Soumya served as a Community Economic Development and Food Security Advisor in Madagascar from 2016 to 2019. Her third-year extension was focused on baseline creation efforts for Madagascar’s clean energy requirement highlighted in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 7. She currently works at New York City’s Economic Development Corporation in their Initiatives department promoting Smart and Sustainable Cities. Her previous work involved Operations and Supply Chain management for food companies and restaurants. She has an Applied Economics degree from the University of Minnesota focusing on Agriculture & Food Business Management and Sustainability Studies. Soumya is originally from Wisconsin, and the ultimate fan of long walks, great food, traveling, and the arts.

Greg Emerson (Bocquet) joined the Peace Corps in Morocco in 2003, serving as a trainee until the program was suspended due to the Iraq war. He was reassigned to Peru, where he served from 2003-2005 as a community health volunteer in the high Andes. After leaving the Peace Corps, he began working as a journalist, in Iceland and then in New York, where he got a graduate degree in journalism from Columbia University. He has since worked on editorial and product teams at Newsday, The Wall Street Journal, HuffPost and The Atlantic and is currently a digital and product strategy consultant.

Adriana served as a Youth Development volunteer in Morocco from 2017-2019. What started off as learning how to make homemade couscous and practicing  Arabic, eventually turned into a partnership with a local gym association to develop and implement an outdoor leadership education program, bringing the first girls from her site to summit the highest peak in North Africa, Mt. Toubkal. Most recently, Adriana worked with an NGO in Afghanistan as their Country Program Manager, managing and overseeing programs for Afghan females to build leadership skills, reclaim public space, and participate in adventure sports around the country. After returning from Afghanistan in June, Adriana moved to Brooklyn and now works in communications and development for the Arab-American Family Support Center. In her free time, she enjoys finding the best food in Queens, bouldering, and exchanging voice memos with her host family back in Morocco. 

Nishat served in Morocco as a Youth Development Volunteer from 2016-2018. During her service, she fostered relationships with local leaders and teachers to partner on joint community projects. Among the projects she spearheaded included a new middle school library and several youth programs on English-language learning, life-skills, environmental conservation, fitness, STEM, and the arts. One of her favorite programs in Morocco is CLIMB  - an environmental and leadership program that led 20 Moroccan youth to summit Mt. Toubakal, the tallest mountain in North Africa. Since returning stateside, she became more involved in local politics and progressive campaigns. She currently serves as the Program Coordinator for the Fund Excluded Workers (FEW) campaign through Make the Road New York, which is fighting to expand the social safety net for excluded workers in New York who are barred from traditional unemployment insurance. Nishat was also selected as a National Urban Fellow to complete her M.A. in Policy Management from Georgetown University in 2020 and holds a B.A. in International Development from City College of New York (CUNY). During her free time, she enjoys volunteering in her neighborhood in the South Bronx, traveling and enjoying time with her family and 2 dogs.