Join us for a conversation with Ambassador Richard Buangan. Ambassador Buangan will share his insights on diversity at State, and offer advice for a successful career in foreign policy. Ambassador Richard Buangan is a public diplomacy-coned career member of the Senior Foreign Service who joined the Department of State in 1999. He is currently serving as U.S. Ambassador to Mongolia in Ulaanbaatar. Amb. Buangan's overseas assignments have included Public Affairs Officer at ConGen Jerusalem, Press Attaché at Embassy Beijing, as well as entry level assignments in Paris and Abidjan. He most recently served in the Bureau of Global Public Affairs (GPA) as Acting Assistant Secretary and as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary. He previously was a Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Regional Security Policy in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs and served as an Executive Assistant to Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo. He has held other positions in GPA, including Managing Director for International Media and Director of the Office of Digital Engagement, and he has worked on the Executive Secretariat Staff as a Line Officer. Amb. Buangan has received numerous State Department awards and honors. Born and raised in San Diego, California, Amb. Buangan holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Economics from St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas, and speaks French, Spanish, and Mandarin Chinese.

Join us for a conversation with Foreign Service Officer Alexander Barrasso as he shares his insights on life in the Foreign Service with a disability and offers advice for a successful career in foreign policy.

Join us for a conversation with Ambassador Tulinabo S. Mushingi as he shares his insights on diversity at State, and offers advice for a successful career in foreign policy. Tulinabo S. Mushingi, Ph.D., was nominated by President Biden in April 2021 to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to Angola and Sao Tome and Principe. Prior to this appointment, Dr. Mushingi served as Ambassador to Senegal and Guinea-Bissau from 2017-2022 and as Ambassador to Burkina Faso from 2013-2016. Ambassador Mushingi also served as Deputy Executive Secretary in the Executive Secretariat and Executive Director of the Executive Office of the Secretary of State from 2011-2013. He also served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the United States Embassy in Ethiopia from 2009 to 2011. Ambassador Mushingi has served in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Maputo, Mozambique; Casablanca, Morocco; Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; the Office of Intelligence and Research; the Office of International Organization Affairs and the Office of Human Resources. He is the recipient of numerous awards for outstanding leadership. At the Foreign Service Institute from 1989 to 1991, Dr. Mushingi co-supervised one of the largest language sections of the FSI. He has worked for the United States Peace Corps in Papua New Guinea, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Niger, and the Central African Republic, was a visiting professor at Dartmouth College, and taught at Howard University. Ambassador Mushingi received a Ph.D. from Georgetown University and an M.A. from Howard University. Visit our website at diversediplomacy.com to learn more about the speaker series!

Join us for a conversation with Ambassador Yuri Kim as she shares her insights on diversity at State, and offers advice for a successful career in foreign policy. Ambassador Yuri Kim arrived in Tirana as the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Albania in January 2020. A career diplomat, Ambassador Kim has worked on key foreign policy and national security challenges across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. She was director of Southern European Affairs, responsible for Turkey, Greece, Cyprus, and the broader Eastern Mediterranean region, as well as director of the Office of European Security and Political-Military Affairs, responsible for NATO and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). She was also previously Chief of Staff to the Deputy Secretary of State and director of the Center for the Study of the Conduct of Diplomacy. Earlier in her career, she was Special Assistant to Secretary Colin Powell as well as Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. Overseas assignments include Turkey, Iraq, the Republic of Korea, Japan, and China. Yuri Kim holds a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.Phil. from Cambridge University. Visit our website at diversediplomacy.com to learn more about the speaker series!

Join us for a conversation with Ambassador (ret.) Alexander Arvizu. Ambassador (ret.) Arvizu will share his insights on diversity at State, and offer advice for a successful career in foreign policy. Ambassador (ret.) Alexander Arvizu spent 36 years as a Foreign Service officer with the Department of State, retiring in 2017 with the rank of Minister-Counselor. Most of his overseas assignments were in the Asia-Pacific region. As a young political officer in Seoul, Korea (1985-88) and Bangkok, Thailand (1991-94), he worked on US Embassy teams that supported democracy advocates and human rights activists. Mr. Arvizu’s last overseas assignment was as US Ambassador to Albania (2010-15). While in Tirana and traveling across the country, he developed great admiration and respect for the ongoing courage of the Albanian people to overcome the legacy of decades of harsh dictatorial communist rule. Mr. Arvizu’s Washington tours included a detail assignment to the National Security Council as Director for Asian Affairs (1998-99), where he helped coordinate the interagency response to the Asian Financial Crisis as well as the struggle for East Timorese independence. Later, as Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (2015-17), he directed US assistance efforts in support of criminal justice reform and anti-corruption measures in the Middle East (with the largest program being in the West Bank) and Africa. Currently, Mr. Arvizu is the Director of the Donald F. McHenry Fellows Program at Georgetown University. In that capacity, he works as an administrator, instructor, and mentor/coach for a select cohort of master’s degree students in the School of Foreign Service who have dedicated themselves to pursuing transformative careers in global public service. Mr. Arvizu holds a B.A. from Georgetown University.

