Andree Sosler

Board Member | FHI 360

Andrée Sosler is an experienced nonprofit leader deeply passionate about improving equity in health and economic opportunity. An “expert generalist,” she has worked in numerous disciplines: strategy consulting, access to medicines, reproductive health, microfinance, and clean energy. Andree currently serves as Global Lead for Market Development and Product Introduction at FHI 360, where she focuses on increasing access to family planning and HIV prevention products in low- and middle-income countries and serves as the Project Director of a four-year family planning project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.  Andree has led a start-up social enterprise distributing cookstoves in Sudan, served as a strategic advisor to the government of Rwanda, and led introduction efforts for a new contraceptive in seven African countries. She holds an MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and a bachelors in Development Studies from Brown University.  Andrée lives in San Francisco with her husband, two young children, and small soulful dog.

Opinions expressed and advice given in USAHello’s Voices and Hello blogs are the writers’ own. USAHello offers impartial information and online courses to help newcomers in the USA.

Paola Guzman

Board Member | Immigrant Justice

Paola is extremely passionate in the development of mechanisms that allow for the education and empowerment of marginalized communities of color in the hopes of creating agents of change to combat the cycles of violence, poverty, and exploitation. Paola has worked in the immigrant justice space in Houston since 2017 where she has been responsible for leading the strategy, operations and logistics of collaborative projects that streamline immigrant access to social and legal services; developing short- and long-term goals centered through a trauma informed lens; co-managing events, and mentoring professionals interested in working in non-traditional social work settings to provide holistic services.

Paola Guzman holds a Master of Social Work degree specializing in Community Organizing, Planning, and Administration from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Sociology and Spanish from Mount St. Mary’s University. 

Opinions expressed and advice given in USAHello’s Voices and Hello blogs are the writers’ own. USAHello offers impartial information and online courses to help newcomers in the USA.

Shidaun Campbell

Online Education Coordinator

Shidaun Campbell is USAHello’s coordinator for online education. He is in charge of the curriculum and layout of USAHello’s online classroom.

Shidaun has worked in online education since 2012. After graduating college, he traveled to over 15 countries around the world. He is applying his understanding of diverse cultures to improve USAHello’s online education program. His goal is to make learning accessible to everyone while bridging the cultural gap.

Shidaun has a Master of Education in English Language Learning from Northcentral University and a certificate in Instructional Design.

Opinions expressed and advice given in USAHello’s Voices and Hello blogs are the writers’ own. USAHello offers impartial information and online courses to help newcomers in the USA.

Monica Iyer

Board Member | Duke Law International Human Rights Clinic

Monica Iyer is a human rights and civil rights lawyer currently working as a Senior Lecturing Fellow in the Duke Law International Human Rights Clinic. Her previous work includes serving as a human rights officer with the Migration and Climate Change and the Environment teams at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Monica is deeply committed to upholding the rights of all migrants in the United States and around the world.

Monica holds degrees from the University of Chicago, NYU Law School, and the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan, Italy. She lives in Durham, North Carolina, with her husband and her beagle, Cooper.

Opinions expressed and advice given in USAHello’s Voices and Hello blogs are the writers’ own. USAHello offers impartial information and online courses to help newcomers in the USA.

Liz Basaca

Director of Content and Communications

Liz is grateful to be a part of such a dedicated team. Her efforts prioritize creating easy-to-understand plain language resources. She works to ensure USAHello’s content is inclusive, accessible, and responsive.

She is eager to explore ways of reaching newcomers across the USA. She values connection and engagement while also leveraging tools such as social media, digital marketing, and SEO.

She believes in the importance of listening to our community and service providers’ needs. Our work should value your experiences and build upon your strengths.

In a time of so much misinformation, it is crucial we provide practical and trustworthy information.

Opinions expressed and advice given in USAHello’s Voices and Hello blogs are the writers’ own. USAHello offers impartial information and online courses to help newcomers in the USA.

David Mutton

Citizens' Committee for Children of New York

David Mutton has worked in non-profit fundraising and development for more than 15 years, first at The Moth where he helped exponentially increase the organization’s contributed income streams and contributed to its rise as an international cultural phenomenon and now at Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York, an advocacy organization whose mission is to ensure that every New York child is healthy, housed, educated and safe. David holds a BA in History and an MA in Understanding and Securing Human Rights. Originally from Britain, he has lived in New York since 2008 and recently became an American citizen.

