Hometown: Panama City, Panama
Why did you choose McCourt? I chose McCourt because I got the perspective from former students that you can apply what you learn in class to your current job asap. I wanted to be in a learning environment that challenged me and, for sure, McCourt has done that. Academically, the faculty are really knowledgeable and are willing to help you learn the key concepts. At McCourt, it is really common that your professors are authors and leaders in their policy areas and have expertise that they are more than willing to share and talk about.
I also chose McCourt because of its research centers that are deeply involved in policy research around DC. Being in McCourt also meant to me being part of an international community of different minds and point of views, challenging you constantly in debates.
What professional/ work experience did you have prior to coming to McCourt? I worked as an Environmental and Social Risk Consultant at IADB (InterAmerican Development Bank). I developed resources, dashboards and automation tools to local teams so to improve risk awareness and early detection of e&s risks in active projects of the portfolio.
Before that, I worked at the Panama Stock Exchange, designing a project that improved financial inclusion and women empowerment in the the vulnerable communities of Santa Ana in Panama City. As a software engineer I have worked for the Panama State Bank (CA), where we developed an automation system that helped ease the credit restructuring requests from clients and redesign manual processes into paperless documents and reporting for management at the bank.
What has been the best part of your experience so far? One thing that sticks in my mind is that your opinion and perspective matters a lot. In policy, every point of view enriches the solutions to complex problems. The variety of voices involved in McCourt has been one of the best part of the experience.
And of course, everyone at McCourt, staff and especially Faculty, wants you to succeed, literally. If you reach out, there is always a helping hand.
Student organization involvement while at McCourt:
MPIP (McCourt Policy In Practice)
GLPI (Georgetown Latino Policy Initiative)
LAPA (Latin America and the Caribbean Policy Association)
Undergraduate University, degree, and major: Technological University of Panama, Software Engineering
Hobbies/ Interests: Area of interest as well: International Financial Institutions, Theory of Change, Projects in developing countries, AI regulation
Reach out to me about: Moving to DC, Language barrier, Quant questions