Join us for a panel discussion on retention rates with mid-level Foreign Service Officers Maryum Saifee and Anupama Prattipati, moderated by Heera Kamboj. They will share insights on diversity and retention at the State Department and offer advice for a successful career in foreign policy. Maryum Saifee is a Foreign Service Officer currently serving as senior advisor in the Secretary’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion. Ms. Saifee started her career in Cairo during the early days of the Arab Spring in 2011 and later served in Baghdad during the U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq and spokesperson for the U.S. Consulate in Lahore. In Washington, she was a policy advisor in the Bureau of International Organization Affairs, the Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues, and the Secretary’s Office of Religion and Global Affairs. Prior to joining the State Department, she was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Jordan and an AmeriCorps Volunteer in Seattle. She also consulted for the United Nations Development Program, Acumen Fund, and the Ford Foundation. In 2018, Ms. Saifee took a sabbatical from the State Department to pursue a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellowship. In her personal capacity, she also led a 30-person task force on State Department reform as a senior visiting fellow at the Truman Center for National Policy. She is a 2019 Presidential Leadership Scholar and a 2021 Women inPower Fellow. Ms. Saifee is a graduate of Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. Anu Prattipati is the Political and Economic Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in The Hague. Prior to that she was a Deputy Office Director in the Office of European Union and Regional Affairs at the Department of State. As deputy she covered European economic issues, including trade, macroeconomic issues, sanctions, energy, digital and privacy issues, and science and technology. Prior to her assignment in EUR, Anu served as the Deputy Office Director on the Pakistan Desk from 2016-2018, overseeing political and political military affairs. She has also been posted to U.S. Embassies in Pakistan, Nigeria, and China. In addition to these overseas assignments, Ms. Prattipati served in the State Department in the Office of the Under Secretary for Political Affairs, the Operations Center, and the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs. She graduated from Georgetown University with a B.A. in International Business and received an MBA and M.A. from The George Washington University in International Business and International Trade and Investment Policy. Heera Kamboj is a career member of the U.S. Foreign Service, and was a 2020-2021 Rusk Fellow at ISD. She has served in Washington, D.C., Dubai, Chennai, Mexico City, and Kabul. Heera won the 2012 Swanee Hunt Award for Advancing Women’s Role in Policy Formulation for her work in Afghanistan. She was a recipient of the Thomas R. Pickering Fellowship and is an alumna of the International Career Advancement Program. She is fluent in Farsi, Dari, Spanish, and Punjabi and is a graduate of George Washington University and the Harvard Kennedy School. https://www.diversediplomacy.com/

Zeinah Salahi is the Mission Director for USAID/Kosovo. She joined the Kosovo mission in July 2019 as the Deputy Mission Director, before assuming her current role in July 2021. Prior to her arrival to Kosovo, Ms. Salahi served as Deputy Mission Director for USAID/Bangladesh, helping to formulate and implement the U.S. Government’s response to the Rohingya refugee crisis. Ms. Salahi joined USAID in March 2009 as a Foreign Service Attorney, beginning her USAID tenure in the General Counsel’s Office in Washington, covering the Africa Bureau. She then served in Egypt during the Arab Spring, in South Sudan shortly after the country’s independence, and again in Egypt for a second tour as the senior Resident Legal Officer from April 2014 until June 2017. Before joining USAID, Ms. Salahi worked for several years as a corporate associate in New York with the law firm of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP (2001-2004), and as a negotiations advisor for the Middle East peace process with Adam Smith International (2004-2009). Ms. Salahi received her Bachelor’s degree in international relations from Boston University and a JD from Harvard Law School. The Diverse Diplomacy Leaders Speaker Series connects current and former career Civil and Foreign Service Officers with those considering or entering careers in foreign policy. This event is brought to you as part of an Una Chapman Cox Foundation project on American Diplomacy and the Foreign Service. Learn more about Diverse Diplomacy at diversediplomacy.com.

