Thursday, April 18, 2024
Forum on Leadership 2024 Speakers and Honorees
2024 George W. Bush Medal for Distinguished Leadership Recipient
Indra Nooyi
Former Chairman and CEO, PepsiCo
Indra K. Nooyi served as CEO and chairman of PepsiCo from 2006 to 2019. Her prescient strategic thinking, insight into consumer behavior, and wisdom on managing a vast, global workforce make her a sought-after advisor to entrepreneurs, executives, and governments. At PepsiCo, she was the chief architect of Performance with Purpose, the company’s mission to deliver sustained growth by making more nutritious products, limiting the company’s environmental footprint, and empowering its associates and people in the communities it serves.
Ms. Nooyi served as a member of the PepsiCo Board of Directors from 2001 to February 2019. Today, Mrs. Nooyi is a member of the board of Amazon, where she chairs the audit committee. She sits on the supervisory board of Philips, where she is also a member of the nominating and corporate governance committee. She is a member of the International Advisory Council of Temasek and an independent director of the International Cricket Council. She is on the Dean’s Advisory council at MIT’s School of Engineering and also serves on the boards of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and as a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Gallery of Art. She advises several early-stage companies.
Between 2019-2022, Ms. Nooyi served as the Class of 1951 Chair for the Study of Leadership at West Point where she worked with the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership to fulfill the mission of character at the U.S. Military Academy. She was also co-chair of The Reopen Connecticut Advisory Group, developing recommendations and guidelines for reactivating the state’s economy post- pandemic.
Ms. Nooyi is the author of the book My Life in Full: Work, Family and Our Future, a memoir that offers insight and a call-to-action on how our society can blend work and family — and advance women — in the 21st century. My Life in Full is a New York Times bestseller and available in multiple languages. Ms. Nooyi is the recipient of 17 honorary degrees. In 2007, the Government of India awarded her the Padma Bhushan, the country’s 3rd highest civilian honor. In that same year, she was named an “Outstanding American by choice” by the Department of Homeland Security/US Citizenship and Immigration Services. In 2019, her portrait was inducted into the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, and in 2022 she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts of Sciences, the New York Academy of Science and the American Philosophical Society. She is also revered as a role model for women and immigrants and celebrated for her empowering messages on inclusivity.
She holds a B.S. from Madras Christian College, an M.B.A. from the Indian Institute of Management in Calcutta, and a Master of Public and Private Management from Yale University. Ms. Nooyi is married and has two daughters.
2024 George W. Bush Institute Trailblazer Citation Recipient
The Stewpot
Accepted by Brenda Ewing Snitzer
Executive Director, The Stewpot
Brenda Ewing Snitzer, is Executive Director of The Stewpot, First Presbyterian Church of Dallas. The Stewpot is a 48-year ministry serving those in poverty or experiencing homelessness. She has been at The Stewpot since February, 2018.
Brenda’s career began as a Probation Officer in Oak Cliff, South and West Dallas, where she learned the challenges of folks born into poverty, and setting her on a course of helping people in the inner city. She had a counseling practice as a L.P.C., was a therapist at a girl’s home and marketing director for a psychiatric hospital; for the last 30 years Brenda has served in nonprofit leadership at Girls Inc., Big Thought, YW, Our Friends Place, and Bentwood Trail Presbyterian Church.
Brenda has Bachelor and Master’s degrees in Education and Counseling from Baylor University, as well as doctoral coursework in Social Work Administration from UTA. She is an alum of Leadership Dallas 2021, as well as Leadership Southwest 1991. Brenda was selected as a member of the Dallas Truth Racial Healing and Transformation – 2021 Racial Equity Now Cohort and most recently selected for the first SMU/CFT Social Entrepreneurship Cohort. She is on the Advisory Board of Our Friends Place, and on the Board of Directors for Housing Forward, Encore Park and the Dallas Street Choir. She is the Chair of the All Neighbors Coalition, the collaborative arm of Housing Forward and the continuum of care.
Married for 31 years, she has two sons, a daughter-in-law and one grandson, as well as a large extended family. Her parents taught her to give back and her faith is the cornerstone of her belief, “To those whom much is given, much is expected.” Brenda’s goal is to end homelessness and help lift Dallasites out of poverty!
