Isabelle Ick is from Kingsport, Tennessee, and she graduated from Barnard College with dual bachelor degrees in political science and human rights. She also minored in sociology. During her time at Barnard, Isabelle was heavily involved with the university’s community outreach nonprofit, Community Impact. She also interned with several social impact and development organizations while in college, including Breakthrough and Americares.

After graduation, Isabelle served as a Sustainable Agriculture Systems Peace Corps Volunteer in Benin until evacuation due to COVID-19. Isabelle’s Peace Corps service piqued her interest in development and localization, and she soon after joined Corus International. As a senior program associate, Isabelle focused on local capacity strengthening through multiple projects, co-leading the organization-wide Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Audit and Action Plan, and co-authoring Corus’ Food Safety White Paper and Food Safety Costing Tool.

In her free time, Isabelle enjoys time outdoors, eating good food and trying new restaurants, and spending time with her cat, Gus.

Why GHD?

I could list one hundred reasons why I chose GHD, but the people are the primary reason. GHD's staff and professors go above and beyond to teach and help us grow, personally and professionally. My classmates are incredible coworkers and create a very close and vital support system I know I will have for the rest of my life. While GHD has excellent academics, internship opportunities, extracurricular programming, and more, GHD would not be the same without its people.

Summer Internship

I completed my summer internship with AKADEMIYA2063, a research institution focused on assisting the African Union in achieving Agenda 2063. AKADEMIYA2063 focuses much of its research on food and agriculture policy across the continent. I spent much of my time leading the drafting and finalization of weekly briefs for USAID’s African Trade and Investment Activity, analyzing and synthesizing breaking news with available data to explain food security, food prices, and trade trends across the continent. I acted as program coordinator for the Digitally Enabled Resilience and Nutrition Policy Innovations (DERPIn) Project, which aims to strengthen the capacities of farmer organizations, policymakers, and other food system decision-makers to design and implement resilience-building strategies by using digital tools to generate and disseminate knowledge. I drafted relevant reports, supported stakeholder meetings, and planned knowledge dissemination events.