Speakers

Dr. Watson-Thompson will be speaking about a new initiative, ThrYve,  for youth in Wyandotte County. The University of Kansas Center for Community Health and Development is administering a grant awarded to the KU Center for Research by the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health, which provides funding for this project.

For more information, check out their website: https://wethryve.ctb.ku.edu/

Join us for a conversation with Ana Escrogima, a 17 year veteran diplomat of the U.S. State Department. Her overseas appointments have included Yemen, Algeria, Iraq and Syria as well as work in the Office of Regional and Multilateral Affairs in the Near Eastern Bureau. This is  a unique opportunity to hear first hand about what it's like to work in the Foreign Service.  As we know, Rotary is dedicated to six areas of focus to build international relationships, improve lives, and create a better world to support our peace efforts. Hearing from a career diplomat who has worked to advance peace and understanding in the world will be a unique and valuable opportunity for our club members. 

 

Bio:

Ana Escrogima is a Foreign Service Officer for the U.S. Department of State based in Washington, D.C., USA. A 17-year veteran of the State Department, Ana currently serves as the Office Director for Regional and Multilateral Affairs in the Near Eastern Affairs Bureau. Most recently, Ana served overseas as Deputy Chief of Mission in the Yemen Affairs Unit in Saudi Arabia, established in 2015 after the closure the U.S. Embassy in Sana’a, Yemen. A former Rusk Fellow at Georgetown’s Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, Ana has extensive experience abroad and in Washington, D.C. She was the State Department’s UAE-based Arabic language spokesperson and served as the Public Affairs Officer in Algeria, where she was responsible for all bilateral cultural and press engagements. Ana served as a political officer at the U.S. embassies in Iraq and Syria; she was the Special Assistant to former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman, with responsibility for Middle East issues – most notably the Iran nuclear negotiations. Ana was also a Diplomat-in-Residence for the New York Metro area, where she focused on reaching diverse audiences with the department’s recruitment pitch and taught a course on U.S. diplomacy in the Middle East. Originally from New York, Ana graduated from Brown University with a B.A. in International Relations and Affairs and French, and holds a Master of International Affairs from Columbia University. She is the recipient of numerous State Department Superior and Meritorious Honor Awards.

 

 

ABOUT MELISSA

Melissa Rivero is the author of The Affairs of the Falcóns, which won the New American Voices Award and was nominated for the PEN/Hemingway Debut Novel Prize, the Aspen Words Literary Prize, and the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize. Born in Lima, Peru and raised in Brooklyn, she is a graduate of NYU and Brooklyn Law School. Melissa currently works as in-house legal counsel at a startup. She still lives in Brooklyn with her family.