Previous Youth Advisory Council Cohorts

Fardosa Hussein is a documentary photographer and filmmaker based in Somalia whose work ranges from covering humanitarian crises to everyday life in Kenya and Somalia. She is also a mentee at Women Photograph and is Action Against Hunger’s Communications Manager in Somalia.

Alexis Ramon, 19, is a college sophomore from New York City. At the University of Southern California, he double majors in Intelligence/Cyber Operations and Sociology. He has a keen interest in the arts, particularly in design, art, and music, and hopes to increase global access to creative outlets, particularly for underrepresented communities. His involvement with his local communities in Los Angeles and New York includes advocacy for increased arts programs, volunteering with local food pantries, and participating in mentorship programs for elementary school children. Alexis hopes to aid the process toward a more equitable world through effective grant-making and strategic funding.

Thomas Lebbie, 21, is the Co-Founder and CEO of Bridge the Gap investment and co-founder of the Global Youth Network for Peace (GYNP) School of Technology. Thomas is a certified business consultant, website designer, social worker, feminist, and youth activist with seven years of experience in the field of gender and inclusion, child protection, education, sustainable peacebuilding, case management, business consultancy, disability-inclusive development, leadership, community liaison, and safeguarding. Thomas is currently based in Sierra Leone.

Abdulbasit Mikail, 23, is a certified educator and youth activist from Kaduna State, Nigeria. His passions include building the capacity of young people to be resourceful enough to lead meaningful changes in their communities for economic growth development and addressing the impact of climate change on health and education, particularly on young people, women, and children. He is one of the youth task team members of the African Youth Partnership and the co-founder of BYY Innovations—a youth-led social enterprise that equips young people with emerging digital skills and mentorships to enhance their capacities to stand out and make a difference in their communities.

Olja Busbaher immigrated to the U.S. in 1997 with her family as a refugee following the ethnic genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This experience and her multi-cultural background inspired Olja to devote her career to the promotion of education access, refugee rights and gender equality in the U.S. and internationally. She is currently a Grants Associate at the Malala Fund.

Lubumbe Jeremiah Mulanda, 23, is a Zambian development specialist currently enrolled at the University of Lusaka. He is an adolescent health advocate who works towards ensuring that young people build health resilience and meaningfully engage adult partners in critical issues affecting them. He currently sits on the Youth Advisory board of the SHE-SOARS project, where he provides technical support to implementing partners on meaningful youth engagement. He is also an adaptive leadership facilitator and works closely with the Ministry of Health in his country.

Giuliana Bryan Alvarez is a Colombian political scientist and community leader who has represented African-descendent and Indigenous Colombian youth across a number of areas. She is currently an ambassador of the One Young World organization, and serves as a project coordinator for youth and community empowerment at Manos Visibles (Visible Hands), a non-profit organization in Colombia.

Bahía Gatti, 24, is the Regional Coordinator for the Americas at the United Network of Young Peacebuilders and serves on the Board of Directors of the Argentine Youth Organization for the United Nations (OAJNU) as the Financing Secretariat. With a background in International Relations, Political Science, and Law, Bahía is passionate about non-formal education projects and creating an inclusive and rights-oriented society. She has experience in project management and has interned at the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and the EU-LAC Foundation. Bahía is pursuing a second Master's Program at Columbia University in New York.

Rattana Mai is from Siem Reap, Cambodia, where he faced poverty and struggled to access quality education from a young age. Today, he serves as a Scholarship Project Officer at PEPY Empowering Youth, an organization helping young Cambodians from rural areas to continue their studies so that they can pursue careers, improve their quality of life, and uplift their communities.

Jordan Ott, a Native American of the Sac-n-Fox Tribe of Oklahoma, is currently enrolled at Haskell Indian Nations University. Jordan’s vision for the future is to help his community and other youth achieve their goals regardless of their circumstances. Jordan has focused his advocacy in his community on the issues of mental health and is passionate about de-stigmatizing it.

Julia Song, 22, is a student at NYU Tisch, studying Film & Television with a double major in Art History. Julia founded and is co-president of NYU’s first Korean filmmakers club, called KALH @ NYU (Korean American Leaders in Hollywood), where they work to create a platform and supportive network for Korean and Korean American storytellers in the entertainment industry. Through collaboration and creativity, Julia hopes to make an impact as a storyteller by enriching media representation with authentic, nuanced stories and voices.

Shamyah Williams, 21, was born and raised in Harlem, New York. She is currently a rising junior at Howard University studying Mechanical Engineering, where she is working with colleagues to create the first Historically Black Collegiate Figure Skating team. In addition, she is an active member of Howard’s Caribbean Association Club and Natural Hair Club, outlets where she can share her passion for diverse representation and deepen her self-identity. Shamyah enjoys using her public speaking skills to represent the youth voice in marginalized urban communities and address global challenges like child poverty and world hunger.