Pathways To Opportunity Series: Careers in International Affairs, Business, and Trade
Howard COAS Student Ambassadors Edition
The WITA Academy is pleased to partner with the Howard University College of Arts and Sciences (COAS) Flagship Student Ambassador Program again this year for the 2024 Pathways to Opportunity program for students to learn about careers in international trade and business.
The WITA Academy Pathways to Opportunity program consists of a series of career pathways sessions hosted by trade professionals from the Washington D.C. policy community. The curriculum, divided between the public and private sector, highlights different roles and career paths that are available in Washington D.C. and around the world.
This one hour online event is open to College of Arts and Sciences students from the Howard University (undergraduates and graduates), to learn about careers in international trade and business.
Registration is free for students and faculty – must use university email to register.
Students will gain insight from trade professionals, pose questions to policymakers, and learn about exciting career opportunities in international affairs, political science, business, and trade. Students come away with an understanding of the trade policy-making community, the role of its key players, and the opportunities for internships and careers available to them.
Hosted in Partnership with
AGENDA
All times below US/Eastern
1:00 PM – 1:05 PM ET: Welcome & Introduction
Diego Añez, Executive Director, WITA Academy; Managing Director, Washington International Trade Association (WITA) (University of Georgia)
Kenneth I. Levinson, Chief Executive Officer, Washington International Trade Association (WITA) (University of Massachusetts, in Amherst & New York University)
1:05 PM – 1:30 PM ET: Opportunities in the Public Sector
Jayden Graham-White, Trade Policy Analyst, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce (Tuskegee University & George Washington University)
Janae Martin, Program Manager, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce (Howard University & Johns Hopkins SAIS)
William Miller, Director of Industrial Trade Policy, Office of Small Business, Market Access and Industrial Competitiveness, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR); former Senior Policy Advisor, U.S. Department of Commerce (Morehouse College & Columbia University)
Moderator: Derick Holt, Partner, Wiley Rein LLP (Towson University & Howard Law)
1:30 PM – 1:55 PM ET: Opportunities in the Private Sector
Tiffany Atwell, Senior Vice President of Global Government Affairs, EcoLab; former Director of International Government Affairs, DuPont; former Senior Director Strategic Programs Global Government Affairs, Abbott Laboratories (North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University & North Carolina Central University)
Jamaica Gayle, Director of Sustainability and Environmental Affairs, Corn Refiners Association; former Executive Director, Global Innovation Forum, National Foreign Trade Council (American University)
Moderator: Derick Holt, Partner, Wiley Rein LLP (Towson University & Howard Law)
1:55 PM – 2:00 PM ET: Closing Remarks
D’Asia Bethea, Assistant Director of Student Affairs for Strategic Initiatives, Academic Assessment, and Communication, College of Arts and Sciences, Howard University
SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES:
Tiffany Atwell is the Senior Vice President of Global Government Affairs at EcoLab. As leader of global government and industry affairs at one of the largest stand-alone agriculture organizations in the world, Tiffany has the critical job of ensuring that the U.S. agricultural sector has access to international markets. To that end, she has long been a strong supporter of free trade.
Atwell began her career through the competitive Presidential Management Fellows Program at the State Department, where she began the globally minded work that has defined her career. Between 2004 and 2006, she brought that international perspective to the Hill. Atwell worked closely with Sen. Chuck Grassley, a farmer who is among the agriculture industry’s biggest champions in Congress. As an international-trade-policy adviser on the Senate Finance Committee, she wrote speeches and briefings for the Iowa Republican. During that period, Grassley sponsored five free-trade-implementation acts that became law, including agreements with Australia, the Dominican Republic and Central America, Morocco, Bahrain, and Oman.
Following her tenure in the Senate, Atwell took a position with Abbott Laboratories, leading outreach to foreign governments. There, she drove the company’s engagement in major markets, including Russia, China, and India, and built partnerships with nongovernmental organizations.
