Know Your Network

Our first episode of 2025 features two aspiring doctors who met in their medical program in Dublin, Ireland. In this discussion we dive into burnout and self-care in a demanding academic and professional environment, strategies to address health inequities and future healthcare needs.

• Arianna Dart is a fourth-year medical student at Trinity College Dublin. She grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and always wanted to pursue a career in international relations and diplomacy. While completing her undergraduate degree, she pivoted and decided to study medicine. While her career goals have changed, her desire to connect and work with people from different backgrounds, cultures, and languages has not. She strives to provide patient care guided by empathy, cultural competence, and shared decision-making. She hopes to one day combine her love for internationalism and her medical career and work for Doctors Without Borders. 
• Julia Malone is a fourth-year medical student studying at Trinity College Dublin. She grew up in Ottawa, Canada and completed her undergraduate degree at Rollins College in Florida, where she majored in Chemistry and played on the varsity golf team. From a young age she knew she wanted to pursue a career in health care. She hopes to specialize in obstetrics and gynaecology as she has a passion for women’s health, recognizing the significant gaps in research and funding that currently exist in this field. She is determined to integrate research into her future practice, aiming to contribute to advancements in women's health and advocate for improved resources and support in this field.  

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This week's episode of Know Your Network is focused on Migration, an industry that supports the resettlement and integration of refugees, immigrants and asylum seekers. Our guests today are Nancy Rosas and Madina Tokhi. Nancy and Madina met a few years ago at their work for a non-profit supporting immigrants in the Washington, DC metro area. 

• Nancy Rosas has a background in international affairs with a dual Master’s from the University of Malta in Conflict Resolution and Mediterranean Security. She moved to the US when she was 2 years old from Bolivia, and brings this experience and passion for human rights advocacy to her career and her current work as an Asylum Officer for the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
• Madina Tokhi is an Afghan-American who grew up in the Washington, DC area. Her passion for serving her community led her into immigration advocacy and interpretation work, which coincided with the post-withdrawal Afghan crisis. She currently works at Catholic Charities providing support to migrants and their families as they enter and integrate into life in the U.S. Madina is also a mother, and currently a student pursuing a degree in health informatics.

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This episode of Know Your Network is focused on Reproductive Health (Repro), an area of healthcare which is critical in meeting the health needs of women, mothers and families. 

Our guests today are Heather Irons and Daisy Orellana. Heather and Daisy met as colleagues at their current clinic. 

• Heather Irons is originally from Florida and majored in Philosophy. Heather got involved with reproductive rights while a student in college, initially working to help escort women safely to abortion centers. Her interest and passion for expanding reproductive health access and advocating for people’s health care rights continued to evolve. She now works as an Abortion Doula at a private abortion clinic in Washington, DC and cares for patients from across the country every week.
• Daisy Orellana grew up in Northern California. During a college study aboard program in Mexico, she was first exposed to Doula work as a way of providing mental, physical and emotional support to pregnant people. Daisy underwent doula training and worked for a number of years as a Birth Doula in the San Francisco area before moving across the country to DC. She is now an Abortion Doula working alongside Heather at a private abortion clinic in DC.

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On each episode of Know Your Network we invite a young professional from our network who works in that industry, and ask them to bring along an industry peer. 

This episode is focused on Human Resources, a field that encompasses a lot of critical business functions and thus is often misunderstood. HR team members are also first to adapt to new trends in hiring, skills and industry needs to recruit, train and retain effective workforces.  

Our guests today are Olivia Hess and Caroline O’Rourke. Olivia and Caroline met through TikTok when Olivia moved to the DC-area in 2021.

• Olivia Hess grew up in Upstate New York and studied Business and Communication. She moved to Boston and began a career in Human Resources, working as a recruiter for tech companies. Olivia has a Masters in Human Resources Management and Services and now works for one of the largest companies in the world as a Senior HR Strategy and Insights Analyst. Olivia is passionate about building successful organizations through employee engagement, diversity, equity and inclusion, and talent development. 
• Caroline O’Rourke studied Political Science and Government and got her start in recruiting as a leader organizer for her campus sorority’s recruitment efforts. She moved to Washington, DC and quickly rose up the ladder working to recruit technical talent for various teams and companies in the Software as a Service, civic tech and government space. She and Olivia met through social media and instantly clicked.

https://knowyournetworkpodcast.com/

Know Your Network is a podcast highlighting the voices and perspectives of young professionals. 

This episode is focused on Agricultural Advocacy, which is broadly defined as working to represent the interests, aims and policy needs through grassroots organizing, public relations, and strategic engagement with government representatives. 

Our guests today are Billy Hackett and Vanessa García Polanco. Billy and Vanessa met during pandemic-area Zoom meetings collaborating on agricultural advocacy initiatives. 

• Billy Hackett is originally from Florida and studied Political Science and International Studies with a Latin America focus. He started his career and passion for agricultural advocacy organizing in solidarity with migrant farm workers. Billy continues to build his career as an advocate for a sustainable food system which creates fair opportunities for farmers and workers, feeds families, and restores vibrancy to rural communities. He now works as a Policy Specialist for the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. 
• Vanessa García Polanco grew up in the Dominican Republic and studied Environmental and Natural Resource Economics before getting a Masters in Community Food and Agricultural Systems. She has held various roles in food, agriculture and sustainability, including a Rhode Island state-appointed position, a research fellow, and now the Director of Government Relations for the National Young Farmers Coalition. 

https://knowyournetworkpodcast.com/

Know Your Network is a podcast highlighting the voices and perspectives of young professionals. 

This episode is focused on Global Health, an industry that uses a multidisciplinary and collaborative approach to address critical health crises, build health resilience and advance health equity around the world. 

Our guests today are Fouad Abu-Hijleh and Lein Soltan. Fouad and Lein met in graduate school as they both were pursuing the same Masters degree, just one year apart.

• Fouad Abu-Hijleh grew up in Jordan in a family of former Palestinian refugees. He started his undergraduate degree on the pre-medicine track, but ultimately made the decision to pursue a career in public health. He holds a Masters in Public Health (MPH), and now works as a Digital Health Specialist with expertise in epidemiology, public health research, and digital health strategy development and implementation across the Middle East and Africa. 
• Lein Soltan is a Palestinian American born and raised in North Carolina to Palestinian refugee parents fleeing the Gulf War in Kuwait. She holds a Masters in Public Health with a Global Health concentration and a Bachelors in Biology with a Marine Science concentration from the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill. Lein spent the first seven years of her career as a marine biologist, managing a sea turtle research lab at UNC after working as an ocean outdoor educator in San Diego. Lein’s transition to global health was inspired by her experience growing up as a first-generation American in a Palestinian refugee family, ingraining a sense of global connectivity and a responsibility to advocate for her people. Lein is passionate about the connections between the environment, animals, and health. She is now the Advocacy Manager at the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees USA National Committee (UNRWA USA), where she leads advocacy efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza and restore US government funding to UNRWA.

https://knowyournetworkpodcast.com/

Join us on Know Your Network, a podcast highlighting the voices and perspectives of young professionals. On each episode we focus on a different industry area and invite a young professional from our network who works in that industry, and ask them to bring along an industry peer. Together, we dive deep to hear from them their paths to get to where they are today, trends and issues in their line of work, and forecasts about the future. 

We are your hosts, Kit and Cal, and we are two best friends navigating our 20s and early careers! We know firsthand that ~networking~ can be a daunting word and it can be difficult to know where to start... Through this podcast we aim to show the strength and brilliance we all have in our networks, and how powerful it can be to make those introductions and find people who inspire, challenge and support you.

https://knowyournetworkpodcast.com/