Dr. Robert H. Jackson Leadership Award

Dr. Robert H. Jackson
(1933 - 2001)

Elizabeth Kraushar, originally from Maplewood, New Jersey, is pursuing her MBA at Cornell University’s S.C. Johnson Graduate School of Management. She specializes in entrepreneurship and finance, working with companies to position and grow their enterprises while helping to alleviate poverty and improve societies globally through sustainable and innovative technologies and services. 

Previously, Elizabeth worked for over three years as a communications and brand development strategist in the Washington, D.C. office of the global communications firm Weber Shandwick. She managed campaigns and initiatives focused on environmental sustainability, food security, healthcare and other international development issues for foundations, governments and multinational companies. She also spearheaded research on global hunger, assisting Weber Shandwick’s chairman in his leadership role with the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid. She founded and edited her office’s first Diversity and Inclusion e-newsletter, “Perspectives,” which highlights Hispanic American, African American and Native American cultures through articles about staff involvement in diversity initiatives.  

Elizabeth’s other volunteer activities include helping underrepresented minority students improve their resume writing and job interviewing skills. In 2009, she graduated with honors in her major (political science) from Barnard College of Columbia University in New York, where she volunteered several times a week at Esperanza del Barrio, an advocacy organization in Spanish Harlem that helps Hispanic street vendors start their microenterprises and provides business administration and educational resources. Fluent in Spanish, Elizabeth was a Fulbright Scholar in Mexico from 2009-2010, where her research identified cultural and business factors that make certain U.S.-Mexican agricultural joint ventures more productive and profitable than their competitors. Elizabeth studied flamenco dancing for six years as well as salsa dancing and during her Fulbright year she performed with the Mexican Regional Folk Dance Team all over the Mexican state of Guanajuato. 

Elizabeth is a member of The Consortium, the nation’s largest network of MBA students and Fortune 500 companies dedicated to increasing the representation of African Americans, Native Americans and Hispanic Americans in the ranks of corporate management.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, Sequoia Sierra grew up in an environment that fostered experiences in many different cultures and careers. Sequoia was home-schooled with a classical education in the liberal arts and the great books.  During high school she attended a performing arts academy focusing on acting, dance, voice, and piano.  She has attended Christendom College in Front Royal, VA, and is currently in between universities.  She has also attended Holy Wood Acting Studio in Hollywood, and has worked in film production.

Professionally, Sequoia is an entrepreneur and a fashion/wardrobe stylist. She has done wardrobe and fashion styling for television and film, and has been recognized by the City Council of Los Angeles for her fashion work for “The LA Business Today” show.

While in junior high and high school, Sequoia amassed over 2,500 volunteer hours helping at a hospital as a junior volunteer and at a retreat center.  She has visited and assisted the elderly in a skilled nursing facility, and has assisted the directors and administrators, serving as a personal assistant from the age of 12. Sequoia volunteers for many causes such as healthcare, scholarships for education, job development, and the arts. She has directed a program for the assimilation of refugees in greater Los Angeles and has been an advocate on Capitol Hill on behalf of refugees. Sequoia is the youth leader of Bring Hollywood Home, a non-profit that aims to create more jobs in the film and television industry by lobbying for tax incentives and keeping a cap on runaway production. 

Sequoia is very active in promoting human dignity by promoting the protection of life or partnering with organizations that prioritize the unrepeatable and unique dignity of every person.

Over the years, Sequoia has received numerous awards honoring volunteers and young women, and most recently was named Miss Orange County Woman of Achievement.
 

Daphne graduated with Highest Honors from the University of California Berkeley in 2009 with a BA in Sociology, and was awarded the 2009 Sociology Department Citation for most outstanding performance by an undergraduate for her independent research and Honors Thesis on barriers to maternal health care in Peruvian asentamientos humanos. Working in the restaurant industry for many years to pay for her education, Daphne developed an understanding of the vulnerability of the immigrant populations whom she worked alongside. During college, Daphne volunteered as a tutor/mentor for Mexican-American high school students throughout college, coached an inner-city track team, and volunteered at urban public hospitals in Oakland, CA and Piura, Peru. Daphne is fluent in Spanish, and uses this skill to interact directly with Spanish-speaking students, co-workers, medical patients, and immigrant community members. Daphne was struck by the similarities in the social factors that negatively influence health in disadvantaged populations at home and abroad. Motivated by her interest in social determinants of health and her desire to work directly with underserved populations, Daphne was inspired to study Medicine.

Daphne completed the post-baccalaureate premedical program at Bryn Mawr College in 2010. Since the fall of 2009, Daphne has been a volunteer and student coordinator at the Puentes de Salud health clinic serving Philadelphia’s Mexican immigrant population. In the fall of 2010, Daphne developed Puentes Hacia el Futuro, an afterschool tutoring, enrichment and wellness program for immigrant children in the Puentes patient community, and is currently the program’s Executive Director. She has been invited to present the experiences of the Puentes Hacia el Futuro program at the American Public Health Association’s 2011 annual meeting.

Daphne plans to dedicate her career to improving the health of vulnerable populations by combining her interest in Sociology, social determinants of health, with her medical training.
 

Click here to view the official University photo of NAEIF president Theodore Wills (left) presenting the 2009 Dr. Robert H. Jackson Leadership Award to Thomas Méndez of the University of St. Thomas, Class of 2009. Click here to read University of St. Thomas President Dr. Robert Ivany's (right) letter of recommendation for the award.

Read the University of St. Thomas news article on Thomas Méndez and the Dr. Robert H. Jackson award published by the  their website http://www.stthom.edu/mendez or read a PDF copy of the news article here (printed with permission of the University of St. Thomas).

 

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