Opinions expressed and advice given in USAHello’s Voices and Hello blogs are the writers’ own. USAHello offers impartial information and online courses to help newcomers in the USA.

Paul Huynh

Board Member | Winpact Consulting

Paul Huynh is a global go-to-market strategist and technology leader who incubated, launched, and led sales, operations, and partnerships teams for Google, YouTube, and DoubleClick in the USA and Asia Pacific region. Prior to Google, Paul worked in communications planning with brands like P&G, Diageo, and H&M.

Driven by the ambition to leverage tech as a force for good, Paul launched WinPact Consulting LLC, a social impact advisory firm, after leaving Google in 2018.  He’s partnered with mission-led founders from around the world to tackle financial inclusion, disabilities inclusion, and climate change among many others.

Paul holds a Bachelor of Science in Management from Tulane University where he triple-majored in Marketing, Management, and Asian Studies.  He also graduated with a Global Executive MBA from INSEAD as the class Valedictorian.

Opinions expressed and advice given in USAHello’s Voices and Hello blogs are the writers’ own. USAHello offers impartial information and online courses to help newcomers in the USA.

Laura Oppenheimer

Secretary | Bubble

Laura Oppenheimer is a Product & Growth Leader for Early & Growth Stage Startups at Bubble. Bubble is the leading “no-code” software development platform that empowers people without programming skills to design, develop, and launch their own applications, tech products, or tools for solving their business problems.

Prior to coming to Bubble, Laura completed a service term working to save our democracy with Tech for Campaigns and spent six years as a product and marketing leader at Quizlet, an edtech startup that helps millions of students around the world practice and master whatever they are learning. Her work in creating and marketing online learning products over the past decade spans both tiny startups and large publicly traded companies.

Laura hails from Palo Alto, California and graduated from the University of Chicago with a degree in Political Science. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and two sons.

Opinions expressed and advice given in USAHello’s Voices and Hello blogs are the writers’ own. USAHello offers impartial information and online courses to help newcomers in the USA.

Mark Adiedo

Co-Chair | Rockefeller Brothers Fund

Mark Adiedo is the vice president for people and culture and the chief diversity officer at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Mr. Adiedo has more than 10 years of executive experience in nonprofit management, particularly in human resources strategic management and organizational development. He has worked and consulted for nonprofits that address issues of homelessness, sustainable development, displaced populations, and global humanitarian assistance.

Mark holds a bachelor’s degree in social sciences from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa, a master’s degree in industrial sociology from the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, and a master’s degree in human resource management from The New School’s Milano School of International Affairs, Management, and Urban Policy.

Opinions expressed and advice given in USAHello’s Voices and Hello blogs are the writers’ own. USAHello offers impartial information and online courses to help newcomers in the USA.

Nuzigum Setiwaldi

Content Manager

Nuzigum Setiwaldi is the Content Manager for USAHello. She works with the content team to develop resources for refugees and immigrants. She has previously worked with nonprofit and government refugee organizations in Virginia. She is passionate about supporting immigrant community access and engagement. Nuzigum also works with the Coalition to End Uyghur Forced Labour. She has a B.A. in sociology from the University of Oklahoma. 

Opinions expressed and advice given in USAHello’s Voices and Hello blogs are the writers’ own. USAHello offers impartial information and online courses to help newcomers in the USA.

Kim Luu-Ng

KLN Firm

Kim Luu-Ng is founder of KLN Firm, PC, a boutique immigration law firm in Los Angeles, California that practices family, citizenship, deportation defense, and humanitarian immigration law (asylum, domestic violence, human trafficking, victims of serious crimes). Before that, Kim worked under the auspices of the United Nations to represent survivors of torture in asylum proceedings and practiced humanitarian immigration law and deportation defense at the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles. She also served inside US detention centers under the Executive Office of Immigration Review’s Legal Orientation Program providing legal orientation and advocacy for detained immigrants.

A former boat refugee from Vietnam, Kim is involved with many non-profit organizations that serve refugees, including Program for Torture Victims and Boat People SOS. She founded LA Chefs for Human Rights (LACHR) with her husband Chef Bryant Ng to support non-profit organizations committed to serving human rights causes.

