Leader. Futurist. Changemaker.
Rachel is an award-winning young leader with a history of supporting efforts to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals, contributing to 100+ projects with 116 organizations across 37 countries. In her entrepreneurial pursuits, Rachel founded the SDG advocacy youth organization Global Futurist Initiative™, the community development consortium Project Energy for Life Cameroon, and her consulting practice. Through consulting, she has worked for institutions such as Sesame Workshop, Johnson & Johnson, Fashion Community Foundation, and Friends of the Global Fund U.S. to foster strategic partnerships for advancing their SDG-aligned objectives. In one of her recent effort as the Foundations Partnerships Consultant for UNICEF USA, Rachel supported a $242 million portfolio by working with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, and UN Foundation, among others, to align on safeguarding children’s and youth rights worldwide.
Rachel has held appointments that have also enabled her to promote the SDGs including the IMF, U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, Foreign Policy for America, AFS Youth Assembly, and United Nations Association of the USA. Rachel currently holds a Visiting Associateship of Policy & Practice at the University of Notre Dame Pulte Institute for Global Development where she is conducting U.S. policy research on the SDGs. Receiving numerous appointments and 31 awards, Rachel is a sought-out speaker and actively contributes to publications on matters concerning youth, sustainable development, and human rights.
Born and raised in Northwest Indiana (colloquially referred to as The Region), Rachel received her BS in Chemistry and MBA from Purdue University as well as a MS in Global Health from the University Notre Dame. Receiving the 2024 Domer Dozen Award and the 2023 Purdue Rising Professional Honor, she has attained Distinguished Young Alumni status at both of her alma maters.
News & announcements
Another year around the sun! Celebrating my birthday with Legos and the UN Headquarters!
How cool is it that the LEGO Group has a United Nations set! They just stopped making them, but my partner found one of the last ones available. Did you know that headquarter property is 17 acres which coincidentally also coincides with the 17 SDGs? Everything from the office furniture to the materials used for the buildings was finalized with international cooperation. The U.S. also played a big role in its design, construction, and certainly its placement as Congress *unanimously* voted to invite the UN to establish its permanent home here.
Reflecting on this year was filled with twists and turns but ultimately strengthened my resolve for educated advocacy, research-centered decision making, and collective action in making a positive difference locally and globally. I am proud of the organizations I am a part of that enable me to pursue this calling and here's cheers to another year!
Celebrating UN Day! Speaking for the Strategic Doing Institute
As we confront the global challenges of our time, we see a growing ingenuity gap—the divide between the complexity of the problems we face and the solutions we currently have at our disposal. To bridge this gap, we need exponential action that moves beyond traditional approaches. This is where Strategic Doing plays a critical role. It provides a collaborative framework that enables communities and organizations to tackle complex challenges through agile, focused, and sustained action—aligning resources, skills, and ideas to achieve faster and more impactful results.
I’m excited to invite you to a special talk to share how local action can be a driving force in closing the ingenuity gap and helping us attain the SDGs. We will explore practical, real-world examples of how communities can use Strategic Doing to create pathways toward sustainable development through focused, collaborative efforts.
Hosting at International Youth Conference 10!
Excited to have been in New York for Global Goals Week to host The Future of Intergenerational Unity! One issue that will always be a core part of my work is on youth and future generations. I have been incredibly humbled to have been invited throughout my career to speak up about equity for youth (or SDG18 for the fans of Global Futurist Initiative 😉) even down to its definition of what young people mean by being heard.
Often drawing back to the United Nations Youth Office's "Be Seen Be Heard" campaign, this conference is a pivotal moment for young people, especially from the Global South, to shape what the next SDGs and global agendas will look like, and I am looking forward to seeing how the Summit of the Future will deliver on its commitments.
Domer Dozen 2024 Honoree
The Domer Dozen honors outstanding graduates ages 32 and younger for their significant contributions and extraordinary dedication to learning, service, faith, and work — four areas in which the Notre Dame Alumni Association seeks to help alumni thrive. The program is a signature initiative of YoungND, the Alumni Association’s young alumni group. The 2024 honorees were selected for their incredible achievements in education, health care, international relations, religious life, entrepreneurship and public service, among other areas. They were chosen by a selection committee consisting of the YoungND board, University officials, and Alumni Association staff, who considered 91 nominees this summer and evaluated them based on a weighted ranking system and their contributions in their respective fields.
