Rising Experts
Class of 2021
Each year, Young Professionals in Foreign Policy (YPFP) welcomes a new class of Rising Experts, formerly known as Writing Fellows. Through a highly selective process, Rising Experts are selected for their knowledge and passion for their respective fields, as well as for their ability and desire to hone and share their analysis with a wider community of interest. Supported by an editorial team, they publish regularly at major online media outlets in their Rising Experts Program focus area and participate in professional development events.
Bukie Olokun
Africa Fellow
Bukie Olokun is the 2021 YPFP Africa Fellow. She is an EMEA focused intelligence analyst with experience in the private sector. She received her Master’s degree in International Affairs from the University of Kentucky’s Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce. She received her Bachelors from Indiana University. She serves as the Pracademic Liaison for the African Intelligence Studies Collective and co-host of the African Intel Affairs Podcast where experts share their perspectives on the intersection between academics and intelligence practice on the continent. Her regional interests include development, human rights, and terrorism and insurgency.
Follow on Twitter at @bukieolokun
Bukie Olokun
Africa Expert
James Park
Asia-Pacific Fellow
James Park is the 2021 YPFP Asia-Pacific Fellow. He is a graduate student in International Politics and China Studies at the Johns Hopkins University-Nanjing University Center for Chinese and American Studies. His primary research interests include South Korean domestic and foreign affairs and U.S. policy vis-à-vis the Asia-Pacific. James holds an M.A. in Asian Studies from the George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs and a B.A. in Global Studies from Arizona State University, where he also minored in Mandarin Chinese. James speaks native-level Korean and is proficient in Mandarin Chinese. His works have been featured in The Diplomat and The National Interest.
James Park
Asia-Pacific Expert
Catrina Doxsee
Counter-Terrorism Fellow
Catrina Doxsee is the 2021 YPFP Counter-terrorism Fellow. She is a program manager and research associate for the Transnational Threats Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), where she analyzes international and domestic terrorism and the irregular activities of countries such as Iran, Russia, and China. She is also a member of the editorial board for the Irregular Warfare Initiative at the Modern War Institute at West Point. Prior to joining CSIS, she worked as an associate policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute. She has also conducted research at the Philip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies at Johns Hopkins and the U.S. Treasury Department’s Middle East and North Africa Office. She previously served for two years in AmeriCorps as a refugee resettlement caseworker in Pittsburgh. She holds a B.A. in history, with a concentration in military history, from the University of Chicago and an M.A. in strategic studies and international economics from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).
Follow on Twitter: @CatrinaDoxsee
Catrina Doxsee
Counter-Terrorism Expert
Roberta Braga
Cyber Fellow
Roberta Braga is the 2021 YPFP Cyber Fellow. She manages North America Communications at the global law firm Baker McKenzie, where she is responsible for the creation of thought leadership campaigns and media outputs with a focus on data and technology, privacy, intellectual property, international trade, tax and more. Roberta previously served as Deputy Director for Programs and Outreach at the Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center, where she helped shape the intellectual framework for the Council’s Latin America programming and led projects on democracy-building, countering disinformation and misinformation in elections, and trade integration. Over four and a half years in the think tank world, Roberta launched work on deepening US-Brazil trade and foreign direct investment; helped create the organization's practice on countering disinformation in Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela, and oversaw external engagement with government and private-sector stakeholders and the media. Roberta previously worked at the US Department of Homeland Security, Promega Corporation, and the Federal Communications Commission. She earned her MA in Global Communication with a focus on Public Diplomacy from The George Washington University and her BA in Journalism and International Security from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Originally from Brazil, she is a native Portuguese- and English-speaker, and fluent in Spanish.