Kim graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law (JD) and Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (MPIA), and University of Southern California (BA/International Relations). She conducts her legal work in English, Vietnamese, and Mandarin Chinese.

Opinions expressed and advice given in USAHello’s Voices and Hello blogs are the writers’ own. USAHello offers impartial information and online courses to help newcomers in the USA.

Meaghan Robbins

Board Member | Sightline Institute

Meaghan Robbins is a fundraising and management professional with over 20 years of experience in the nonprofit sector. Meaghan has lived and worked overseas with communities in rural Morocco and on the Thai-Burma border. She has served as a Peace Corps volunteer, at an experience-based outdoor learning & leadership school, and as the director of a refugee resettlement program in Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, NC. It was those years in welcoming newcomers that cemented her commitment to advancing equity and social justice. For the last decade, Meaghan has been with Sightline Institute, an independent progressive think-tank focused on environmental and economic sustainability policy in the Pacific Northwest.

Opinions expressed and advice given in USAHello’s Voices and Hello blogs are the writers’ own. USAHello offers impartial information and online courses to help newcomers in the USA.

Nejra Sumic

Board Member | We Are All America

Nejra Sumic is a former Refugee, who was forced to flee from her home country of Bosnia and Herzegovina. After a long and dangerous journey, Nejra and her family were finally granted asylum as Refugees into the United States. They were able to overcome a great deal of adversity, including adapting to a new culture and building a new life.

Being a former Refugee, not only instilled her sense of purpose, but also fueled her determination and passion. She received her Bachelor’s in Psychology at Arizona State University and a Master’s in Public Administration at Western International University. She is fluent in English, Spanish, Bosnian, and several other dialects.

Mrs. Sumic has been a refugee advocate for many years, working at various human rights organizations. In her current role, she is the National Field Manager with the We Are All America Campaign, where she has helps organize refugee leaders across the country. She is most passionate in advocating for refugees because they are helping shape our nation’s history of inclusion, bringing rich cultural diversity, and contributing to our communities.

Opinions expressed and advice given in USAHello’s Voices and Hello blogs are the writers’ own. USAHello offers impartial information and online courses to help newcomers in the USA.

Cristian Fuentes

Board Member | OpenGov Inc.

Cristian is the Senior Engineering Manager at OpenGov Inc. Prior to that, he served as an Architect at Jama Software where he has been a part of Jama’s growth from early stage startup to growth stage company helping build software, scale engineering teams, and creating and driving technology strategy.

Cristian is proud to be an immigrant. When he was 6 years old his family came to the USA from Chile seeking a better life and opportunity. Cristian is passionate about improving access to resources for under-represented communities and is active locally in various groups and events focused on connecting and spotlighting the Latinx tech and startup community including LatinxTech PDX, Pitch Latino, and Startup Weekend Latino.

Cristian earned a BS in Computer Science from Oregon State University where he also worked as the Publications Coordinator at the university’s Centro Cultural Cesar Chavez, a hub to support and connect the Latinx student community.

Opinions expressed and advice given in USAHello’s Voices and Hello blogs are the writers’ own. USAHello offers impartial information and online courses to help newcomers in the USA.

Katerina Bolger

Accountant

Katerina is originally from Prague, Czech Republic, where she obtained her Master’s degree in finance and accounting from the University of Economics in Prague.

Katerina is responsible for accounting and finance duties for USAHello. She brings with her several years of experience in corporate accounting as well as nonprofit experience with a resettlement agency in North Carolina.

Opinions expressed and advice given in USAHello’s Voices and Hello blogs are the writers’ own. USAHello offers impartial information and online courses to help newcomers in the USA.

Amer Al Fayadh

Treasurer | Communication Essentials

Amer is the Founder and CEO of Communications Essentials, a social enterprise promoting equitable access to quality language services in the community. Prior to launching his company, Amer worked for several years in the direct service sector for the CWS Immigration and Refugee Program in Lancaster, PA. A former refugee himself, originally from Iraq, Amer came to the US in 2010. Since then he has committed himself to serving his community in various roles within resettlement as well as volunteering for several years as part of USAHello’s advisory council. Amer holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Roehampton and a B.A. in Production Engineering from the University of Technology – Iraq.

