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by Prajna Naidoo
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The New Year always bring reminiscent reflections on the accomplishments, challenges, and pivotal lessons that guide our resolutions and goals for the year. After basking in nostalgia listening to my Spotify wrapped and observing the range of music running parallel to my attitudes and experiences at the time, I thought why not give my brain the same kind of clout. My 2023 professional journey has been filled with intellectual exploration, deep connections with like-minded individuals, and self-discovery into how I want to contribute to the world. Therefore, I am pleased to share my professional Spotify wrapped with you all and hope it offers encouragement to celebrate the big and little wins that have gotten us to where we are today. 

January: Presented my ESIA Dean’s Scholars thesis on Migrant Entrepreneurship at Harvard University. Receiving the ESIA Undergraduate Research Award gave me the opportunity to design, conduct, and present my independent study on migrant business incubators in Cape Town, South Africa to the Harvard Undergraduate Research Association over a 2 day conference. None of this would have been possible without the sincere dedication and resilience of the Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town's amazing team. They pillared my outlook on what it takes to support refugee businesses' multidimensional needs and foster compassionate environments for success. 

February: Kicked off @OneForTheWorld GW's professional development workshop series on our role in ethical and impactful philanthropy. I designed interactive lectures covering topics related to equitable cost-effective evaluation criteria, minimization of dependency relationships, impact potential of localization, aid power structures, and the consumer role in development. My great team positioned the organization to provided a tangible way for youth to participate in global development solutions through its pledge system and engagement with controversial topics that underly development world's stagnation. 

March: Hosted One for the World GW's largest panel event on efforts to localize foreign aid in Africa which was streamed on @VoicesforAmerica. We partnered with the @AfricanDevelopmentInitative to bring together field experts from USAID, Global Giving, Creative Aid, and Howard University to share perspectives and efforts being made to recenter the playing field to support the internal development and resilience of the African continent. 

April: Completed the ArtofLiving breath-work and meditation retreats which provided me with life long tools to take ownership of my conscious and bring it in sync with my physical, mental, and spiritual health. The Art of Living operates as a global non-profit with a goal of harnessing and unifying humanity's internal resources to overcome social and political intolerances. Its approach has been powerfully successful in mediating major peace and conflict resolutions across the world, rehabilitating prisoners, and reducing youth and community violence. 

May: Graduated Magna Cum Laude from the The George Washington University with a BA in International Affairs with an International Development Concentration and Psychology minor. I was also noted for my completion of the ESIA Dean’s Scholars Program, all of which was a proud moment for me and my family. 

June: Qualified as a wellness workshop instructor and facilitated breath work and meditation sessions with the Art of Living at Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Nashville. We taught about 1000 people and promoted the World Culture Festival which brought over 1 million people together on the National Mall in Washington DC for global peace. 

July: Attended the National Science Foundation (NSF) Eddie Bernice Johnson Includes Network conference in DC where I networked with ambitious evaluators across STEM sectors who are aiming to build transparent and just impact models. 

August: Amongst adventurous travels to commemorate my birthday month, I attended my first Effective Altruism Global: DC (EAG) conference in New York City. This experience blew my mind because I met such a vast network of people who are combining resources from fields of tech, animal welfare, global development, and philanthropic fundraising to propel high impact projects contributing to effective positive change. 

September: I kept chasing the high of being surrounded my like-minded passionate individuals at the EAG conference in Berlin. Here, I got introduced to Team Spirit International and came full circle to transfer my knowledge on migrant entrepreneurship into an agribusiness incubator project in Uganda. The post-EAG Berlin rave also showed me that you can do good and have fun while doing it too! It sparked my interest in the music, arts, and festival capacity to drive social impact.

October: Took a brief sabbatical to travel to Rome, reconnect with my family and precious grandmother, and finally get my wisdom teeth removed (which I had been dreading for far too many years). By the end of the month, I got back to it and attended my last EAG conference in Boston where I networked for job opportunities and sought out collaborators for my passion project to design a happiness impact measurement tool. 

November: Spent some time in Washington DC reminiscing over my recently concluded college days and finding a newfound appreciation for the city and its people. I took on the force of all the connections and projects I had gathered up over the year and executed numerous plans of action for the Ugandan agribusiness incubator and impact evaluation. 

December: Took all my experiences back home to South Africa to embark on a new adventure in Cape Town as a digital nomad and happiness content creator for the Are You Happy community. I sought to upgrade my technical skills in AI to transcribe interviews that ask strangers if they are happy and what the source of their happiness is in hopes of identifying common markers to develop a happiness impact measurement tool. 

Overall, it's been an exciting year and based on all the intellectual fuel I geared up from 2023, I can only imagine that 2024 is going to be a powerhouse that founds my career. As an independent consultant, I look forward to collaborating with more people and projects that resonate with my passion for ethical global development and I look forward to seeing what we can achieve when we put all our curious minds together. 

If you've made it this far, thanks for reading and please don't hesitate to reach out via LinkdIn or email at prajnanaidoo5@gmail.com if you're interested in sharing ideas or  looking to expand the scope of your project. 

Wishing you all a fruitful and fulfilled New Year. 

Kindly, 

Prajna Naidoo 

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