Ambassador Donald Yamamoto recently retired from the Foreign Service following an extraordinary 41-year career. Most recently, he served as the United States Ambassador to Somalia from 2018 until 2021. Yamamoto was previously the Acting Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs from 2017 to 2018. He also served as the Senior Vice President for International Programs and Outreach at the National Defense University from 2016–2017; Senior Advisor to the Director General of the Foreign Service on personnel reform from 2015–2016; Chargé d'Affaires at the U.S. Mission Somalia office in Mogadishu in 2016; and in senior positions in Kabul, Mazar e-Sharif, and Bagram, Afghanistan from 2014–2015. He was the former acting Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs (2013), U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia (2006–2009) and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary within the Bureau of African Affairs. He was formerly the U.S. Ambassador to Djibouti (2000–2003), and Chargé d'Affaires ad interim in Eritrea (1997–1998). Ambassador Yamamoto is a graduate of Columbia College and did graduate studies at Columbia University, receiving a master's degree in international affairs. He has studied Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French. During his Foreign Service career, he has received four individual Superior Honor awards, two group awards, and the 2006 Robert Frasure Memorial Award for advancing conflict resolution in Africa. Ambassador Yamamoto will share insights on his Foreign Service career, his work on diversity and inclusion, and offer advice for a successful career in foreign policy. The Diverse Diplomacy Leaders Speaker Series connects current and former career Civil and Foreign Service Officers with those considering or entering careers in foreign policy. This event is brought to you as part of an Una Chapman Cox Foundation project on American Diplomacy and the Foreign Service. Learn more about Diverse Diplomacy at diversediplomacy.com.

Carmen G. Cantor, a career member of the Senior Executive Service, is current U.S. Ambassador to the Federated States of Micronesia. Previously, she served as Director of the Office of Civil Service Human Resource Management in the Bureau of Human Resources, Executive Director for the Bureaus of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) and International Information Programs (IIP), and Executive Director of the Bureau of Counterterrorism (CT) at the U.S. Department of State. Ms. Cantor also served as the Deputy Director of the Office of Recruitment, Examination & Employment (REE). During this time, the Department organized and implemented the largest expansion of recruitment, assessment and hiring in State Department history. In May of 2014, Latina Style magazine named her one five Latina Trailblazers of American Foreign Policy at the U.S. Department of State. Ms. Cantor was the Leadership Liaison and a past President of the Department of State’s Hispanic employee affinity group, HECFAA. In 2014, she received the Secretary of State’s EEO Award for her work. Ambassador Cantor will share insights on her Civil Service career, her work on diversity and inclusion, and offer advice for a successful career in foreign policy. The Diverse Diplomacy Leaders Speaker Series connects current and former career Civil and Foreign Service Officers with those considering or entering careers in foreign policy. This event is brought to you as part of an Una Chapman Cox Foundation project on American Diplomacy and the Foreign Service. Learn more about Diverse Diplomacy at diversediplomacy.com.

Stacey Berg is a serving as the Legislative Affairs Special Assistant for the Bureau for Diplomatic Security (DS), where she serves as the liaison between Congress and the Department of State for Security policy and legislation. Kevin O. Gonzalez is the Regional Security Officer (RSO) at the U.S. Embassy in Ireland. As the senior U.S. law enforcement attaché, Mr. Gonzalez is the principal security and law enforcement advisor to the Chief of Mission. He is responsible for the direction of embassy security resources, budget, and personnel to facilitate the safe and successful conduct of U.S. diplomacy in Ireland. They will share insights on their Foreign Service careers, their work on diversity and inclusion, and offer advice for a successful career in foreign policy. The Diverse Diplomacy Leaders Speaker Series connects current and former career Civil and Foreign Service Officers with those considering or entering careers in foreign policy. This event is brought to you as part of an Una Chapman Cox Foundation project on American Diplomacy and the Foreign Service. Learn more about Diverse Diplomacy at diversediplomacy.com.

Ambassador Natalie E. Brown currently serves as the U.S. Ambassador to Uganda. She previously served as the Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in Asmara, Eritrea from 2016-2019. Other senior leadership positions include Deputy Permanent Representative and Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Mission to the UN Agencies in Rome, Italy from 2013-2016, where she was elected to represent North America on the Finance Committee of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. She will share insights on her Foreign Service career, her work on diversity and inclusion, and offer advice for a successful career in foreign policy. The Diverse Diplomacy Leaders Speaker Series connects current and former career Civil and Foreign Service Officers with those considering or entering careers in foreign policy. This event is brought to you as part of an Una Chapman Cox Foundation project on American Diplomacy and the Foreign Service. Learn more about Diverse Diplomacy at diversediplomacy.com.