Opinions expressed and advice given in USAHello’s Voices and Hello blogs are the writers’ own. USAHello offers impartial information and online courses to help newcomers in the USA.

Susanna Pietra

Director of ItaliaHello

Susanna Pietra is the Director of ItaliaHello. She joined the team in 2019 after more than ten years of experience in development work and the non-profit sector both in Italy and abroad.

Before joining USAHello, Susanna was the Director of Grants of the Waldensian Church, one of the most important Italian donors in the social sector. In that role, she dealt specifically with analysis, assessment and monitoring activities, and planning of the funded initiatives.

Susanna has also worked as a project manager on cooperative and capacity-building projects in Northern Africa and the Balkan countries on behalf of Italian institutions and European Union Agencies.

Susanna graduated in Political Sciences from the University of Rome and obtained two master’s in Diplomacy and Human Rights, with a specific focus on migration and law. She brings with her a great commitment to working with the most vulnerable groups in multicultural and international contexts.

Opinions expressed and advice given in USAHello’s Voices and Hello blogs are the writers’ own. USAHello offers impartial information and online courses to help newcomers in the USA.

Bhuwan Gautam

SHAN Nepal

Bhuwan Gautam, a former refugee from Bhutan who resettled to the US in 2008, is a co-founder of Sanitation, Health and Nutrition Study Center, Nepal. He received his MPA in non-profit management from Westfield State University in 2017. He launched Bhutanese Society of Western Massachusetts, a non-profit that aids the social, cultural, educational, and health needs of the resettled Bhutanese refugees in Western Massachusetts. He also serves as a co-investigator and steering committee member for the Research Program on Children and Adversity at Boston College School of Social Work and also a researcher with Project Bhalakushari, a study on the well-being of aging Bhutanese refugees in the US and Canada funded by National Institute of Aging of the National Institutes of Health under award number P30AG024409, and a grant from the McGill University Health Center. Mr. Gautam has been nominated for the “40 Under 40” leadership award by BusinessWest. Bhuwan is a strong advocate for refugees and immigrants who served as ambassador to Define American. His Op-Ed articles and commentaries have appeared in a number of local and regional media. Bhuwan has co-authored number of research articles on Bhutanese mental health issues in the United States.

Opinions expressed and advice given in USAHello’s Voices and Hello blogs are the writers’ own. USAHello offers impartial information and online courses to help newcomers in the USA.

Sarah Davis Priest

Board Member | Abbott Laboratories

Sarah is a strategic planning and business professional who has led large projects and teams at John Deere (2001-2015) and at her current employer, Abbott Laboratories. Prior to these corporate roles, Sarah worked for an African NGO as well as for USAID in Washington DC.

Sarah has lived and worked overseas in Senegal and Brazil. She holds a BA from the University of North Carolina and an MBA from Yale University.

Opinions expressed and advice given in USAHello’s Voices and Hello blogs are the writers’ own. USAHello offers impartial information and online courses to help newcomers in the USA.

Mohamud Noor

Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization

Mohamud is a school navigator for the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization (IRCO) of Portland, Oregon. A refugee from Somalia, Mohamud is dedicated to helping other refugees succeed during the resettlement process. Mohamud has worked at a variety of positions, including as a translator and teacher in Kenya Hagadera Refugee Camp, as a logistics assistant and as a warehouse supervisor. Mohamud is also currently taking classes to earn his BA in the US and spends a lot of his time volunteering to support other Somalis in the community.

Opinions expressed and advice given in USAHello’s Voices and Hello blogs are the writers’ own. USAHello offers impartial information and online courses to help newcomers in the USA.

Deada Shahini

Italian Finance Manager and Content Writer

Deada is the Financial Manager for ItaliaHello and also creates work and career content for the website. Deada was born in Albania and moved to Italy to pursue her studies. She has a degree in Economics and a Master’s in Import-Export and International Business. Deada has had several years’ experience working with people from different cultures, and it is due to this contact that she firmly believes cultural exchange generates respect and growth in society.

Opinions expressed and advice given in USAHello’s Voices and Hello blogs are the writers’ own. USAHello offers impartial information and online courses to help newcomers in the USA.