Follow on Twitter at @RobertaSBraga
Roberta Braga
Cyber Expert
Leah Farrar
Cyber Fellow
Leah Farrar is the 2021 YPFP Cyber Fellow. She is an attorney passionate about the intersection of technology, identity, and culture. Her particular areas of interest include participatory culture, modern cyborgs, technology’s impact on crime, and arts evolution and cultural preservation in the digital age. She is a Fellow at, and the current President of, the Internet Law and Policy Foundry, where she is developing Season 3 of the Tech Policy Grind podcast. In addition to internet policy, Leah is passionate about space law and technology. She is an active member of Space Generation Advisory Council, where she is the SGAC Alumni Co-Lead, and co-leads teams on demilitarization and human rights within the Space Law and Policy Project Group. She received her JD from The George Washington University Law School, and her BA from St. Lawrence University with a double major in English and Fine Arts.
Leah Farrar
Cyber Expert
Carey K. Mott
Economics Fellow
Carey K. Mott is the 2021 YPFP Economics Fellow. He is an International & Domestic Markets Associate at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where he reports on global financial flows. Previously, he researched financial regulation and bank supervision. He began his career reporting on financial regulatory reform legislation at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
Follow on Twitter at @careymott
Carey K. Mott
Economics Expert
Leah Garden
Environment Fellow
Leah Garden is the 2021 Environment Fellow at Young Professionals in Foreign Policy Project and Development Lead of the Sustainable Agriculture Economy with Bambino Life Foundation. She has previously served as the Dairy Greenhouse Gas Impact Intern at World Wildlife Fund, the Sustainability Communications Intern at the Can Manufacturers Institute, and Account Coordinator at the consulting firm Schultz & Williams. She holds an M.S. in Sustainability Management from American University’s Kogod School of Business and a B.S.B.A. from Bucknell University.
Leah Garden
Environment Expert
Sarah Martin
Eurasia Fellow
Sarah Martin is the 2021 YPFP Eurasia Fellow. She works in Washington, DC, supporting the implementation of human rights programs in Eurasia, with a focus on Ukraine and Moldova. Prior to this, she was a Research Associate at the Secretariat of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly in Vienna, Austria, where she followed political-military affairs, and an intern with the US Commission for Security and Cooperation in Europe (US Helsinki Commission, where she followed a similar portfolio. She received an MS in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University and a BS in Business Administration from American University. Her interests include the intersection of human security and human rights, developing and sustaining democracy, and strengthening the Transatlantic partnership. She speaks intermediate Russian.
Follow on Twitter at @sarahkm703
Sarah Martin
Eurasia Expert
Nick Lokker
Europe Fellow
Nick Lokker is the 2021 YPFP Europe Fellow. He is a graduate student at Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service, where he focuses on transatlantic security cooperation, EU-Russia relations, and EU enlargement. His professional experience includes positions at the Center for European Policy Analysis, the European Parliament, and the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies. He also helps to produce The Europe Desk, a podcast from Georgetown's BMW Center for German and European Studies. Nick received his BA from Duke University in 2018, where he double majored in Political Science and Romance Languages. He currently resides in Washington, DC, but has previously spent time living in France, Belgium, and Spain.
Follow him on Twitter @lokker_n
Nick Lokker
Europe Expert
Julia Canney
Gender in Foreign Policy Fellow
Julia Canney is the 2021 YPFP Gender in Foreign Policy Fellow. She is a practitioner and advocate with expertise in gender, violence prevention, and transitional justice. She currently serves as the Policy and Communications Associate for the Impact:Peace initiative at the University of San Diego's Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice, where she works on efforts to reduce violence and change conversations around securitization of borders, conflict, and cities. Previously, Julia worked at the National Democratic Institute on issues of gender-based violence, elections, and political processes. Julia received her MSc Human Rights with a focus on gender and security in Dublin, Ireland, where she worked extensively on the 2018 referendum on reproductive rights and as a researcher for the Clann Project with the Justice for Magdalenes Research group. She was one of two awardees of the 2018 Beyond War Reporting Fellowship from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting for her project with women peacemakers in Northern Ireland. She is a 2016 graduate of the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, VA.
