Blogger International
Tushar Gogia
How does individual and community development impact the ecological and financial sustainability of the organizations that serve them? (and vice-versa)?
Over the past ten years I’ve had the opportunity to live in four countries, study at various state and private school, and work in both the non-profit and the for-profit sector. From researching the impact of land reclamation on the pink dolphins in Hong Kong Bay, to organizing fund-raisers in upstate New York, benefiting Tibetan refugees in India, my experiences and interests are vast and varied.
After earning my degree in environmental science from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Plattsburgh, I worked as a facilitator for experiential learning initiatives with children from the affluent suburbs of Southern California, and later with marginalized youth from the slums of Bombay (India). In 2007 I was the logistics coordinator for a team which planned and delivered customized organizational development programs for employees at the India offices of Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank.
Such experiences, coupled with my education, have created my interest in analyzing the complex relationship between Human Development and Environmental Sustainability.
Kristen Demaline
Last year, I came to Milano to join more refined professional policymaking and analytic skills with my lifelong pursuit of progressive social change to hopefully make the world a better place. After five years in New York, my varied career and personal interests led me here to help move into fulfilling work drawing on my other life and passions as a writer.
While earning an M.A. in Women’s Studies at the University of Cincinnati, my primary research concerned women’s personal narratives and their relationship to the U.S. feminist movement and the LGBT rights movement, as well as the study of identity formation in the context of civil rights movements and critical race feminism. Following that program, I wanted to pursue my more general interests in policy and politics as well as work on my own writing. I loved aspects of my academic life, but a very theoretical, scholarly background did not lend itself well to doing efficient and successful policy work in the private/government sectors, so I spent some time teaching, writing, and working in law while I figured out a better answer to “what’s next?”.
Both blogging here and time away from creative writing reminds me of my great love for a regular creative outlet, so I am grateful to find ways to occasionally incorporate my interests into my work thusfar at Milano. I am a part-time student in the Urban Policy Analysis and Management program, beginning my second year in Fall 2009, and am among the millions of job-seekers hunting for work during this recession. I attend school during the evenings, and am eager to begin courses correlating in different ways to current interests of mine: Green Jobs, and Political Economy of the City. I am an urban history and social policy junkie, so my daily news consumption is HIGH and I’ve spent part of my summer plowing through an obscenely long, detailed biography of Robert Moses. (Details are good, but sometimes, details are best left in the dissertation, you know what I’m saying?)
Finally, a dear friend reminded me during the first week of my first graduate program that to survive graduate school, you need a sense of humor. I heartily agree, and would add to that list: flannel pants, a pet (for comfort and diversion), plenty of chocolate, a great bartender (even if it’s you) and Nyquil.