Elisa Lazzerini

Italian Resources Program Director

Elisa Lazzerini is the Resources Program Director of ItaliaHello. Elisa graduated in Intercultural Studies from the University of Florence. She continued her studies in London, where she obtained her Master’s degree in International Studies and Diplomacy from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). Elisa served as civil servant in the organizations of the European Union in Brussels and London. From her childhood, she explores the world and the different cultures that inhabit it. Elisa firmly believes that diversity is a wealth and dedicates herself to causes that promote equality, inclusion and social justice.

Opinions expressed and advice given in USAHello’s Voices and Hello blogs are the writers’ own. USAHello offers impartial information and online courses to help newcomers in the USA.

Marwah Alobaidi

Translations & Community Programs Manager

Marwah Alobaidi is originally from Iraq and came to the United States in 2015. Her goal is to help people adjust to their new lives here. She has experience in various industries including sales, marketing, Human Resource, teaching, and translating. She has worked in the nonprofit sector for six years. Marwah earned her Bachelor of Physics degree from the University of Baghdad in 2010. She believes in challenging traditional thinking, learning new things, and helping others.

Opinions expressed and advice given in USAHello’s Voices and Hello blogs are the writers’ own. USAHello offers impartial information and online courses to help newcomers in the USA.

Kory Northrop

Lead Developer

Kory Northrop is the Lead Developer for USAHello. He is responsible for building, maintaining, and envisioning USAHello’s online platforms. Kory works to leverage emerging technologies and standards in the industry to increase the reach and impact of USAHello’s services.

Kory is passionate about community engagement, volunteerism, pushing the status quo, and moving around outside. Kory has a Masters in Environmental Studies.

Opinions expressed and advice given in USAHello’s Voices and Hello blogs are the writers’ own. USAHello offers impartial information and online courses to help newcomers in the USA.

Collin Stevens

Director of Technology

Collin Stevens is the Director of Technology at USAHello. He oversees all aspects of the organization’s technology. This includes cloud infrastructure, development, maintenance, security, and analytics. He provides newcomers with a reliable and user-friendly experience when using USAHello’s resources.

Collin enjoys meditation, backpacking, and exploring new cultures through travel. He strives to discover innovative ways to leverage technology to enhance people’s lives. Collin has a bachelor’s degree in international studies and Spanish and 20 years of experience in database and software development.

Opinions expressed and advice given in USAHello’s Voices and Hello blogs are the writers’ own. USAHello offers impartial information and online courses to help newcomers in the USA.

Sarah Ivory

Executive Director

Sarah is the Executive Director of USAHello, leading the organization’s programs and operations since 2018. She is a long-time advocate for thriving, diverse communities. Before joining USAHello, Sarah served as director of a resettlement and immigration legal services program in North Carolina. She later worked at the national level for the CWS immigration and refugee program.  

Sarah is passionate about ensuring all people have access to good information. Originally from Vermont, Sarah now lives in Utah where she enjoys exploring the mountains with her family.  

She has a B.A. in International Relations from Boston University and a certificate in non-profit management from High Point University.

Opinions expressed and advice given in USAHello’s Voices and Hello blogs are the writers’ own. USAHello offers impartial information and online courses to help newcomers in the USA.

Miranda Kaiser

President of USAHello & ItaliaHello

Miranda Kaiser is President of USAHello and ItaliaHello. Miranda joined the organization in 2016 as co-president with the founder. She led the organization’s expansion into Italy and ran day-to-day operations for ItaliaHello during its initial development. Today she provides overall strategic support for both programs.

Miranda graduated from the Yale Law School and is admitted to the New York and Montana bars. Miranda has held several legal positions, including having worked as deputy counsel for the Independent Inquiry Committee into the United Nations Oil-For-Food Program. She is President of the board of trustees of the Rockefeller Family Fund and has served on the following boards of directors: the Center for Investigative Reporting (1996-2002); the Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children (2005-2010); the Rockefeller Family Fund (2001-2013); the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (2006-2014); and the American Farmland Trust (2000-2010; Board Chair 2010-2014).

Opinions expressed and advice given in USAHello’s Voices and Hello blogs are the writers’ own. USAHello offers impartial information and online courses to help newcomers in the USA.

