“Everyday Ambassador” is a movement for critical thinking  and reflective action on individual public service and global citizenship in a digital age.  Our online content is brought to you by the following team of passionate, dedicated team members.

Chex Yu: Social Media Manager

chex@everydayambassador.org

Chex is our voice on Twitter and Facebook, engaging followers and friends and sparking meaningful conversations in the virtual world.  

Chex is a rising junior at UNC-Chapel Hill double majoring in Mathematics and Economics with a minor in Scientific Entrepreneurship.  She is a true tarheel deeply passionate about global health and developmental economics, and aims to enact change in these fields with quality scholarship and an entrepreneurial spirit. The craziest thing she has ever done was backpack across India all by herself, and she is waiting for something else to beat that! 

Meg VanDeusen: Partnerships Manager

meg@everydayambassador.org

Meg creates and fosters our Partnerships with volunteer and study abroad organizations.  We feature regular posts from our Partner organizations, and offer support integrating EA principles into their programs.  Please reach out to Meg if you are interested in working together as a Partner.

Meg is a junior undergraduate studying Anthropology and Women and Gender Studies with a minor in Education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is passionate about creating equality in food access and education in order to break down the barriers created by socioeconomic class and gender relations. She dedicates her time to maintaining HOPE Gardens, a hybrid community garden and urban farm which seeks to bridge the gaps between all residents in Chapel Hill. She is also the Director of Administration for India’s Shanti Bhavan Children’s Project, in order to keep in contact with, and continue to learn from, all of her incredible students. In her spare time Meg loves to cook, especially for other people, and commits to the belief that anything can be accomplished over a shared meal.

Zoë Ackerman: Website Manager

zoe@everydayambassador.org

Zoë fosters our community by cultivating new guest writers on our website.  Please reach out to Zoë if you are interested in sharing your story on EA or having your organization featured on the site.

Zoë is junior at UNC-Chapel Hill studying English with a minor in Creative Writing. She takes a lot of joy in finding ways to use writing and literature as a way of bringing people together. Zoë is part of the Flash! Seminars program at UNC, where she helps organize hour-long seminars with faculty and students on a variety of topics.  She also loves writing letters, reading Spanish poetry, running in the woods, painting with bright colors, and laughing. 

Ananda Day: Chief Strategy Officer

ananda@everydayambassador.org

Ananda keeps our busy team focused and moving forward across all initiatives – website, curriculum, and workshops – linking together our impact online and offline to help us cultivate a community of everyday ambassadors.

Ananda is a junior at UNC Chapel Hill majoring in Public Policy with a minor in Scientific Entrepreneurship.  Between working for UNC’s Global Programs and on local social business ventures, she is a peer educator for interpersonal violence prevention.  Ananda is fascinated by the people that make the world tick and strives to understand the motivations and ideas that push barriers. She believes in the power of focused impact and the use of cuisine to break down barriers. 

Wendy Lu: Curriculum Developer

wendy@everydayambassador.org

Wendy develops the EA curriculum, for use by  anyone involved in social impact and service work across their own borders, with a focus on maintaining strong human connectivity even in a digital age.  Wendy helps develop workshops, lectures, and co-curriculum development opportunities. Please reach out to Wendy if you are interested in our materials.

Wendy is a prose writer and junior studying journalism and psychology at UNC-Chapel Hill. She maintains a literary and lifestyle blog at The Red Angel and serves as the blog editor and a photographer of Blue & White features magazine. In addition, Wendy loves to work with children and advocates for disabilities awareness. This past summer, she developed China Perspectives on Mental Health, a research project based in Shanghai that examines what daily hospital life for patients with chronic illnesses is like and what social support services are provided to their families. Her writing has appeared in The Daily Tar Heel, The Collegiate Scholar and Carolina Creates Writers. In her spare time,Wendy loves to participate in National Novel Writing Month, read comic books and cook macaroni.

Jennifer Mejia: Community Cultivator 

jennifer@everydayambassador.org

Jennifer seeks out individuals and organizations who share the EA passion for meaningful public service.  She shares their blogs, programs, and services with our EA community and builds the EA presence in their communities.

Jennifer is a graduate student at Northern Illinois University in the Master’s of Public Administration program, specializing in Nonprofit Management. She works with Little City Foundation, assisting in the development department, and is passionate about alleviating pressing social issues in the developing world, particularly the staggering amount of children affected/orphaned by HIV/AIDS in Africa.

  

Hannah Nemer: “EA TV” Producer

video@everydayambassador.org

Hannah is our video production master, and is developing our first online video series.  Our series, “EA TV”, will  feature interviews with EA community members, leaders in the international service world, and student groups across the country, with whom we conduct workshops.  If you are interested in being featured by EA TV, please contact Hannah and Kate (below). 

Hannah is a junior Peace, War, and Defense Major and International American Studies Major at UNC – Chapel Hill. Passionate about photography and filmmaking, Hannah spends much of her time with camera in hand. She spent the past two summers in Uganda where she documented the work of several nonprofits and conducted ethnographic research on the impact of a religiously-intolerant dictator on Uganda’s minority Jewish population. Hannah enjoys reading children’s literature and blasting songs from musicals. 

Kate Otto: Founder and Director

kate@everydayambassador.org

Kate directs the EA Team, cultivates new partnerships, and represents EA through publishing articles, public speaking, and hosting workshops.  She feels perpetually blessed for the talent and passion each member brings to the mission and movement.  

Kate works with the World Bank in Ethiopia, assessing the impacts of mobile phone tools on maternal health outcomes, and with renowned HIV/AIDS and drug rehab center Rumah Cemara in Indonesia.  She is a Huffington Post Contributor and is writing a book called Everyday Ambassador: How to be a Global Citizen in a Digital Age, summarized here in her 2012 TEDx Talk.  Kate holds a BA in International Relations and a MPA in International Health Policy & Management from NYU, and is a proud Reynolds Scholar in Social Entrepreneurship, Starting Bloc Fellow, Truman Scholar, Luce Scholar, and member of the Academy of Achievement.  Hear Kate’s core mantra through her New York University graduation speech in 2009:

If you are interested in joining the EA Team please contact Kate for details!