People and communities have always been the focus of my work. I have devoted countless hours helping others ever since I first cut my teeth teaching English as a second language to adolescents in Cote d’Ivoire.

The experience of teaching English in a French-speaking country—to kids whose only interaction with the language involved television or overhearing tourists—remains one of the most challenging of my life. 

FROM CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY TO HUMANITARIAN AID AND DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION

A year after my teaching stint, I joined the Sustainable Development team at SIFCA Group—the first company outpost in Côte d’Ivoire and West Africa. Responsible for the deployment of SIFCA’s corporate social responsibility, we fostered internal change through the establishment of policies and procedures that improved the health, hygiene, sanitation, and security of employees plus the sectors they worked in (e.g. sugar cane, natural rubber, and oil-seed industries). Externally, the corporate CSR policy was implemented through sustainable and community-led programs that mobilized communities to maximize local natural resources while maintaining local biodiversity assets.

ACTIONS ARE EVERYTHING. DON'T TELL ME. SHOW ME.

My focus since completing my Master's degree has been on humanitarian action and assistance, particularly with regards to the recruitment of staff and coordination of nutrition, health, water, sanitation and hygiene, food security, emergency response and disaster relief programs in Africa, Latin America, and Asia Pacific.

At times, it has felt like the world was coming to an end. It's difficult to hold on to hope when you see the poorest being crushed by forces beyond their control. However, these early experiences were some of my most humbling and witnessing community members come together and engage in spite of the unimaginable horrors they endured made me realize that humans possess something we often overlook: a fierce resilience and love of life.

"WE ARE STRONGER TOGETHER THAN WE ARE ALONE."

~Walter Payton

Over the last five years I have been heavily engaged in international development cooperation. In the roles I've held I supported intergovernmental processes, United Nations system-wide coordination, and international advocacy to secure political commitment for development aims, like the Sustainable Development Goals.

Whether it is building an infrastructure program in Latin America, implementing a poverty reduction initiative in Africa, or developing the technical and functional capacities of national governments officials in South-East Asia, I have worked with over 134 program countries, 180 Member States, and 150 public and private partners to support the design, coordination and implementation of global, regional and country-level programs that reduce poverty in some of the most remote places in the world.

"REAL DEVELOPMENT STARTS HOME BEFORE GOING GLOBAL"

After over 200, 000 miles of travel and over $15 million spent on implementation social and economic development programs and projects in some of the most remote places on earth, I realized that my community and neighborhood I lived in here in NYC needed as much some of these projects as the people in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Since 2018, I am now coming back home to focus on where I can make a higher impact.

I am hoping that through this endeavor and with Kultured Advisors, LLC I will help African communities, religious groups, businesses, and the Africa Diaspora and entrepreneurs to be a more actor that is engage not just in the economic sector, but also in the social, cultural, and political manner.

My previous employers include: