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Brianna Gillease

Brianna Gillease

Brianna, a Bay Area native, was born and raised in Sonoma County. She attended the University of California Davis, where she earned her B.A. in International Relations with an emphasis in Peace and Conflict Studies, an area focus in Africa and the Middle East and a minor in French. In 2012, during her junior year at UC Davis, she studied abroad in Paris, France. She lived with Laurence de Saint Sernin, assistant to Senator del Picchia and first cousin of politician Dominique Villepin (previous Prime Minister of France, Foreign Minister of France and 2012 French Presidential Candidate). This offered Brianna a unique perspective on the 2012 French Presidential Election. She was at the Bastille, an important symbol of the French Republic, the night Francois Hollande was elected president. As for her professional experience, Brianna has worked as a Global Ambassador for ISA (International Studies Abroad), creating and maintaining a blog to inspire other students to study abroad with ISA. She also has international nonprofit and social entrepreneurship experience. As an undergraduate, she worked with Nourish International, a nonprofit organization on campus, which uses money raised by social businesses developed by students, to support poverty reduction projects in the developing world. In 2013, she helped fund a project to build schools for underprivileged youth in Moshi, Tanzania in partner with Brown University and international NGO Mama Hope. In her free time, Brianna can be found seeing live music, spending time in nature (especially by the ocean), cooking, laughing, going on adventures, pinteresting, confusing people with her perpetual sarcasm and spending time with family and friends. She is excited to begin this journey with Kiva and is looking forward to using her passion, experience, and education to make a positive difference in the world and to learn more about microfinance and sustainable development.