Follow on Twitter at @juliascanney
Julia Canney
Gender in Foreign Policy Expert
Francis Shin
Geostrategy & Financial Diplomacy Fellow
Francis Shin is the 2021 Geostrategy & Financial Diplomacy Fellow at Young Professionals in Foreign Policy. He recently received a Master in International Affairs from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, where he studied global security governance. His master’s dissertation was on the increasing usage of the SWIFT network in U.S. and international sanctions regimes. He has previously worked as the Joseph S. Nye Jr. research intern in the Energy, Economics, and Security program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). During his tenure, he published multiple reports on U.S. sanctions through the CNAS website. He has also interned at the United Nations Office at Geneva and the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START). Additionally, his articles have appeared in publications including The Diplomat and The National Interest. His research interests include economic statecraft, global governance, the impact of populism on foreign policy and security strategy, and the promotion of human rights.
Francis Shin
Geostrategy & Financial Diplomacy Expert
Danyale Kellogg
Global Health Fellow
Danyale C. Kellogg is the 2021 YPFP Global Health Fellow. She is finishing her Master of International Affairs on the National Security and Diplomacy track with concentrations in East Asia Studies and Pandemics and Biosecurity at the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University. She is also completing her Global Health Graduate Certificate in the Texas A&M School of Public Health where her research focuses on bilateral preparedness with South Korea for an infectious disease outbreak on the Korean Peninsula. She is a Women in Defense Scholar with the National Defense Industrial Association, a graduate research assistant, and a Girl Security mentor. She will begin her PhD in Biodefense with an International Security specialization in the fall of 2021 at George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government. She previously earned her BA in History from Southwestern University and has internship experience with the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services, Defense, and Homeland Security, the U.S. Congress, and several other organizations. She is an alumna of The Fund for American Studies, a past Hatton W. Sumners Foundation Scholar, and has studied at Ewha Woman's University and Korea University in Seoul, South Korea.
Follow on Twitter at @danyale_kellogg
Danyale Kellogg
Global Health Expert
James Jennion
Human Rights Fellow
James Jennion is the 2021 YPFP Human Rights Fellow. He is a foreign policy analyst and adviser based in the UK, where he works mainly on human rights and crisis prevention. James was born in northwest England and studied at the University of Leeds, where he graduated with an MA in International Relations. He moved to London in 2018 to take up a role in the UK Parliament, where he worked in the office of an MP to support constituents and work on high-profile policy issues. He is also a passionate believer in social mobility and equality. In 2019 he founded Out of London, an organisation working to help get more working-class people into politics, and is a Trustee of The Equality Trust, a charity campaigning for greater socioeconomic equality in the UK and beyond. He has attended conferences, training programmes and secondments in countries including Kazakhstan, Kosovo and Azerbaijan.
Follow on Twitter at @JennionJames
James Jennion
Human Rights Expert
Will O’Brien
International Development Fellow
Will O’Brien is the International Development Fellow with Young Professionals in Foreign Policy and the Special Assistant to the Executive Vice President of the Atlantic Council.
His research focuses on the history of missionary movements and religious conflict on the shaping of the modern Middle East.
Prior to joining the Atlantic Council, Will worked in local politics in his hometown of St. Louis Missouri; managed international partnerships and racial justice portfolios for the United Reformed Church of England and Wales in London, United Kingdom; advocated against sexual and gender-based violence for the United Church of Christ’s Office of Justice and Witness Ministries and IMA World Health in Washington, DC; and worked in the office of fundraising, international relations, and marketing at the Coptic Evangelical Organization for Social Services, an international development organization in Cairo, Egypt.
He has a master’s degree in Religion in Global Politics from SOAS, University of London with a focus on international development in the Middle East and North Africa as well as a bachelor’s degree in Religion with a minor in Arabic from the University of Rochester.
Follow him on Twitter @WmThOBrien.
Will O’Brien
International Development Expert
Amanda Suarez
Latin America Fellow
Amanda Suárez is the 2021 YPFP Latin America Fellow. She is a Master of Science in Foreign Service student at Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service. She focuses on transnational security and democracy and governance in Latin America, and is a Certificate in Diplomatic Studies candidate. Amanda has previously worked as a research assistant at the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace, and Security; the International Republican Institute’s Latin America and Caribbean Program; and with the Strategic Capacity Group on security sector reform in Central America.
