“My Experience in Great Ecology, My Placement Organization” by Agustina Tierno, YLAI Alumn from Uruguay

Posted under: Center for Global Leadership By /

YLAI Alumni sightseeing

Agustina Tierno is the founder and CEO of Bio-Observatories. She was one of 248 fellows participating in the Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative (YLAI) 2016, a professional fellows program that empowers entrepreneurs and innovative civil society leaders from Latin America and the Caribbean. YLAI focuses on strengthening their capacity to launch and advance their entrepreneurial ideas and effectively contribute to social and economic development in their communities. – October 11th, 2016, the first day I arrived at Great Ecology, I was kindly received by Jessa Spainhower and we talked about our backgrounds, expectations and possibilities for collaboration. I...

Continue  

“My First Day of YLAI” by YLAI Professional Fellow Ann-Sophie Ovile

Posted under: Center for Global Leadership By /

YLAI Professional Fellows bond as a community during the Program Opening

Ann-Sophie Ovile is the Founder and CEO of Mennen’m La Tours in Haiti, and she is one of 248 fellows participating in the Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative (YLAI) Professional Fellows Program, which brings entrepreneurs and civil society leaders to the United States for a five-week program. This U.S. Department of State-sponsored program empowers these young entrepreneurs to strengthen their capacity to launch and advance their entrepreneurial ideas and to effectively contribute to social and economic development in their communities. The day that we all have been waiting for has finally arrived! 248 young and dynamic entrepreneurs from Latin America...

Continue  

On the value of networks

Posted under: Center for Global Leadership By /

YLAI Professional Fellows Program 2016

As a new intern and a young professional in the making, one is always made aware of the multiple networking opportunities that arise in any given environment. We are encouraged to network, to update our LinkedIn profiles, and make eye contact when firmly shaking people’s hands. Flash forward a month into my summer experience interning for Meridian’s Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative  (YLAI), I have learned the true value of creating a network. Needless to say, my networking awareness was not exclusively informed by my peers, colleagues, or from my fellow interns. Rather, it came from reading more than 300 applications out...

Continue  

Tragedy and opportunity | Reflections from a YLAI fellow

Posted under: Center for Global Leadership By /

YLAI group in DC

Kheston Walkins is a young entrepreneur from Trinidad and Tobago who was selected to attend the 2016 Young Leaders of the America’s Initiative (YLAI) pilot program by the U.S. Department of State. This presidential initiative supports social and business entrepreneurs from across Latin America and the Caribbean. Here are some of his reflections on his experience attending this prestigious U.S.-based exchange. Tragedy and Opportunity: it is a strange courtship that is as clumsy as a duck’s waddle, yet the two travel abreast almost inseparably. My name is Kheston Walkins, and I am from Trinidad and Tobago. Let me tell...

Continue