2024 George W. Bush Institute Citation Recipient
Creamos
Accepted by Hannah Sklar
Executive Director, Creamos
Hannah Sklar is a social worker (LMSW) originally from New York. She graduated from George Mason University in 2010 with her Bachelor’s degree in Social Work and a minor in Spanish. Upon graduation, she moved to Guatemala to volunteer with Creamos, which was a small social entrepreneurship program at the time. Hannah supported the organization’s growth for three years while offering participants emotional support and case management services. In 2013, Hannah returned to New York to pursue a Master’s in Social Work from Columbia University. There, she focused on Social Enterprise Administration and International Welfare and Policy. During her academic tenure, Hannah undertook an independent study that laid the foundation for what would later become Creamos’ emotional support program. This initiative aimed to address the prevalent issue of gender-based violence in the community surrounding the Guatemala City garbage dump.
After graduation, she worked for Partnership for the Homeless, managing a Women’s HIV Prevention Program. In 2015, she returned to Guatemala to officially launch Creamos’ Emotional Support Department for three years before transitioning to the Executive Director role in 2018. Since then, Hannah has worked hand in hand with her team to grow an organization that centers the voices of community members, especially those of survivors. Today, Creamos is a multi-service nonprofit that provides services at the intersection between gender-based violence and economic security to support families of the peripheral communities of Guatemala City’s garbage dump in achieving economic self-determination and creating healthier futures. Hannah feels lucky to be part of their work.
Keynote Speaker
William J. Burns
Director, Central Intelligence Agency
Bill Burns was sworn in as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency in March 2021, making him the first career diplomat to serve as Director. He was promoted to Cabinet rank by President Biden in June 2023.
Director Burns has served six Presidents and Administrations of both parties during nearly four decades of public service in diplomacy and intelligence. He is only the second serving career diplomat in history to become Deputy Secretary of State, and also served as U.S. Ambassador to Russia and Jordan.
Following his retirement from the Foreign Service in late 2014, Director Burns served as President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He is the author of the best-selling book, The Back Channel: A Memoir of American Diplomacy and the Case for Its Renewal (2019). He earned a bachelor’s degree in history from LaSalle University and master’s and doctoral degrees in international relations from Oxford University, where he studied as a Marshall Scholar. He and his wife, Ambassador Lisa Carty, have two daughters.
Panelists
Rushan Abbas
Rushan Abbas started her activism work while she was a student, organizing and leading in the pro-democracy demonstrations at Xinjiang University in 1985 and 1988. Since her arrival in the United States in 1989, Ms. Abbas has been an ardent campaigner for the human rights of the Uyghur people.
She has worked closely with members of Congress since the 1990s. Ms. Abbas was a co-founder of the California-based Uyghur Overseas Student and Scholars Association in 1993, the first such Uyghur association in the United States, and served as that organization’s first Vice-President. The charter co-drafted by Ms. Abbas later served as the blueprint and played an important role in the establishment of the Uyghur American Association (UAA) in 1998. Ms. Abbas was subsequently elected Vice President of UAA for two terms. When Radio Free Asia launched its Uyghur service in 1998, Ms. Abbas was the first Uyghur reporter broadcasting daily to the Uyghur region.
From 2002 till 2013, Ms. Abbas translated for the 22 Uyghurs who were being held in Guantanamo and worked closely with the US Department of Defense, Department of Justice, State Department, and US administration with their efforts on resettlement of 22 Uyghurs from Guantanamo Bay to Albania, Sweden, Bermuda, Palau, Switzerland, El-Salvador, and Slovenia.
After working for more than 20 years in global business development, international relations, and government affairs throughout the Middle East, Africa, CIS regions, Europe, Asia, Australia, North America, and Latin America, now Rushan Abbas is a full-time activist working to advocate for Uyghur people while they are facing genocide by the Chinese regime.
