Rashida Hawa Kabba

Columbia University, School of International and Public Affairs, Masters in International Affairs

Rashida Hawa Kabba is from Freetown, Sierra Leone and spent the first few years of her life there during the country’s civil war. Her family escaped the conflict to neighboring Guinea where she lived as a refugee before moving to the United States in 2005. Rashida is a 2015 graduate of Gettysburg College earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Affairs & Africana Studies. At Gettysburg, Rashida was a student leader and involved in many groups and activities promoting diversity and inclusion. She spent three years as Diversity Peer Educator, two years as a Program Coordinator with the Center for Public Service, and two years as a Career Outreach Assistant for the Center for Career Development. She has also held internships with Equal Justice Works in Washington, D.C., and with the Kisumu Medical and Education Trust in Kisumu, Kenya. Rashida is a passionate advocate for education and the socioeconomic empowerment of women and girls across the globe. She will be pursuing a Masters of International Affairs at Columbia University’s SIPA for the Human Rights and Humanitarian Policy, specializing in Gender and Public Policy. Rashida hopes to use her degree and skills to advocate for human rights and gender equality.