Irla Atanda is originally from Jacksonville, Florida. She graduated from the University of Notre Dame in May 2020 with a Bachelor of Arts in American studies, as well as a minor in international development studies. Her academic career focused on understanding the complexity of global issues such as climate change, political instability, migration, and sustainable development. She spent her senior year writing a thesis on the history of U.S. involvement in Latin America in the 20th century, with a specific focus on the current Venezuelan humanitarian crisis. During her time in college, Irla studied abroad at the University of Cape Town as a Gilman Scholar and Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and received a Boren Scholarship to study Portuguese in Brazil. She currently works at Refugees International as the Special Assistant to the organization’s president and is a 2022 Thomas R. Pickering Fellow. She is proficient in Spanish.