In 2017, Rushan Abbas founded the Campaign for Uyghurs to advocate and promote human rights and democratic freedoms for Uyghurs, and mobilize the international community to act to stop the human rights atrocity in East Turkistan. Under her organization, Ms. Abbas introduced and led the “One Voice One Step” movement and successfully organized a demonstration on March 15th, 2018, in 14 countries and 18 cities on the same day to protest China’s detention of millions of Uyghurs in concentration camps.
Ms. Abbas works with groups in the United States, Canada, The UK, and other parts of Europe, Australia, Japan, and Turkey to highlight the Uyghur cause and in support of empowering Uyghur women and youth for activism.
In July 2020, Ms. Abbas’ organization published the report “Genocide in East Turkistan” which laid out the ways that the actions of the Chinese regime met every condition of genocide laid out in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide. Ms. Abbas first raised the case of Uyghurs as undergoing active genocide in May of 2019 while delivering speeches at the events hosted by the U.S. Embassies in Prague and Vienna and remained a vocal advocate for declaring the CCP’s crimes as such since then.
In February 2022, Campaign For Uyghurs was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for activism and advocacy done to promote the Uyghur cause for freedom. Campaign For Uyghurs was nominated by US House of Representatives members Tom Suozzi and Chris Smith, who co-chair the Uyghur Caucus.
Ms. Abbas frequently briefs US lawmakers and officials on the human rights situation in East Turkistan and testifies at the United States senate and congress on the Chinese regime’s crimes against humanity. She regularly appears on media outlets to advocate for the Uyghur cause and gives public speeches, having spoken for audiences at Holocaust museums, universities, U.S. embassies, grassroots groups, and more.
Ms. Abbas also serves as the Advisory Board Chair of the Axel Springer Freedom Foundation and a member of the Inter-parliamentary Task Force on Human Trafficking.
Ms. Abbas has three children and currently resides in Falls Church, Virginia with her husband, Executive Director of the Center For Uyghur Studies, Abdulhakim Idris.
Mozhgan Wafiq Alokozai
Mozhgan Wafiq Alokozai is the Founder and President of Eagle Online Academy, A member of the U.S.-Afghan Women’s Council (USAWC) and President Leadership Scholar(PLS) Mozhgan has been a driving force in various ventures since the inception of her career in 2002.
In 2004, Mozhgan ventured into entrepreneurship by establishing a café in Kabul Women’s Garden (Bagh-e-Zanana). Her entrepreneurial spirit led her to establish the first women’s business shopping center, World of Women Business Market, in 2007, boasting 33 shops in Kabul city.
In 2008, in collaboration with her husband, Mozhgan co-founded Impressive Consulting. Expanding her horizons, she launched My Impressive LLC, a digital marketing company based in Virginia, in 2016. Mozhgan’s leadership was recognized in 2018 when she was honored as the best leader by the National Professional Women’s Associations of the USA.
Committed to sharing her knowledge, Mozhgan actively participates in Afghan women’s economic empowerment programs. She has been involved with Peace Through Business® since 2008, assuming roles as a trainee, network president, instructor, and mentor. Mozhgan has also served as a Master Mentor and Business Instructor with the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women program at the American University of Afghanistan, mentoring over 50 women-owned businesses and training 3,000 women across nine provinces of Afghanistan over the past 11 years.
Mozhgan’s achievements have garnered widespread recognition. She was honored as the Best Female Leader by the Ministry of Women Affairs in 2009 and received the Best Female Entrepreneur award from the Afghanistan Investment Support Agency (AISA) and Peace Through Business® program in 2011. In 2012, she was acknowledged as the Best Instructor of the Year by the American University of Afghanistan Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women program. Mozhgan was also recognized as the Best Afghan Female Leader by AISA, Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce, and Industries (ACCI), and Export Promotion Agency of Afghanistan (EPAA) in 2013. Her accolades include the Best Entrepreneurship Bibi Khadija First Women’s Award in 2015 and the National Association of Professional Women 2018 award in Virginia.
Mozhgan’s commitment to advancing women’s economic empowerment extends to her advisory roles. She has served as an advisory board member for the Afghan Women Chamber of Commerce and Industries since 2017 and as an International Advisory Board member for the Institute Economic Empowerment of Women since 2019.
