BRAC USA Welcomes New Additions to the Team

This summer, BRAC USA is fortunate to welcome new hire Alissa Vladimir, who will be acting as Program Associate. BRAC also welcomes two summer interns to the BRAC family, including Ratna Noteman, a recent graduate of NYU Wagner, as well as Alyssa Petersel, a student at Northwestern.

Alissa Vladimir is a recent graduate of NYU Wagner with a focus on public policy analysis and global health.

After completing my undergraduate degree at Temple University in Philadelphia, I began working for a small, for-profit public relations

firm. It was here I realized that my inspiration and motivation did not come from the monetary 'bottom line,' but from working on behalf of organizations that are making a lasting difference in the lives of individuals.

After two years in PR I left my job in Philadelphia to pursue a Masters of Public Administration degree at the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at NYU. During my time there I studied many aspects of international development, focusing on global health and maternal health. I was able to intern with a number of organizations working on behalf of women including MADRE, the National Council for Research on Women, The White House Project, and the Daily Beast's Women in the World Summit.

I became familiar with BRAC while working on a documentary series produced by Vital Voices Global Partnership. I decided to apply for the Program Associate position at BRAC USA because I wanted to be part of an organization that is empowering both women and men to create lasting, positive change in their own lives. I am looking forward to working with such a talented and passionate group of people, and I am excited for the opportunities that lie ahead.

Ratna Noteman graduated from NYU Wagner in May 2011 where she received a Master in Public Administration with a specialization in international policy and management.

My name is Ratna Noteman, and I am thrilled to join BRAC USA’s team as a graduate intern for the summer. I first learned about BRAC more than a decade ago while living with my family in Bangladesh. Through my mother and father's involvement with the organization, I was privileged to witness the positive impact it has had on alleviating poverty. The USAID-funded project for which my father worked, for example, partnered with BRAC to provide much needed technical support to poultry farmers. In addition, my mother regularly shopped at Aarang, a BRAC social enterprise that sells Bangladeshi handicrafts and provides gainful employment for thousands of artisans and small entrepreneurs. These early experiences with BRAC exposed me to examples of successful development projects that help the poor and served to inspire my passion to work alongside marginalized communities to combat poverty.

Since I left Bangladesh in 1999, BRAC’s impact has grown exponentially, transforming into the world’s largest international development organization and serving over 138 million people in impoverished communities in Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean. Its holistic approach toward poverty alleviation is regularly hailed as a successful model by international development practitioners. As someone who is passionately dedicated to advancing social and economic justice, I cannot imagine a better place than BRAC to begin my career. I look forward to contributing to BRAC’s mission of empowering the poor and learning from the organization’s impressive staff members and beneficiaries.

Alyssa Petersel is a rising third year undergraduate student at Northwestern University.

As I continue to read about BRAC's history, foundation and the broad extent of its development projects, I become increasingly awed by BRAC's outstanding global impact. I look forward to engaging in BRAC USA's remarkable involvement in such success and in this way hope to gain a thorough understanding of the nuts and bolts of this nonprofit organization.

After many years of traveling around the world, being exposed to distinct perspectives and environments, and actively participating in a number of volunteer projects, I have strengthened an innate passion for global consciousness and community. This very passion has motivated me to dedicate my future to the ideal of global safety and prosperity. Through a variety of classes at Northwestern I have merely touched the surface of learning about the world's persistent struggles and attempts at alleviating such ominous obstacles as poverty and education inequality. I sincerely believe that there is no better place to further my education in innovative world-betterment projects than at BRAC USA, an office close to home with a world-ecompassing vision. I am particularly excited about BRAC's holistic approach to empowerment, as this nonprofit organization incorporates various approaches to broadening an individual's perspective and increasing an individual's self-worth. This then encourages individuals to craft their own uniquely effective paths to a brighter future, speaking to my double major in psychology and international studies. By working closely with experienced individuals I hope to deepen my commitment to BRAC's mission as well as to contribute as much as possible to this exceptionally meaningful cause.