Great update from Jessica Dholakia ’07! Since August, she has been working at Pacific Council, a non-partisan international affairs organization addressing policy issues of special resonance in the West Coast. In her role as a Project Fellow, she has been assigned to the Council’s newest task force, the Latino Leadership Project.

The aim of this project is to better understand the complex foreign relation issues that concern Latino voters in the U.S. today. The task force will make policy recommendations to the 2012 presidential candidates in the areas of economic relations, migration and security to provide thinking around how U.S. Latinos can inform and shape policy in this region.

As a member of this task force, Jessica’s responsibilities are often varied. From coordinating events with congressional leaders and CEOs to fundraising and researching relevant political issues, she has had a significant hand in many of the project’s diverse initiatives.

When asked what she likes most about her job, Jessica shared that she enjoys meeting the distinguished spokespeople at Pacific Council events. As she better shares, “Last November, I was able to meet Secretary Perry and have a one-on-one moment with him as we talked nuclear weapons and his post-Cold War strategy.” She also said, “That same weekend I had the privilege of discussing the neo-con perspective with Francis Fukuyama and General Mattis from CentCom.”

Jessica graduated from George Washington University with a degree in International Affairs. While there, she was also Vice President of then Indian Student Association, Vice President of Student Activities and a sister of Alpha Delta Pi.