Vishal Amin
Vishal Amin is a distinguished leader, visionary, and expert at the intersection of national security, technology, and philanthropy. Currently serving as the General Manager of Defense Security Solutions at Microsoft, Vishal brings over two decades of unparalleled experience, marked by excellence and commitment. Vishal’s journey is emblematic of service at its highest caliber. His distinguished 20-year military career included time as a Fighter Pilot and contributing significantly within the Special Operations community.
Through organizations such as the George W. Bush Presidential Center, where Vishal participated as a Veteran Leadership Scholar, he has consistently embodied the values of leadership, courage, and innovation throughout his career. Beyond the cockpit, Vishal’s impact extends into the realm of thought leadership. As an active National Security leader, he continues to shape and influence the discourse surrounding our digital future and security landscape. His insights are not only valuable within the tech industry but resonate across broader national and international security conversations.
Vishal is deeply committed to giving back to the community. His non-profit endeavors focus on empowering veterans and supporting families of the fallen. Vishal’s philanthropic efforts also extend to driving initiatives that leverage cybersecurity functions for the greater good. His work embodies the belief that technology, when wielded responsibly, can be a force for positive change. As an executive advisor to the Marshall School of Business at USC, Vishal plays a pivotal role in shaping the next generation of leaders. His wealth of experience and strategic vision contribute to the development of business minds poised to navigate the complexities of the modern world.
Pashtana Durrani
Pashtana Durrani is an Afghan feminist, activist, and educator. At 21, she became the head of her family following her father’s passing. By then, she had already founded LEARN Afghanistan, the country’s first-ever digital school network. Forced into exile by the Taliban takeover in 2021, she is currently a visiting fellow at Wellesley Centers for Women while continuing to provide education for hundreds of girls in Afghanistan despite the current ban on them attending school.
Known for her bluntness and courage, Durrani is a regular commentator on TV and radio and has been the subject of articles and profiles, including PBS, BBC, Elle (in French), Der Spiegel (in German), and Wellesley College.
While at Wellesley, Durrani continued researching female education and maternal and newborn health.
Durrani has been named a Global Education Champion by the Malala Fund for her outstanding work advancing Afghan girls’ education. The BBC nominated her as one of its 100 most influential women in 2021 and was included in #Times100talks in 2022. Durrani is a member of UNGEI’s Feminist Education Coalition, an Aspen New Voices Fellow, and received the 2021 Tällberg-SNF-Eliasson Emerging Leader prize. Previously, she served as a global youth representative for Amnesty International and as a board member of the steering committee for the Global Environment Facility. She is a recipient of the UN Young Activists Award 2022. She received the Global Citizen Award for Human Rights 2023 and the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award 2023. Furthermore, she received Woman of Excellence Award in 2024.
David French
David French is a columnist for The New York Times. A graduate of Harvard Law School, David was previously a senior editor at The Dispatch and a contributing writer at The Atlantic. He is a former constitutional litigator and a past president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. David is a New York Times bestselling author, and his most recent book is Divided We Fall: America’s Secession Threat and How to Restore Our Nation. David is a former major in the United States Army Reserve and is a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, where he was awarded the Bronze Star.
Ambassador Mark Green
Ambassador Mark Green (ret.) serves as the President, Director, and CEO of Washington, DC’s Wilson Center. Wilson is unique among American policy institutes in that it’s Congressionally chartered, scholarship driven, and fiercely non-partisan and independent. Green is also the author of the “Stubborn Things” blog (available through the Center’s website).
From 2017 to 2020, Green served as Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development. He has also served as President of the International Republican Institute, Executive Director of the McCain Institute, President of the Initiative for Global Development, and senior director at the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition. Green served as the U.S. Ambassador to Tanzania from mid-2007 to early 2009, as well as four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives representing Wisconsin’s 8th District.
Green served on the Board of Directors of the Millennium Challenge Corporation during both the Obama and Trump Administrations, and has served on the Bush Institute’s Human Freedom Advisory Council and the Board of the Consensus for Development Reform. He holds a law degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire. In 2012, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science from Georgetown University’s School of Nursing and Health Studies. He has received special honors from President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania and President Ivan Duque of Colombia.
