Beyond the Bureaucracy: Meet Laura
Meet Laura
“It felt like our work was making a difference. I was proud that I led this work and proud of the team who made it a reality.”
Prior to joining USAID eight years ago, I had spent seven years overseas working on maternal and child health and nutrition in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific Islands. I felt that joining USAID would allow me to work on a larger scale to help more people and influence high level strategic decisions.
TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR TIME IN GOVERNMENT. WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE PART?
My favorite part of working at USAID was working directly with the local staff in the eight countries I backstopped. The local staff managed the day to day activities in country, but we would have regular calls and I would visit every year or two to support their work. We’d work together to plan for the future and strategize, ensuring that USAID’s nutrition work in country adhered to global best practices and was adapted for the local context.
My colleagues at USAID, both in the US and overseas, were the most passionate, caring, and hardworking people. I already miss working with them every day.
WHAT ACCOMPLISHMENTS ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF?
I’m most proud of the projects I designed and managed. I loved setting global and country-level strategies, watching them be put into action, and seeing what they accomplished.
I managed the social and behavior change component of Advancing Nutrition, USAID’s flagship global multi-sectoral nutrition activity from 2018-2024. I led a joint group of USAID staff and NGO project staff to create a collection of tools and guidance to help families adopt healthier nutrition behaviors, like exclusive breastfeeding for six months or eating diverse diets. They were translated into multiple languages and used by NGOs and governments around the world. In my travels I would talk to local NGO staff who would tell me how useful the tools are and how they applied what they learned from our webinars and conference presentations to their day to day work. It felt like our work was making a difference. I was proud that I led this work and proud of the team who made it a reality.
What are your ideal next steps??
I’d love to continue working to improve health and nutrition globally, possibly through a philanthropic organization. I also would love there to be a behavioral science component to my work as I strongly believe that changing behaviors and shifting social norms is as vital as policy reforms for lasting health improvements. I hope that my future work will involve strategic thinking, setting and operationalizing action plans, and leading a team.
How we can support:
A note from the Arielle Lewis Studios Team:
Please connect with Laura on LinkedIn to show your support, and hopefully make a connection that can benefit her and others in their journeys moving forward!
Makeup and Hair by Carla Pressley
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