Women in International Affairs

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Georgetown Women in International Affairs (GWIA) aims to develop quality leadership among Georgetown graduate students and to increase the visibility of women in international affairs. Through interactive programming, GWIA connects, empowers and prepares emerging leaders. The student-led GWIA Executive Board spearheads the initiative’s planning, programming, and communications, working closely with our staff.

GWIA is constantly looking to meet the needs of its graduate students. If you have ideas or suggestions, please feel free to contact the Executive Board at graduategwia@gmail.com or connect with via social media through their Facebook Page, Instagram, and Twitter.

The GWIA Executive Board develops and implements a variety of programs based on the needs of graduate women seeking careers in international affairs. The Executive Board consists of the following positions: two Co-Presidents, Communications Chair, External Relations Chair, and Professional Development Chair.

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Co-Presidents

Antonia Baskakov

Antonia Baskakov is a graduate candidate in the Master of Science in Foreign Service (MSFS) program at Georgetown University. She is concentrating in Science & Technology in International Affairs with certificates in International Diplomatic Studies as well as Women, Peace, & Security. Antonia serves as the President of Georgetown Women in International Affairs & co-leads the Human Rights & Development Section at the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs.

Before joining MSFS, Antonia initiated and led the work on feminist development policy at the ONE Campaign, an international NGO fighting extreme poverty. Prior to joining ONE, she was the Strategic Advisor to the Executive Director of the Center for Feminist Foreign Policy where she managed projects on transatlantic relations, peace and security, and feminist international law. She has worked in a variety of human rights-related fields, including legal research at Berkeley Law School and Stanford Law School for Professor Dr. Beth Van Schaack, the current U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice. She currently serves as the Europe Youth Envoy for the United Nations’ ITU & the Development Director at [gather], an NGO focused on women’s leadership, and is a regular contributor to different news outlets writing about foreign-, security-, development-, and digital policy from a feminist perspective. She has received fellowships from, among others, the ERP (European Recovery Program), DAAD, and German National Merit Foundation.

Hannah Followill

Originally from Houston, Texas, Hannah Followill is a graduate student in Georgetown University’s Master of Science in Foreign Service (MSFS) program. Hannah is concentrating in Global Politics and Security, and she plans to focus her studies and coursework around the intersections of economic security and agricultural trade.

Prior to joining the MSFS program, she was the Special Assistant & Scheduler to Under Secretary Marisa Lago at the International Trade Administration (ITA) in the United States Department of Commerce. Her interests in trade took off while at ITA, as she witnessed firsthand the effects of helping U.S. exporters reach new markets. Before her transition to the Department of Commerce, Hannah was the Scheduler to former Congressman Filemon Vela (TX-34) in the U.S. House of Representatives. While working for Congressman Vela, she witnessed the policymaking process in action and became adept in Congressional dynamics.

Hannah completed her undergraduate studies at Texas A&M University with a BS in Agribusiness and minors in Spanish and Horticulture. She speaks conversational Spanish, enjoys hiking around the DMV area, and is a huge fan of audiobooks.

Professional Development Chair

Siv Röhrl

Siv Marie Röhrl is a first-year student in the German and European Studies Program at the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, where she is also pursuing a certificate in Refugees, Migration, and Humanitarian Emergencies. Moreover, she serves as a gradgov senator for her program on the Energy, Environment, and Sustainability Committee.

Siv is passionate about languages, diplomacy, and the intersection of human rights and climate change in the context of forced migration. She has interned for the UN Global Compact Network Germany in Berlin, working for the teams Environment & Climate as well as Human Rights & Labor Norms. Furthermore, she gained insight into European Energy Policy with a focus on hydrogen and renewable energy during an internship in Brussels and worked at the Center for Applied Policy Research of the Ludwig-Maximilian-University Munich in the area Europe & Youth. She is currently a volunteer for BrandNewBundestag, a grassroot organization that aims to enhance diversity in German politics. Siv has received fellowships from the DAAD and ERP, and has been nominated as a Fulbright scholar.