Jonathan Greenblatt
Jonathan Greenblatt is CEO of ADL (the Anti-Defamation League), the world’s leading anti-hate organization with a distinguished record of fighting antisemitism and advocating for just and fair treatment to all. Jonathan joined ADL in 2015 after serving in the White House as special assistant to President Obama and director of the Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation. He joined the government after a distinguished career in business as a successful social entrepreneur and corporate executive: he cofounded Ethos Brands, the company that launched Ethos Water (acquired by Starbucks, 2005), founded All for Good (acquired by Points of Light, 2011), and served as a senior executive at realtor.com (acquired by News Corp, 2014).
Since becoming CEO, Jonathan has modernized ADL while refocusing it on the mission it has had since its founding in 1913: to fight the defamation of the Jewish people, and to secure justice and fair treatment to all. Under Jonathan, ADL has modernized its operations, innovated its approaches to counter antisemitism from all sides and enhanced its efforts to combat extremism in all forms.
Jonathan’s first book was published in 2022. It Could Happen Here: Why America is Tipping from Hate to the Unthinkable—And How We Can Stop It, is a bracing primer on how we – as individuals, as organizations, and as a society – can strike back against antisemitism and hate.
William Inboden
William Inboden is Professor and Director of the Alexander Hamilton Center for Classical and Civic Education at the University of Florida, and Peterson Senior Fellow with the Kissinger Center for Global Affairs, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He previously served as William Powers, Jr. Chair and Executive Director of the Clements Center for National Security, Associate Professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, and Distinguished Scholar at the Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law, all at the University of Texas-Austin. Inboden’s other current roles include Associate with the National Intelligence Council, member of the CIA Historical Advisory Panel, presidentially-appointed Commissioner with the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad, and Senior Fellow with the Trinity Forum.
Previously he served as Senior Director for Strategic Planning on the National Security Council at the White House, where he worked on a range of foreign policy issues including the National Security Strategy, strategic forecasting, democracy and governance, contingency planning, counter-radicalization, and multilateral institutions and initiatives. Inboden’s other government service includes at the Department of State as a Member of the Policy Planning Staff and a Special Advisor in the Office of International Religious Freedom, and as a staff member in both the United States Senate and the House of Representatives. He also served as head of the London-based Legatum Institute, and as a Civitas Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
Inboden’s newest book is The Peacemaker: Ronald Reagan, The Cold War, and the World on the Brink (Dutton, a Penguin Random House imprint), an award-winning narrative overview of the Reagan Administration’s Cold War strategy and foreign and defense policies. He is also the author of Religion and American Foreign Policy, 1945-1960: The Soul of Containment (Cambridge University Press), co-editor of The Last Card: Inside George W. Bush’s Decision to Surge in Iraq (Cornell University Press), co-editor of Hand-Off: The Foreign Policy That George W. Bush Bequeathed to Barack Obama (Brookings Institution Press), and has published numerous articles and book chapters on American foreign policy, the presidency, and American history.
Inboden is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and his commentary has appeared in numerous outlets including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Foreign Policy, Politico, National Review, The Hill, World, Weekly Standard, NPR, CNN, and BBC. He has served as Editor-in-Chief of the Texas National Security Review, lectured widely in academic and policy settings, testified before the U.S. House Armed Services Committee and the US Congress Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, and received numerous research and professional development fellowships.
Professor Inboden has received multiple teaching awards including recognition as a “Texas 10” by the Texas Exes Alumni Association, selection as “Lecturer of the Year” at the LBJ School, and his classes Presidential Decision-making in National Security and Ethics and International Affairs were voted as “Best Class in the LBJ School” and “Class Most Likely to Challenge Your Assumptions.” Inboden received his Ph.D. and M.A. degrees in history from Yale University, and his A.B. in history with honors from Stanford University. He lives in Gainesville, FL with his wife and two sons.
