Karolina Arias was a fellow in the sixth class. During her fellowship she did her field placement at the Food Bank of North Carolina and her policy placement at Prosperity Now. That experience proved life changing and following her time as a fellow she worked on Capitol Hill focusing primarily … Read more

James Ziegeweid is currently in his third year at Minnesota State University, Mankato where he studies Management with minors in Spanish and Agriculture & Food Innovation. As a student, Ziegeweid is heavily involved on campus as the president of the Maverick Speech and Debate team and meal planner at the … Read more

Sakeenah Shabazz (she/her) was born and raised in Southeast San Diego, California and currently resides in Oakland, California. She spent many years living and working in Washington, D.C. where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from Georgetown University. In the District, Sakeenah was deeply involved in anti-hunger and anti-poverty … Read more

Michelle DeFreese is a Senior Officer at the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) based in Kigali, Rwanda. GGGI is a treaty-based international, inter-governmental organization headquartered in Seoul, South Korea dedicated to supporting and promoting strong, inclusive and sustainable economic growth in developing countries and emerging economies. Previously, Michelle served as … Read more

Mercy’s passion is to mobilize people to transform and impact their own communities. She is a social innovator and organizer with a mission to broker partnerships to strategically address development challenges by enhancing development focused organizational capacity in sub-Saharan Africa and mobilizing others to work towards African led social impact … Read more

Max De Faria is a food justice researcher and policy advocate with lived experience of poverty and hunger. They currently work as a Research Assistant with the Center on Agriculture and Food Systems at Vermont Law School. Prior to this role, they served as a 27th Class Emerson National Hunger … Read more

Joel Anderson is a Master of Public Administration candidate at the University of Washington (UW)’s Evans School of Public Policy & Governance and serves as Policy Director for the UW Graduate and Professional Student Senate. As a member of the 27th Class of Emerson Hunger Fellows, he researched the impacts … Read more

Azad Oommen is the co-founder of Global School Leaders (GSL), a non-profit that develops effective school leadership to improve learning of students from marginalized communities around the world. GSL currently works with partners in Brazil, India, Indonesia, Kenya and Malaysia to implement school leader development programs. He was the founding … Read more

Maria Wrabel is the Power of Nutrition Research Project Coordinator at Action Against Hunger USA, where she is leading an upcoming study to improve acute malnutrition treatment in Ethiopia. As a Mickey Leland International Hunger Fellow (2019-2021), Maria worked with Action Against Hunger USA in South Sudan and the US, … Read more

Yesenia Jimenez (she/ella) is a Policy Associate at GRACE/End Child Poverty in California. Originally from South Central Los Angeles, Yesenia moved into the Ramona Garden Housing Projects in Boyle Heights where her passion to abolish poverty grew. Yesenia began her career in policy as an undergraduate student working to end … Read more