Sept. 27, 2019
Public diplomacy can achieve great things when you
find space where people can come together.
This was the impression that Ben Rhodes, speech writer and adviser to former President Barack Obama, left on me during his keynote at the Public Diplomacy Symposium on Friday, Sept. 19, 2019.
Rhodes highlighted the prominence and significance of the media in modern diplomacy through gripping and often humorous stories from his time working for Obama. When discussing public diplomacy, he confirmed my firm beliefs; beliefs that led me to sit in that auditorium as a Syracuse University graduate student. The field of public diplomacy, he said, is at its best when it fosters and connects young leaders around the world through international exchange.
This echoes the mission of the Obama Foundation and speaks of the efforts of their current programs, including Leaders: Africa. It also reminds me of the programs I worked on during my internship in the fall of 2018 at the U.S. Department of State: Techwomen, Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative, and the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange Program (CBYX). My internship at State was where I had, for the first time, fallen in love with a career field: international exchange programs. Hearing a renowned figure hold them up as the finest examples of what public diplomacy should be was a validation I had not anticipated receiving so early into my graduate career.
Common Ground: The Cultural Threads that Connect Us was the product of the diligent efforts of our second-year public diplomacy students. After my experience at State, working on and facilitating events, I knew what an arduous task they had ahead of them. During the first meeting with our senior cohort, I offered to provide as much assistance as they required. As busy as it kept me, I now see it for the blessing that it was. Leading up to the symposium, I was able to foster relationships with Leah, Emma and Eric. These three were the true driving force behind the symposium. I am humbled to say that they have become both my mentors and my biggest advocates.
A little over a week before the symposium began, Leah asked if I could moderate the Women in Diplomacy panel. This panel featured three incredible female diplomats from three different countries. Brooke Knoble, Leah’s aunt, is a Department of State foreign service officer with experience working in the Middle East and Africa. Beatriz Nava Dominguez is a member of the Mexican Foreign Service and is the acting director of the Mexican Cultural Institute of the Embassy of Mexico in Washington, D.C. Finally, Sidrah Aslam Kalair works as first secretary at the Embassy of Pakistan in Washington, D.C.
My first reaction, naturally, was fear. At the time, over 63 people had RSVP’d for the event. Imagining speaking in front of my professors, program director, fellow students and the accomplished female diplomats who I admired and wanted to emanate terrified me. In spite of that, I knew that this was an opportunity for me to bravely step in the direction of my desired career.
A small, yet firm, voice motivated me to tell Leah, “Yes. I want to do this.”
The panel itself passed in a blur. I remember finally coming back to reality when I was startled to hear Eric say, over the speaker, “And let’s give our moderator, Lauren Romero, a round of applause.”
Once the blood had stopped pounding in my ears and I could hear the room fill with applause, I was overcome by surprise, humility, and a small shred of pride. I decided years ago what I wanted to do with my career: provide a platform for other minority women to speak their truth. The gratitude I was given by these accomplished female diplomats, as they turned to me and clapped, was one of the most satisfying moments of my life. The panel was structured to highlight their accomplishments in the field of diplomacy.
That afternoon, I felt, for perhaps the first time, that I deserved to occupy the same spaces they did.
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