Basma Alawee

We Are All America

Basma and her husband were forced to flee Iraq when her family was targeted due to her husband’s employment by an American company. Ms. Alawee now lives in Florida with her husband and two daughters. Although she was a material engineer in Iraq, Ms. Alawee struggled to get credential recognition in the United States. Instead she obtained a teaching certificate and now teaches math and science at a middle school and volunteers as an Arabic interpreter. Ms. Alawee is very involved with the Iraqi Family Organization through World Relief, and works tirelessly to change people’s perceptions and increase cultural understanding of Muslims and people from the Middle East. She is most proud of teaching and educating middle and high school students about refugees through her work, and guiding them to volunteer and help refugees in Jacksonville.

Opinions expressed and advice given in USAHello’s Voices and Hello blogs are the writers’ own. USAHello offers impartial information and online courses to help newcomers in the USA.

Sterling Lentz

Feral

Sterling is a designer and partner at Feral, a remote design and web development agency. He believes that technology and design can be an important tool for underserved populations, making it easier to access information and connect with others. The Internet, as powerful as it is, can be a confusing and convoluted place to find your way. Sterling tries his best to make that digital journey a little easier. A graduate of the Robert D. Clark Honors College at the University of Oregon, he is currently attempting to be everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

Opinions expressed and advice given in USAHello’s Voices and Hello blogs are the writers’ own. USAHello offers impartial information and online courses to help newcomers in the USA.

Mehret Asgedom

Franklin Middle School

Opinions expressed and advice given in USAHello’s Voices and Hello blogs are the writers’ own. USAHello offers impartial information and online courses to help newcomers in the USA.

Jessica Marks

USAHello Founder

Jessica Marks is the founder of USAHello (formerly the Refugee Center Online). Jessica is passionate about building systems that support refugee self-efficacy. Jessica believes technology can play a vital role in the longer term integration of newcomers into our communities. Jessica has extensive experience working with refugees around the world, including serving as the programs manager for the African Immigrant and Refugee Foundation (AIRF) in the nation’s capital, teaching social studies and serving as a school counselor to refugees on the Thai-Burma border, and working with refugees from Tibet and Bhutan. Jessica’s expertise lies in refugee religious practices, religious intolerance in the USA, and rural refugee resettlement. Jessica has a Masters in Public Administration.

Opinions expressed and advice given in USAHello’s Voices and Hello blogs are the writers’ own. USAHello offers impartial information and online courses to help newcomers in the USA.

Jesse Friedman

Marketing Strategy Consultant

Jesse brings deep experience in technology marketing and partnerships and a passion for people and cultures around the world. He worked at Google for eleven years, with a small hospital chain, and with the US Census Bureau’s Open Innovation Labs. He continues to work with Google and in international and cross-cultural marketing and product development.

Jesse comes from Oakland, CA, and has a linguistics degree from the University of Chicago. He speaks English, Spanish and French. Beyond work, Jesse and his wife Laura run United Noshes, a series of 194 dinner parties, one per UN member, that has raised more than $46,000 for international development organizations.

Opinions expressed and advice given in USAHello’s Voices and Hello blogs are the writers’ own. USAHello offers impartial information and online courses to help newcomers in the USA.

Ariadne Papagapitos

Co-Chair | Lighthouse Reports

Ariadne Papagapitos is an Impact Editor for Lighthouse Reports, an award-winning pioneer of collaborative journalism. Lighthouse works with Europe’s leading media to deliver deeply reported, public interest journalism on migration, conflict and corruption. Prior to her current role, Ariadne served as an advisor for the Institute for State Effectiveness and the Global Whole Being Fund. She also co-founded Localized, an organization connecting students in emerging markets to global experts who share roots locally or in the diaspora to access career guidance on topics that matter in languages they share. She has also worked with UNHCR, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and the Athens Olympics.

Opinions expressed and advice given in USAHello’s Voices and Hello blogs are the writers’ own. USAHello offers impartial information and online courses to help newcomers in the USA.

Soumary Vongrassamy

Multnomah County

Soumary is the Equity & Conflict Resolution Specialist for Multnomah County, Oregon. Prior to this position she served as director of programs at Partners in Diversity – a nonprofit organization supporting employers in the Pacific Northwest to eliminate institutional and systemic barriers so that people of color can thrive. Prior to this, she’s enjoyed a long career working in the intersections of public education and racial justice as a public administrator, policy advocate, grant maker and nonprofit HR leader. She earned a BBA and MPA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Soumary is a proud child of refugee parents from Laos.

