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

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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...

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Student Exchange for Global Change

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U.S.-Pakistan Global Leadership and STEM Program visits New York City

The U.S.-Pakistan Global Leadership and STEM Program brought ten innovative young women from across the globe to explore what is out there and waiting for them. By excelling in academia, the students from the Army Public Schools and Colleges of Pakistan had the opportunity not just to explore, but to question and to learn about culture, science, and methods around the world. I can’t believe it’s been one week since the end of the 2016 U.S.-Pakistan Global Leadership and STEM Program. This seventeen day program made me more conscious about the way I could have a career in the...

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Meridians’ Role in Bridging the Gap Between Gender Roles in Iraq and Facilitating Positive Change

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IYLEP 2016 at the Washington D.C. Closing Conference

The Iraqi Young Leaders Exchange Program (IYLEP) recruits the brightest and most forward thinking minds in the country who come to the United States to expand and develop their leadership and cultural diversity skills. IYLEP, a State Department funded program, facilitated by Meridian International Center brought 100 participants, selected from over 2,000 applicants this year, to the U.S. to learn and experience student life at various universities around the country. The program also entails valuable workshops during the opening conference in New York City and during the closing conference in Washington, D.C. The IYLEP participants are consistently presented with...

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On the value of networks

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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...

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Into the Heart of Europe (From Right Here in Washington, DC)

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Networking at the Young Transatlantic Innovation Leaders Initiative

45 European entrepreneurs. 41 different countries. 2 days in DC. 1 marketing and communications intern (me). Last week was my first week interning at Meridian, and I was immediately immersed in European culture and all its diversity with my first project: the Young Transatlantic Innovation Leaders Initiative. I arrived at the State Department for day one of the program. A minute later, a large crowd of people came walking over and waited in line at the security check. Many looked over at me with curiosity, and some came right over, introduced themselves, and asked about my background. I expected...

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