Natalie Hettle

Natalie Hettle is from Salem, Oregon.  Natalie completed her senior year of high school in Grenoble, France following a year-long exchange program where she lived with a host family. While an undergrad she was awarded a Boren Scholarship and studied Arabic in Ibri, Oman for one year. Living with an Omani family sparked her passion for Gulf culture and deepened her knowledge and interest in economic development. After returning from Oman, Natalie obtained a Bachelor of Arts from Ohio State University with a major in International Studies, with a focus on Development Studies, and minors in French and Arabic.

After graduation, Natalie was hired by a monitoring and evaluation firm based in Istanbul, Turkey to conduct research on humanitarian operations in Syria and Iraq. During her time in Istanbul, Natalie conducted evaluations on aid projects to ensure accountability to vulnerable populations and improve the effectiveness of project implementation. She focused on food security and livelihoods and conducted economic and social analyses of agricultural value chains in Iraq. As part of her duties, Natalie engaged with UN cluster heads by presenting her findings and recommendations in Gaziantep, Turkey.

Currently Natalie works as a Reporting Specialist with St. Andrews Refugee Services (StARS) in Cairo, Egypt. She has streamlined internal monitoring mechanisms and enhanced staff reporting capacities to ensure the continuation of funding from program donors.

In graduate school, Natalie plans to continue studying development economics and to further specialize in food security and rural livelihoods. She is honored to be selected as a 2022 Payne Fellow and aspires to become an Agricultural backstop for the Foreign Service.

In her free time, Natalie enjoys learning Turkish, hiking, spending time with her two dogs and reading.