Opinions expressed and advice given in USAHello’s Voices and Hello blogs are the writers’ own. USAHello offers impartial information and online courses to help newcomers in the USA.

Steve Durbin

Technology Consultant

Steve is an independent technology consultant. Steve designs systems and develops software for data analysis, machine learning, and information visualization, having worked in this area for RightNow Technologies and Oracle. He has also served as a professor at Carleton College, Minnesota and Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan. He trained as a scientist and holds a BA in Physics and Mathematics from Carleton, and a PhD in Physics from the University of California, Berkeley. Pursuing his fascination with other languages and cultures, he studied for a year in France and worked three years in Japan. He is currently involved with organizations such as the Montana Local Government Center, the African Society at Montana State University, Gallatin Valley Community Radio and Bozeman PechaKucha.

Opinions expressed and advice given in USAHello’s Voices and Hello blogs are the writers’ own. USAHello offers impartial information and online courses to help newcomers in the USA.

Tej Mishra

Washington D.C. Department of Public Health

Tej is a Surveillance Data Manager at Washington D.C. Department of Health. He was born in Bhutan. Due to racial, linguistic, political, and cultural persecution of citizens by the government in early 90s, he, along with his parents and a community of over one hundred thousand people fled to Nepal. He stayed as refugee in Nepal until 2010. Tej graduated from the Masters in Public Health program at Boston University in 2014, with focus on International Health and Biostatistics. In the past, he’s worked as Surveillance Epidemiologist for State of Massachusetts, and for US Navy and Marine Public Health (under contract). He’s also worked in the field of Refugee Mental Health Research, and Design and Implementation of family based intervention programs within Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) Framework in Refugee community. He’s a CBPR consultant to researchers at Boston College, Boston, and a co-investigator of Research program on elderly refugees at McGill University, Canada.

Opinions expressed and advice given in USAHello’s Voices and Hello blogs are the writers’ own. USAHello offers impartial information and online courses to help newcomers in the USA.

Pahola Burgos

Burgos Law Firm

Pahola K. Burgos is the managing attorney at Burgos Law Firm in Archdale, North Carolina, which opened in 2018 with a focus on immigration and family law. Pahola’s parents came to the USA seeking a better future for their family, but were scammed and lost all of their savings. Their experience influenced Pahola to advocate on behalf of families like her own.

Pahola attended the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and Elon Law School. She worked for a refugee resettlement agency in the VISTA program and served in her university’s Humanitarian Immigration Law Clinic. Pahola is active as a mentor and in many organizations, including the Innocence Project. Through her work, Pahola aims to bring hope and justice to those who stake their dreams in the United States.

Opinions expressed and advice given in USAHello’s Voices and Hello blogs are the writers’ own. USAHello offers impartial information and online courses to help newcomers in the USA.

Jeanna Lui

Chair | Office of David Rockefeller

Jeanna is a certified financial planner and a licensed tax practitioner. She speaks three languages (English, Spanish and Chinese/Cantonese). She is a member of the Institute for Certified Financial Planners, a member of the National Alliance of Tax Preparer and a member of the Financial Planning Association. Jeanna earned her MBA in Finance and Accounting from NYU.

Opinions expressed and advice given in USAHello’s Voices and Hello blogs are the writers’ own. USAHello offers impartial information and online courses to help newcomers in the USA.

Mohy Omer

National Democratic Institute

Mohy Omer is a program officer for the Middle East and North Africa team at the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs. As a young student, he fled Sudan and embarked on a long solo journey to a refugee camp in Kenya. Mohy was resettled in the USA in 2009. He learned English, worked full-time, and graduated from North Dakota State University with a degree in Political Science in 2014. While working for US Senator Heidi Heitkamp, Mohy researched and wrote about foreign affairs, national security and defense issues. From 2016 to 2018 he worked for the United States Institute of Peace (USIP). He also serves on the board of ItaliaHello, the Italian partner organization of USAHello, and is earning a master’s degree in international affairs at Syracuse University.

Opinions expressed and advice given in USAHello’s Voices and Hello blogs are the writers’ own. USAHello offers impartial information and online courses to help newcomers in the USA.