Fredrick Kagan
Frederick W. Kagan is a senior fellow and the director of the Critical Threats Project (CTP) at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). In 2009, he served in Kabul, Afghanistan, as part of General Stanley McChrystal’s strategic assessment team, and he returned to Afghanistan in 2010, 2011, and 2012 to conduct research for Generals David Petraeus and John Allen. In July 2011, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen awarded him the Distinguished Public Service Award, the highest honor the Chairman can present to civilians who do not work for the Department of Defense, for his volunteer service in Afghanistan. He is coauthor of the report Defining Success in Afghanistan and author of the series of reports Choosing Victory (AEI), which recommended and monitored the US military surge in Iraq. His most recent book is Lessons for a Long War: How America Can Win on New Battlefields. Previously an associate professor of military history at West Point, Dr. Kagan was a contributing editor at the Weekly Standard and has written for Foreign Affairs, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and other periodicals.
Kimberly Kagan
Kimberly Kagan, Ph.D., is the founder and president of the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). ISW was the most cited think tank in the world in 2022 and 2023, and is famous for its maps of ongoing wars in Ukraine. Dr. Kagan is a military historian who has taught at West Point, Yale, Georgetown, and American University. She is the author of numerous publications, including A Strategy to Defeat the Islamic State and The Fall of Ramadi Was Avoidable that appeared in The Wall Street Journal. ISW has tracked and predicted the rise of ISIS since late 2011. In 2014 and 2015, Dr. Kagan testified multiple times before both the House and Senate concerning ISIS, Iraq, Syria, and US strategy in the Middle East.
Dr. Kagan previously conducted regular battlefield circulations of Iraq between May 2007 and April 2010. She participated formally on the Joint Campaign Plan Assessment Team for Multi-National Force-Iraq in October 2008 and October 2009 and as part of the Civilian Advisory Team for the CENTCOM strategic review in January 2009. In addition, she served in Kabul for 17 months from 2010-2012 working for commanders of the International Security Assistance Force. Admiral Mike Mullen, as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recognized Dr. Kagan for this deployment with the Distinguished Public Service Award, the highest honor the chairman can present to civilians who do not work for the Department of Defense. She is the author of The Eye of Command (2006) and The Surge: A Military History (2009), and editor of The Imperial Moment (2010). She co-produced The Surge: The Whole Story, an hour-long oral history and documentary film on the campaign in Iraq from 2007-2008. Dr. Kagan held an Olin Postdoctoral Fellowship in military at Yale International Security Studies in 2004-2005 and was a national security fellow at Harvard’s Olin Institute for Strategic Studies in 2002-2003. She received her B.A. in classical civilization and her Ph.D. in history from Yale University.
Seohyun Lee
Seohyun Lee, originating from Pyongyang, has transitioned from a North Korean elite education to a globally recognized human rights advocate. Educated at North Korea’s prestigious Kim Il Sung University and gaining international perspective from Dongbei University of Economics and Finance, her transition from experiencing oppressive regimes to advocating for freedom showcases her resilience and dedication to advocacy. Acknowledged by the South Korea Ministry of Unification and supported by scholarships from the Bush Foundation, she has actively engaged in human rights dialogues at prestigious forums, including the United Nations Security Council. Currently enhancing her knowledge at Columbia University’s School of Public Affairs, Seohyun leverages her platform to support North Korean people and influence global policy decisions, demonstrating her commitment to making a significant impact.
Alice Zhuravel
Alice Zhuravel is a social researcher and entrepreneur, working on strategic scenarios and innovative approaches at the intersection of humanitarian and creative fields. For the last two years, after the full-scale invasion in Ukraine which provoked polycrisis inside and outside of the country, Alice has been working in the humanitarian and social field to find the best multidisciplinary approaches. Her toolbox includes transdisciplinary research, strategic foresight, innovation ecosystem design, qualitative and quantitative methods, co-creation, participation, and creativity.
Being raised in a Ukrainian-Nigerian family, Alice cultivated an intercultural and multi-perspective mindset and began the discussion on diversity and national identity in Ukraine that promotes a sense of belonging and fosters social cohesion among Ukrainians.
Alice studied History (BSc: Kharkiv, Ukraine), and researched Ukrainian Identity as a fellow at CIRCE (Creative Impact Research Center Europe, Berlin, Germany)
TOZHSAMIST social initiative was launched by Alice as an experiential platform for ideas and formed into an NGO that focuses on multidisciplinary activity and innovative ecosystems toward more positive and cohesive futures.