Vermont Council on World Affairs

Sipha Lam, Founder and Owner, of Wilder Wine remarks: “I had to think about how much of myself I had to give to this space. Hiring a team has been a really important part of me being able step away a little bit”

Claire Zhu, Founder of Hootie Hoo, says: “Fairness and balance is very important to me and in business that means we do not gatekeep the outdoors”

Patricia Preston, President & CEO, states: When women lead - businesses grow stronger, communities become more resilient, and opportunities expand to everyone.

Sarika Tandon shares: “I am motivated by being able to look my decedents in the eye and saying I worked really hard on these impossible problems”

During our third and final session, our panel discusses The Other-ing Effect: Preventing Hate.

Courtney Chubb states: “We identify challenges … and we really hone in on the ones we can change and stay sustainable”

During our second session, Power and Presence: What Happens When the U.S. Steps Back, our panel explores the changing economic environment of international aid.

Christina Barsky shares: It makes me think about democracy as something that exists not just in its natural form, but it is something we experience every day

During our first session, From Conflict to Connection: Discourse as a Peace Tool, our panel discusses the role of civil discourse in maintaining peace.

Senator Peter Welch shares: What’s better than soft power, really nothing. The opposite of soft power leads to war.

A BIG THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS Hanson+Doremus, Pomerleau Family Foundation, Northfirld Savings Bank, Patrick Robins and Lisa Schamburg, Lintilhac Foundation, @WACAmerica, @bellwetherinternstional

THE VCWA’S INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE EVENT STARTS SOON! FOLLOW ALONG AS WE EXPLORE CIVIL DISCOURSE, THE EVOLVING ROLE OF INTERATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, AND MORE WITH “BUILDING BRIDGES IN A FRACTIONED WORLD”

Thank you, Sarwar Kashmeri, Dr. Pablo Bose, and Michael Igoe, as well as everyone who joined us today for Resilience of Global Partnerships in an Uncertain Era, the final session of our 2025 International Speaker Series.

Thank you to our moderator Michael Igoe, a Senior Reporter with Devex in D.C. where he covers U.S. foreign aid, global health, climate change, and development finance.

Our moderator Micheal Igoe shares, ""This question of who is making the rules, and who should be making them, is really central to the AI discussion"

Our speaker Dr. Choucri is a Professor of Political Science at MIT, focusing on cyberpolitics and computational social science. Her work spans geopolitics, the environment, and cyberspace, with publications on global security, sustainability, and international cooperation.

Choucri shares " The interesting thing about cyberspace is that it is in a co-evolution race with us, it is changing at a pace that is not what we are accustomed to."

Welcome to the third event of @VCWA's International Speaker Series: Navigating Global Challenges in Technology. For this event, we welcome our speaker Dr. Nazli Choucri.

“Korea has been evolving into a high tech industry country thanks to the U.S., and it has helped us both grow our economies. That aspect that we have grown together makes us the perfect partner in the Indo-Pacific region.” Hyung Choi, U.S. Embassy of the Republic of Korea.

#CareerConnections Kansas City will take place March 27-28. Hosted by @globaltieskc, this professional development seminar for U.S. citizen #ExchangeAlumni will focus on preparing attendees for the 21st-century workforce. Learn more and apply by March 17: gties.us/CC