Manuela Nivia is a Master in Public Policy in Global Affairs candidate at the Jackson School. Before arriving at Yale, she served as an international development fellow in Santiago, Chile, where she contributed to the design, development, and implementation of a pilot program that supports young migrant and refugee women. She previously worked at a philanthropic foundation in Washington, D.C., where she managed a multi-million-dollar portfolio of development grants across Mexico and Central America related to issues of food security, conflict mitigation, and rule of law. One of her favorite initiatives in this role was a four-year community pilot that served victims of gender-based violence in El Salvador. Manuela graduated with the highest honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a BA in global studies and double minors in social and economic justice as well as geography. During her undergraduate career, she completed an honors thesis on grassroots peace activism in Colombia for which she was awarded the Douglas Eyre Award for Excellence. After Yale, Manuela plans to work with international development and human rights organizations in Latin America.