Mirembe Nantongo recently retired from the State Department after a 25-year career as a Foreign Service Generalist. Of Ugandan and Dutch parentage, she first worked for State as a Locally Employed staff member at U.S. Embassy Kampala, then spent six years as an Eligible Family Member before joining A-100 as a Foreign Service officer in 1995. She served and lived in Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and Washington, D.C. Although coned as a political officer, she worked in all five Foreign Service cones, served twice as a deputy chief of mission and, finally, as a Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Global Talent Management. Both her sons were born under the Foreign Service umbrella and spent their childhoods in international schools overseas. Influenced by Embassy Marine Security Guards in various assignments, both ended up as U.S. Marines themselves—one now on active duty and the other recently graduated from college. Mirembe retired in order to spend more time with her aging mother who lives in the Netherlands. Learn more about Diverse Diplomacy https://www.diversediplomacy.com/​ Produced with support from the Una Chapman Cox Foundation's project on American Diplomacy and the Foreign Service.

Austin Richey-Allen joined the U.S. Department of State as a consular-coned Foreign Service Officer in 2011. He is currently the Visas Chief at the U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu, Nepal. Austin’s previous assignments include the U.S. Embassy in Manila, the U.S. Consulate in Ciudad Juarez, and domestic positions in the Bureau of Consular Affairs in the offices of Fraud Prevention Programs and American Citizen Services. Austin received his Juris Doctorate from the University of Minnesota Law School and his Bachelor of Arts from Sarah Lawrence College. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, he worked as an attorney in Minneapolis. He grew up in Massachusetts and is accompanied by his wife Anna (also a Foreign Service Officer) and his daughter Tabitha. Austin is a proud representative and advocate for transgender employees and family members in the State Department, and was the Policy Director for glifaa (LGBT+ Pride in Foreign Affairs Agencies) from 2019-2020. Antonio G. Agnone is a career diplomat serving a one-year assignment in Islamabad, Pakistan before he returns to Brasilia, Brazil as the Consular Chief. He specializes in Southeast Asian and Western Hemisphere affairs including issues of bilateral extradition, international parental child abduction, protection of U.S. citizens abroad, and disaster recovery. In addition to Brasilia and Islamabad, he served at the U.S. Embassy in Haiti, the U.S. Embassy in Algeria, the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan, and the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See. Mr. Agnone speaks fluent Italian and Portuguese and has qualified in Urdu and French. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Mr. Agnone served in the United States Marine Corps as a Combat Engineer. He served two tours of duty in Iraq’s Al-Anbar province focusing on improvised explosive devices. His experience in the military led him to LGBT advocacy where he served as a fellow for the Human Rights Campaign spearheading the initiative to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Mr. Agnone graduated from Ohio State University and earned a master’s degree while active duty in the Marine Corps from Webster University. Originally from Ohio, he now lives in Brasilia with his spouse. Consul General Elizabeth K. Lee serves as the U.S. Consul General in Thessaloniki, Greece. Ms. Lee is a career member of the Foreign Service with over thirteen years’ experience as a foreign policy leader, manager, and negotiator on a diverse range of regions and issues, including the Middle East, East Asia, and the United Nations Security Council. Previous assignments include the U.S. Embassies in Seoul and Baghdad, the former U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem, the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York City, and the Israel and Palestinian Affairs Desk at the State Department in Washington D.C. Ms. Lee holds an M.A. degree in Public Policy and International Affairs from Princeton University, a law degree (J.D.) from the University of Minnesota, and a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Grinnell College. She is proficient in Greek, Korean, and Hebrew, and has studied Arabic and Spanish. She is a native of California and is accompanied by her Golden Retriever, Pumpkin, aka Kolokithoula. She was the President of glifaa (LGBT+ Pride in Foreign Affairs Agencies) from 2018-2019. Learn more about Diverse Diplomacy https://www.diversediplomacy.com/​ Produced with support from the Una Chapman Cox Foundation's project on American Diplomacy and the Foreign Service. Recorded: February 19, 2021

