Gabriela LeBaron (She / Her)

I recently completed my master's degree at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, UT-Austin, where I focused on peace & security, transnational criminal organizations, and conflict in West Africa, the Sahel, and DR Congo. While at LBJ, I (1) worked at a women's rights NGO in Benin, West Africa, for two months; (2) studied abroad at the Hertie School in Berlin, Germany where I took three courses on conflict and crises in Africa; (3) participated in the Graduate Archer Fellowship Program in Washington, DC, where I researched and the security crisis in the Sahel and met with field professionals on the topic. At LBJ proper, I took courses on transnational criminal organizations, learned to write and brief for leadership in intelligence fields, and became an expert in global crises with a regional focus on West Africa, the Sahel, and the DR Congo. Prior to graduate school, my focus of study and work was in social entrepreneurship in Latin America, particularly in Mexico and Honduras. I also have personal experience in indigenous rights movements in Mexico. I spent my early childhood with my family in Sonora, Mexico in a Sinaloa-Cartel controlled area, so I have personal experience with issues involving criminal organizations and poverty. My 'years of experience' includes both formal and informal work - I applied myself and stayed actively involved in work in Africa and Latin America on weekends and in between jobs, in addition to the work I did through graduate school, internships, and formal employment.