From 2014-2016 she served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mozambique, where she taught IT and English at a rural secondary school and spearheaded grassroots community development projects. After finishing her Peace Corps service, Amanda worked as a security researcher monitoring Latin American criminal networks at CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity firm. At Georgetown, Amanda currently serves as a Student Representative on the MSFS Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, and was elected MSFS Student Representative from 2019-20. Amanda is fluent in Portuguese and Spanish. After graduation, she aspires to work for the federal government on transnational security issues in the Western Hemisphere. Amanda holds a B.A. in Political Science and Hispanic Studies from Columbia University.
Follow on Twitter at @AmandaR_Suarez
Amanda Suarez
Latin America Expert
Zeinab Fayad
Middle East Fellow
Zeinab Fayad is the 2021 YPFP Middle East Fellow. She recently obtained her MA in International Relations and Middle Eastern Studies from New York University. Her thesis explored the knowledge-power nexus, where she conducted discourse analysis on Hezbollah's religio-political ideology. She previously worked as a Research Assistant Intern at the Wilson Center's Middle East Program, researching Yemeni state discourse on revolution. She also interned at the Lebanese Mission to the UN, the Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and NGOs such as Amnesty International and Greenpeace. Passionate about the history of the Middle East, Zeinab uses her native Arabic skills to deeply understand it.
Zeinab Fayad
Middle East Expert
Walker Mills
Military Fellow
Walker D. Mills is the 2021 YPFP Military Fellow. He is a United States Marine infantry officer currently working as an instructor at the Colombian Naval Academy in Cartagena, Colombia. He is currently a non-resident master’s degree student at the Naval Postgraduate School’s Center for Homeland Defense and Security and is a graduate of Brown University (BA Archaeology, 2015) and King’s College London (MA International Relations and Modern War, 2020).
Walker volunteers as an Associate Editor at the Center for International Maritime Security (CIMSEC), and a Series Editor for Strife Blog. He is a co-host of CIMSEC’s Sea Control podcast where he has interviewed admirals, academics and prize-winning authors. His commentary has been published in War on the Rocks, Defense News, USNI Proceedings, the Marine Corps Gazette, Military Review, West Point’s Modern War Institute, and others. He is currently working on a co-edited volume about military retreats. His writing focuses on emerging trends, technology, and tactics on land and at sea.
You can follow him on Twitter @WDMills1992.
Walker Mills
Military Expert
Anca Agachi
Security & Defense Fellow
Anca Agachi is the 2021 YPFP Security & Defense Fellow. She works as Associate Director with the Atlantic Council’s Foresight, Strategy and Risks Initiative, within the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security. Her focus and expertise include transatlantic security, conflict management, and stabilization, emerging threats, and she is learning every day something new about strategic foresight. Anca’s analysis has been featured in publications such as Defense One and Just Security, among others.
Previously, Anca worked for the EU's European Defence Agency on defense capability development projects, and served as a United Nations Youth Delegate of Romania, focusing extensively on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Through her work at the nexus of security and development, Anca acquired an obsession with understanding the long-term transformation of conflict, and searching for novel, people-centered frameworks to manage it.
Anca holds a Master of International Affairs from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), and has a BA from the University of Bucharest and one from the Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies. She is originally from Bucharest, Romania.
Follow her on Twitter: @AncaAgachi
Anca Agachi
Security & Defense Expert
Keagan Ingersoll
Security & Defense Fellow
Keagan Ingersoll is the 2021 YPFP Security & Defense Fellow. He is a producer at the Center for International and Maritime Security and edits the Sea Control Podcast involving all things maritime. He is a graduate from Seton Hall University where he received a BS in International Relations and a BS in Economics. His academic focus centered on gray zone conflict and force posturing.
Follow on Twitter at @K_Ingersaw
Keagan Ingersoll
Security & Defense Expert