Annika Betancourt serves as Peru desk officer and is currently dual-hatted as Deputy Director for the Office of Andean Affairs. She recently concluded the CFR International Affairs Fellowship at the Brookings Institution focusing on U.S.-North Korea confidence-building measures. On the DPRK desk in Washington, DC, Annika played a critical role in the release of UVA student Otto Warmbier from North Korea. Annika joined the Foreign Service in 2011 and has also served in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico; Athens, Greece; and Kabul, Afghanistan. Annika has a B.A. from the University of Maryland and a Master of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University. Mary Vargas joined the Foreign Service in 2008. She is serving as Trade and Investment Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City where she leads post’s engagement with the Government of Mexico on implementation of the United States-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement (USMCA). During a four year tour in Jerusalem, Mary developed policy recommendations for Gaza post-war reconstruction and designed technical assistance programs to improve West Bank water and energy infrastructure. She has also served as a Refugee Coordinator in Baghdad, Iraq; political officer in Karachi, Pakistan; and consular officer in Tijuana, Mexico. Mary has a B.A. from The George Washington University and an M.A. from the University of California in San Diego. Learn more about Diverse Diplomacy https://www.diversediplomacy.com/ Produced with support from the Una Chapman Cox Foundation's project on American Diplomacy and the Foreign Service. Recorded: February 4, 2021

U.S. Ambassador to the Kyrgyz Republic Donald Lu was sworn in on September 18, 2018. Prior to this assignment, Ambassador Lu was the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Albania. His overseas postings include Deputy Chief of Mission in India, Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan. He also served for a year as Chargé d’Affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Azerbaijan. Ambassador Lu worked on the Ebola crisis in West Africa as Deputy Coordinator for Ebola Response in the State Department. Mr. Lu is from Huntington Beach, California. He graduated from Princeton University with both master’s and bachelor’s degrees in international relations. He is married to Dr. Ariel Ahart, and together they have two children, Kip, age 16, and Aliya, age 13. He speaks Albanian, Russian, Georgian, Azerbaijani, Urdu, Hindi, and West African Krio. He enjoys biking, watching movies, traveling, and spending time with his family. Recorded: December 7, 2020

Mid-level Foreign Service Officers Lia Miller and Christina Tilghman, both of whom served as President of the Pickering and Rangel Fellows Association, share how they leveraged their leadership in the Employee Affinity Group to promote diversity and inclusion at the State Department, and advice for successful careers in foreign policy. Read Lia and Christina's recent article with Ana Escrogima in the Foreign Service Journal, "Diversity at State: A Dream Deferred and a Collective Responsibility": https://www.afsa.org/diversity-state-dream-deferred-and-collective-responsibility Recorded: November 20, 2020

Herro Mustafa, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as Ambassador to the Republic of Bulgaria on September 26, 2019. Previously, she was the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Lisbon, Portugal, where she also served as Chargé d’Affaires for the first seven months of the Trump Administration. A career member of the Foreign Service, Ambassador Mustafa worked in the Office of the Vice President from 2009-2011, providing counsel on issues related to the Middle East and South and Central Asia. Earlier Washington assignments included Deputy Director of the Afghanistan Office; Advisor on the Middle East in the Office of the Under Secretary for Political Affairs; Director for Iran, Israeli-Palestinian Affairs, and Jordan at the National Security Council (NSC); and NSC Director for Iraq and Afghanistan. Her overseas diplomatic postings were as the Political Minister Counselor at Embassy New Delhi, India; the lead U.S. Civilian Coordinator in Mosul, Iraq; a Consular Officer in Beirut, Lebanon; and a Political Officer in Athens, Greece. Prior to joining the State Department, Ambassador Mustafa was an International Elections Supervisor with the OSCE in Bosnia. She is the recipient of notable awards from the State Department, including the Matilda W. Sinclaire Award for superior achievement in a foreign language. She speaks Portuguese, Arabic, Hindi, Russian, Greek, among other languages, and is studying Bulgarian. Ambassador Mustafa grew up in Minot, North Dakota and her family story is the subject of the documentary film American Herro. She has an undergraduate degree from Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service and a master’s from Princeton University. She is married and has two children. Recorded: November 2, 2020

Dereck J. Hogan is a career member of the U.S. Senior Foreign Service. Prior to being sworn in as Ambassador to U.S. Embassy Moldova, he served as the Deputy Executive Secretary of the U.S. Department of State. Mr. Hogan previously served as the Deputy Chief of Mission and Chargé d’affaires in U.S. Embassy Baku, Azerbaijan. Mr. Hogan’s other senior positions in the U.S. State Department include Director of the Central European Affairs and Nordic and Baltic Affairs Offices and Senior Advisor to the President’s Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. He previously served as the U.S. Department of State Representative on two civilian-military Provincial Reconstruction Teams in southern and eastern Afghanistan. His other overseas assignments include Russia, Belarus, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic. In Washington, Mr. Hogan served as Special Assistant to Secretary of State Colin Powell and a Watch Officer in the State Department’s Operations Center. Mr. Hogan has a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Pittsburgh and a Master’s Degree in Public Affairs from the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. He speaks Russian, Spanish, and Romanian. Recorded: October 8, 2020