in International Health with a minor in Arabic. Within the greater field of international health, she is interested in the role of women in international development, gender based violence, and the intersection of population and the environment. Kat has spent a summer each in Egypt and Oman on Arabic language programs, and will be spending summer 2012 interning in India with an NGO that helps rural women develop micro-enterprises. At Georgetown, Kat is a research assistant at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, an SAT math instructor, involved with the Sexual Assault Peer Educators and Take Back the Night, and enjoys playing rugby.

Sophia Boyer is a Government major in the College Class of 2014 at Georgetown University. A Phoenix native, Sophia came to Washington, D.C. to test political activism as a means for change. Sophia has worked as a Research Assistant in the Government Department through the Georgetown Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (GUROP), in between acting as a writer and News Section Editor for the Georgetown political review, The Forum. Her service on Georgetown’s Diversity Action Council Funding Board led her to attend the National Conference for College Women Student Leaders, after which she knew she had found her passion: making women’s voices heard. Sophia began interning at Running Start, a non-profit organization dedicated to inspiring young women to run for political office, and most recently joined the Women’s Center Advancing Gender Equity (WAGE) Fellowship, where she hopes to continue fighting to foster women’s leadership.

Mary Toscano is a junior in the college majoring in English and minoring in Linguistics and Women and Gender Studies. For the past year, she has worked as a volunteer on call and court advocate with DC SAFE where she assists domestic violence survivors by writing her clients’ civil protection orders, connecting them with resources, and assisting them with safety planning. In her free time, Mary enjoys Irish Dancing and distance running.

Deanna Marie Arthur is a junior in the School of Foreign Service. She first experienced heartbreak when she realized she could not be the first ever female Minister (Mistress?) of Magic due to her lack of Hogwarts letter in her 11th year, as well as the fact that Artemisia Lufkin came before her. Now this Culture and Politics major has moved on to bigger and better things, studying a blurry but beautiful place where consumer culture, social psychology and human rights meet to make trends. When she’s not busy overanalyzing Bono, you can find her researching the price of bringing an elephant to campus as an NSO Coordinator, perfecting the art of customer service as Assistant Director of Human Resources for the Corp or blowing off steam on the Rugby pitch with the women’s club team. She’s not entirely sure what she wants to do with her life but she hopes that her studies and experiences at Georgetown will help her on her dream path of becoming a professional people person, or you know, saving the world, one evil wizard at a time.

Lena Al-Marzoog is a junior in the MSB studying Finance and International Business with a minor in French. She was born and raised in Saudi Arabia where the issue of women’s rights made gender equality very important to her. She is involved in a variety of student groups on campus, including an investment group as well as a social entrepreneurship organization. She also tutors at a public charter school and dances with Black Movements Dance Theater, a performing arts dance group. After graduation, she hopes to attend law school.

Kate McClellan is a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences from Rockport, Maine. She is currently pursuing a major in government, along with minors in both history and education. Kate is interested in a variety of issues and areas of study including education reform, human security and social justice, domestic politics, and international development. Although Kate does not know where her future will lead her, whether to Capitol Hill, developing countries, or elsewhere – she is devoted to fighting for gender equality and the empowerment of women.