Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF)

Name: Stephanie Bloom
Position: WILPF, PeaceWomen Project Intern

Stephanie Bloom is originally from Wyckoff, New Jersey, a small suburb outside of New York City. While she always considered herself politically and socially conscious, it was not until she attended college that she became completely impassioned by global affairs. After taking “Critical Issues in World Politics” and “Women's Studies” her first semester of university, she was instantly enthralled. Soon after, she began to draw connections and parallels between women's interests and international affairs. Stephanie received her Bachelor's Degree (B.A.) with honors from Skidmore College in Government and Women's Studies, with a concentration in comparative politics. She is currently attending Columbia University, where she is working towards her Masters Degree in Human Rights, with a focus on women's rights in sub-Saharan Africa. She is most interested in how development policies impact women on the ground, and in turn, how women can influence the ways in which local, state, and international policies are conducted. She became interested in the African region after she studied abroad in South Africa her junior year of college, which also afforded her the opportunity to travel to numerous other African countries in the region.

She recently earned a fellowship to travel to Ghana this summer, where she will be working on a community development project that combines women's empowerment with sustainable environmental practices. Stephanie has been working at PeaceWomen since September 2010 and credits PeaceWomen and WILPF for strengthening her interest in women in conflict zones, and teaching her so much about global governance, the United Nations system, and the unique, important, and surely indispensable, role that women play in international peace and security. She hopes to one day work for a development agency or do advocacy for an international women's organization, much like PeaceWomen.