Presenting my Research for the Policy and Practice Visiting Associates Program
While this global agenda is supported by the American public, there has yet to be a systematic strategy for implementing the SDGs at local government levels. To address this gap, perspectives of local government leaders on the SDGs as well as implementing them through a regular and public accounting mechanism were examined. The results suggest that most mayors would use a public accounting mechanism for measuring progress of the SDGs (65%) and a small minority who would not (8%), which compares similarly to a past survey conducted by the United Nations Foundation.
Passing of UNA-USA SDG 17 Global Goals Ambassador Dr. Chandra Pauline Daniel
It is with a heavy heart that my Global Goals Ambassador partner Dr. Chandra Pauline Daniel passed away July 15, 2024. Chandra and I became close from serving together at UNA-USA over the past year and just recently she presented in my place for an event in New York. We were also planning an event together to be held in September, and she invited me to be part of the G100 women this year.
Chandra was a remarkable person, passionate advocate, and kind soul. She put 110% into everything she did while still making it fun and filled with laughter, and her drive was inspiring to all around her. I chose this photo of her because not only did we connect professionally but clicked personally. Recently, my beloved pet cat passed away, and when I told her about it she deeply felt my pain as she was also reminiscing the loss of her beloved pet guinea pig, Fluffy. We shared our grief together. Chandra was, and will always be, my friend.
I will do everything to carry her legacy in my work. I am truly going to miss her so much.
Returning to the IMF in Washington: An invitation to celebrate the IMF Youth Fellowship!
This year marks the fourth anniversary of the IMF Youth Fellowship program, and in celebration, I was invited as an alumna from previous years for discussions and activities that align with the IMF's vision and strategic priorities for future generations.
Leveraging this professional background, passion, and experiences, my participation aims to enrich IMF conversations and contribute valuable perspectives and innovative ideas through the pertinent topics of climate, gender, and AI as the agency commemorate its 80th anniversary.
UN Foundation's Our Future Agenda Intergenerational Townhall: National Vision for 2100
This past weekend, I had the incredible experience of sitting alongside two amazing leaders, Ose Ehianeta Arheghan and Sophia Kianni, on the National Vision for 2100 Intergenerational Townhall who each had critical wisdom to share that came from lived experience, demonstrating their diligence and passion for solving issues that face current generations today and future generations of tomorrow.
Commending the work that United Nations Association of the United States of America, United Nations Foundation, and Our Future Agenda has done to enable us this opportunity, this townhall was exemplary of intergenerational action where participants also got to craft solutions surrounding 12 ideas for future generations. We the panelists facilitated round table discussions and not only shared what our tables crafted but *radically!* listened to what many groups created as pathways forward towards our shared vision.
US Global Leadership Coalition Hill Day
Working with the US Global Leadership Coalition has been an extraordinary learning and impactful experience on my advocacy career. Proud to work alongside my Indiana state advisory committee members who each have unique backgrounds and perspectives to send a clear message across all of Congress: we must continue our legacy of bi-partisan, accountable, and effective legislation in supporting our International Affairs Budget that serve all Americans and the world.
Advancing SDG 6 through Water Reuse
Water-stressed regions like Kenya rely on saline water sources, which can pose serious health hazards if not treated. While desalination is a burgeoning solution, safe disposal of desalination brine is often infeasible or too expensive. To circumvent this disposal challenge, we examine the maximum desalination recovery ratio (RRmax) for which desalination brine can safely be reused for many agricultural applications.
Summit of the Future Consultations
This was my first time participating in a United Nations consultation where I spoke on behalf of Global Futurist Initiative. This consultation session was for Youth and Indigenous groups on the Summit of the Future. It was very humbling and exciting to see so many youth rising to the occasion to safeguard future generations through their voices. Additionally, UN Youth Delegate of Switzerland Arlinda Ramqaj spoke on behalf of our Informal Youth Working Group community of 300 young leaders representing 75 countries.
🏆AFS Young Global Citizen Award Finals 🏆
I was selected as one of six finalists to compete for the AFS Young Global Citizen Award sponsored by DHL and presented by AFS Intercultural Programs. The AFS Award for Young Global Citizens recognizes young people for their commitment to improving the global community and whose actions contribute to a more just, peaceful, and tolerant world. The Award will be awarded to a Youth Assembly delegate who demonstrates how their project is successfully addressing a pressing global issue, tackling one or more of the challenges outlined by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and what this translates into in real-life impacts.
HISTORY OF APPOINTMENTS
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