Prior to Georgetown, Siv studied Social Sciences with a focus on political humanities at Sciences Po Paris with an exchange semester in Puebla, Mexico, where she focused on cultural anthropology and gender studies. She is originally from Munich, Germany.

External Affairs Chair

Zoe Borden

Zoe Borden is a graduate candidate in the Master of Science in Foreign Service (MSFS) program at Georgetown University, where she is pursuing a concentration in Science, Technology, and International Affairs. Her academic and professional interests include, but are not limited to, emerging technology policy, cybersecurity, data privacy, and countering disinformation.

Zoe has worked at Booz Allen Hamilton for five years, most recently as an Associate on the National Cyber Solutions team based in Washington D.C. In this role, Zoe leads product development for cyber threat detection capabilities. She previously served as the Cyber Threat Intelligence Lead on the Cyber Risk & Engineering team, where she created cyber threat models, and has also worked as a Program Management Specialist for Department of Defense clients.

From 2021 to 2022, Zoe was a Fulbright Student Research Scholar in Georgia. Her research focused on Russian disinformation campaigns targeting communities in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region of the country. Zoe was a 360 Digital Sherlock Fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab and has served as a policy intern in the United States House of Representatives.

Zoe earned her B.A. in International Development Studies from UCLA.

Communications Chair

Nicole Osuna

Nicole Osuna is a strategic communications professional with over six years of experience working in the professional services industry in multinational companies. She has been in charge of projects related to Internal Communications, Digital Communications and Media Relations.

Nicole is currently completing her Master of Science in Foreign Service (MSFS) at Georgetown University in Washington DC, with a concentration in Global Business, Finance and Society and the International Business Diplomacy certificate (IBD).

She has lived in various countries in Europe, North America and Latin America, and speaks Spanish, English and Italian fluently.

Professional Development Coordinator

Meg Matsukawa

Meg Matsukawa is an undergraduate student at Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service, where she is pursuing a degree in International Politics. Concentrating on Law, Institutions, and Ethics, she is passionate about global immigration and human rights law. Meg is currently serving as the Program Assistant for Georgetown’s Center for International Education and Development’s English Language Programs, a U.S. Department of State-funded exchange program, where she is applying her passion for International Affairs to global development and education.

Prior to her academic career at Georgetown, she participated in a Leadership and Social Change program with Brown University. This program sparked a passion for social justice that led her to volunteer for local political campaigns in her home city of Philadelphia, PA as well as establish and lead current issues and community service organizations in her community.

External Affairs Coordinator

Kate Halabi

Kate Halabi is an undergraduate in the Walsh School of Foreign Service. She is pursuing a degree in International Politics and she is passionate about international development, migration policy, and human rights law. Recently, she has worked in the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs’ Human Rights and Development section as an editorial assistant, editing publications for the School of Foreign Service’s flagship publication. She is excited to work with GWIA to develop a strong network of empowerment.

Communications Coordinator

 Kaitlyn Pastino

Kaitlyn Pastino is a graduate student in Georgetown University’s Master of Science in Foreign Service (MSFS) program. Kaitlyn is concentrating in International Development while pursuing certificates in Refugees, Migration, and Humanitarian Emergencies and Diplomatic Studies, paying specific attention to the nexus between immediate relief and sustainable development.

Prior to joining MSFS, she earned bachelor’s degrees in International Studies and English from Virginia Tech, where she studied international relations, professional and technical writing, Spanish, and Italian. Her experiences moving around the world while growing up and involvement in organizations like Service Without Borders as an undergraduate student cultivated her passion for finding innovative solutions to nuanced problems in the realms of conflict resolution, diplomacy, and international development. 

Kaitlyn recently interned at international relief organization Samaritan’s Purse, where she developed job aids for several country offices and supported the rollout of a new, department-wide education platform on the Learning Support Team. She is currently an on-call member of Samaritan’s Purse’s Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART), ready to deploy at a moment’s notice to crisis situations around the world.