Since 2013, Atwell has directed DuPont’s market access policy efforts, continuing her work in key markets by promoting the company abroad. She joined Corteva, a spinoff of DowDupont, last year. At the international seed- and crop-protection company, she has helped establish partnerships with farmers in emerging markets. At this year’s Africa Green Revolution Forum virtual summit, for instance, she launched a Corteva partnership to increase dairy production in Kenya, where she once worked at the U.S. embassy. She also helped develop a partnership with the Indian government to assist more than 100,000 farmers.
At DuPont, Atwell continued her work on American trade interests in China, representing the company at the 2015 U.S.-China Business Council membership meeting. In 2018, she spoke at a discussion on U.S.-Brazil relations hosted by the Brazil-U.S. Business Council and the Brazilian Embassy. And closer to home, Atwell has expressed strong support for the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement; Corteva lobbied vigorously for its passage.
Atwell has often encouraged other women and members of underrepresented groups to join the agricultural sector. Speaking at a 2017 conference in Canada, she said that women “have fresh ideas, new approaches, understand how to listen, and that is what agriculture needs.”
Jayden Graham-White is a Trade Policy Analyst at the International Trade Administration within the US Department of Commerce. She also serves as Co-Chair of the Recruitment and Outreach committee of ITA’s Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Council as well as the Chair of the International Affairs Cluster of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Jayden is a proud graduate of Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, AL where she earned a bachelors in Political Science and George Washington University where she has just completed her masters in Public Policy with an emphasis on Global Social Policy.
Jamaica Gayle is the Director of Sustainability and Environmental Affairs at the Corn Refiners Association. In her position, she manages CRA’s Sustainability and Environmental Affairs committees and leads efforts to advance these issues across food, agriculture, and plant-based product value chains. Jamaica is also responsible for representing CRA in a broad range of industry and environmental coalitions focused on sustainability and environmental issues. Prior to joining CRA, Jamaica served as the Executive Director of the National Foreign Trade Council’s Global Innovation Forum, a project to elevate small businesses to help foster an inclusive policy landscape. In this role, she led the organization’s work to advance small business exports and sustainable trade initiatives. Jamaica began her career as a coordinator with the National Association of Manufacturers.
Derick Holt is Partner at Wiley Rein LLP. Derick represents clients in a variety of international trade matters, including antidumping and countervailing duty investigations, export controls, and sanctions compliance programs. He practices before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the U.S. Court of International Trade, the U.S. Department of Commerce, and the U.S. International Trade Commission. His work involves a broad range of industries, including steel and downstream steel products, aluminum extrusions, and renewable energy products. When Derick is not protecting domestic industries from unfairly traded imports, he represents low-income D.C. residents in landlord-tenant disputes.
Janae Martin is a Program Manager with the International Trade Administration at the U.S. Department of Commerce. Born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, Janaé began her journey in ITA as an intern in I&A’s Energy and Environmental Industries Office, focusing on trade opportunities for the American renewable energy industry. Janaé has been working in ITA’s Enforcement and Compliance (E&C) unit for over six years as an international trade analyst and as a program manager. During her time at ITA, she has led and participated in E&C verification trips in China, South Korea, and India; and she helped launch the Trade Talks quarterly discussion series as a member of the group’s Media and Marketing committee.
Prior to joining ITA, Janaé worked as a reporter and legislative researcher at the Congressional Quarterly, covering legislation on various foreign affairs topics. She went on to earn her MA in International Relations and International Economics from Johns Hopkins SAIS, along with a Certificate in Chinese and American Studies from the Hopkins-Nanjing Center in China.
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For questions about the event, please contact the WITA Staff events@wita.org.
The mission of the WITA Academy™ is to make trade education and career opportunities in international trade accessible to communities in the United States and around the world, and to make the trade community itself more diverse, equitable and inclusive.
The WITA Academy works with trade leaders in businesses, law, academia, NGOs, embassies and the U.S. Government to help stakeholders, students, and others to better understand and navigate the U.S. and global trade policy apparatus.
Thank you to our WITA Academy Sponsors
Law Partner Sponsor
.