Originally from Vermont/USA with a B.A. in History from Harvard University, Jesse has a background in youth development, education, public health, human rights activism, the arts (theatre/music/film), and non-profit management. He has worked internationally in Rwanda, South Africa, Haiti, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cambodia and Mauritania, and has done additional grant-writing and project support in Guinea, Uganda, and North Macedonia. After college, Jesse acted professionally in theatre in the U.S. & Britain (National Shakespeare Company, American Repertory Theatre) and worked with the Institute for the Arts and Civic Dialogue (founded by Anna Deavere Smith / Ford Foundation). From 2002 - 2009, Jesse co-founded and ran RAPSIDA, a nation-wide community-based performing arts program for HIV-prevention in Rwanda, collaborating on theatre, film, radio, and TV programs with both local civil society, educational, governmental and international entities (PSI, CARE, USAID, Scenarios d’Afrique, among others).

Jesse also served as a consultant/writer in behavior change communications for Population Services International, a researcher/writer for the Global Aids Alliance, and as the Rwanda Program Director for Global Youth Connect, organizing 16 human rights youth summits in Rwanda. Jesse became the Executive Director of Global Youth Connect (2009 – 2015), working with youth and civil society in Rwanda, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cambodia, and instituting the Human Rights in the USA program in NYC. After returning to the stage/theatre in NYC from 2015 until 2020, Jesse’s Covid-19 existence included living on a lake in Maine for 5 months and assistant teaching Visual Arts at the Renaissance School for the Arts in East Harlem, NYC. Most recently, Jesse served as an international grant-writer and USA Program Director for MindLeaps, a dance & research-based educational-accelerator program for children and youth: operating in Rwanda, Uganda, Guinea, Mauritania, North Macedonia, and the U.S. Jesse helped develop and implement the first MindLeaps pilot programs in the United States in collaboration with Children of Promise NYC, serving the specific needs of children impacted by parental incarceration. He is thrilled to join the MESCI Master’s program to deepen his understanding of international cooperation for equitable social and economic development.