Foreign Policy Podcast

Dear Minority Leaders,Today we wrap our three part series on diversity in the U.S. Department of State and diplomacy with the preeminent expert on the topic: Ambassador Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley, State’s first Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer. Amb. Abercrombie-Winstanley became the first woman to head a diplomatic mission to Saudi Arabia in 2002 and was the longest serving Ambassador to Malta. She speaks Arabic, Hebrew, and Maltese. Ambassador Abercrombie-Winstanley is a living legend and...

Asha Castleberry-Hernandez is a distinguished national security/foreign policy expert. She is a Biden-Harris Political Appointee, and served as a Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary, member of the Senior Executive Service at the Department of State. She is a former adjunct faculty professor at Fordham University, where she has taught U.S. Foreign Policy and U.N. Peacekeeping Operations. She is also a U.S. Army veteran, and since the 2014 ISIL incursion in Iraq, she has served as part of th...

Akunna Cook is an accomplished diplomat, strategist, visionary creator and executive producer. In 2022, Akunna founded Next Narrative Africa, a multi-media entertainment production company telling African Stories for global impact. She is also the founder and principal consultant at Drake Road Strategies and served in the Biden-Harris Administration as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs.Akunna joins us today to talk about her experiences navigating the internal politics of w...

In this episode, host Algene Sajery speaks with Fatema Z. Sumar, international development and author of The Development Diplomat: Working Across Borders, Boardrooms, and Bureaucracies to End Poverty. Fatema shares her experience as a first-generation Muslim American, woman, and mother working on foreign aid efforts in Capitol Hill and the developing world in the wake of 9-11. Fatema offers practical advise to women of color looking to advance their careers in this space .Learn more about yo...

In this second episode of The Minority Leaders, host Algene Sajery speaks with Mieke Eoyang, Senior Vice President for National Security at Third Way, a national think tank that champions center-left ideas. Mieke is one of the most respected thought-leaders on foreign policy and national security issues in Washington. She is also deeply committed to mentoring the next generation of women of color in that male dominated field. In this episode, Mieke shares some of her experiences as an Asian A...