Three women. One goal. And a letter to their younger selves. In the final episode of our first season of Voices of Exchange, a team of exchange alumni - Pandora White, Vanessa Diaz, and Ashleigh Brown-Grier - join us to talk about international exchange, their Citizen Diplomacy Action Funded project -- We Represent -- and how they are bringing diversity, equity, and inclusion to exchange programs.

A motocross accident forever changed Daniel Gómez de la Vega’s life. But today, as a world champion-winning medalist, founder and director of Surfeando Sonrisas (Surfing Smiles), and exchange alumnus of the Global Sports Mentoring Program, Daniel finds that being in a wheelchair is challenging, yet fun -- an endless journey, as he calls it. In this episode, Daniel talks about how surfing revived him, why he loves fear, navigating depression, taking risks, being authentic, and pursuing a...

Her dad taught her gender equality. Now, entrepreneur and alumna of the Mandela Washington Fellowship program Olive Michele Dol-Somse is training and empowering women in the Central African Republic to help them move past gender as an obstacle.

Growing up in L.A. with a Trekkie mom, discussing why barriers were meant to be broken, and drawing on data to connect the dots on disease... This week, Howard University alumnus Dr. Brandon Ogbunu takes us on a journey from his humble beginnings to his Fulbright in Kenya, and why he’s not afraid to boldly go where no one has gone before.

On this week’s episode, we dive in with Anna Oposa, co-founder, director, and Chief Mermaid of Save Philippine Seas, to learn how she is working to mobilize “sea-tizens” to take action to protect marine and coastal lands on a local and global scale.

This week, we travel to Mumbai, India to meet ElsaMarie D’Silva, the award-winning founder of Red Dot Foundation, a platform that crowdsources data on sexual harassment incidents in public spaces. Tune in to hear about her journey from aviation to activism, female leadership, and how she is paving the way for women to walk with confidence.

In the latest episode of Voices of Exchange, we sit down with Jok Abraham Thon, founder and director of Promised Land Secondary School in South Sudan, to hear how he is advancing peace and resiliency in the region. Jok's story is connected to our last episode, featuring U.S. Arts Envoy Gail Prensky, who documented Jok's fight to save the soul of his country, one book at a time.

What happens when you’re an artist living in a tyrannical state: do you risk your life to fight tyranny, or do you escape your country because your gifts are valuable to the entire world? Join us as we meet Gail Prensky, a U.S. Arts Envoy exchange alumna and documentary filmmaker, who is working to shed light on the plight of artists living under oppression. This is the story of “Bullets to Books,” and Gail’s journey as a storyteller and envoy.

In the latest episode of Voices of Exchange, we learn how international exchange helped a “shy, nerdy kid” reconnect with a childhood friend and her passion for art. Travel with us from Buffalo to Chicago, Paris, Tbilisi, and New York City with Returned Peace Corps Specialist and illustrator Maria Krasinski.

Critical Language Scholar and disability rights advocate Anna Landre takes us on a journey of overcoming cultural, lingual, and physical barriers in a new city. Through her story, we learn that we are more alike than different.

Voices of Exchange delivers unforgettable first-person stories from people transformed by international exchange. This podcast is brought to you by the Office of Alumni Affairs in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA). New episodes will be released every two weeks on all major podcast platforms. You can also listen to Voices of Exchange on our website: Alumni.state.gov/alumni-news/voicesofexchange. Also follow us on Instagram @voicesofexchange.