Hello everyone! My name is Sophia Angeletti and I am a rising senior from Estero, Florida currently studying International Relations, Middle Eastern Studies, and Arabic. Specifically, I am interested in areas of conflict resolution, diplomacy, and how U.S. foreign policy decisions impact the Middle East. This summer I will be interning locally at the New Orleans Citizens Diplomacy Council (NOCDC).
The NOCDC is a nonprofit membership organization that arranges professional appointments and cultural activities for approximately 500 international leaders sent to Louisiana each year from the U.S. Department of State International Visitor Leadership Program and other government and private professional exchanges. The organization’s mission is to promote citizen diplomacy-the notion that the ordinary citizen can help shape foreign relations- “one handshake at a time.”As a New Orleans Citizens Diplomacy Intern, I would be tasked with assisting the staff with a number of tasks including: writing programs for perspective programs, planning programs and setting appointments, coordinating transportation for visitors, assembling welcome packets, and general logistical duties.
The 5 Learning Objectives I hope to achieve through this internship are as follows:
1. Increase knowledge of citizen diplomacy
2. Gain transferable skills
3. Increase understanding of US and local communities’ role in promoting diplomacy
4. Enhance personal and professional growth
5. Network
Completing a New Orleans Citizens Diplomacy internship would allow me to embody NCI’s mission while also advancing my personal, professional, and intellectual goals. NCI’s mission is to educate undergraduate women for leadership in the 21st century. Interning at the New Orleans Citizens Diplomacy Council will allow me to cultivate lifelong leadership among undergraduate women, integrate my increased research expertise into Tulane University through writing an honors thesis on the Middle East, and preserve and disseminate knowledge about women in the diplomacy. An aspect of the Citizens Diplomacy Council that I find to be fascinating is that all three working staff members are women and the Board of Directors and Advisory Board have roughly equal female and male representation. I hope to learn from the women on the staff about their experiences working as women in politics.
In preparation for my summer internship, I have been in communication with my supervisor as well as I recently attended PLEN: Women in Global Policy (pictured above). I am so excited to be interning in New Orleans this summer and learn more about how diplomatic outcomes can be achieved from a local level.
Best,
Sophia