Nadia Smiecinska

Nadia Smiecinska, a Staff Writer for Gender Across Borders, was born in Poland and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area as an adolescent. She was always passionately interested in history, psychology, sociology, international affairs, and current events. At the University of San Francisco she majored in Psychology with a minor in Politics and Women’s Studies. While in college Nadia got involved with globalization and social justice campaigns. After college she attended American University in Washington D.C., graduating with a Master’s degree in International Affairs. While there, her research interests focused on women’s human rights, sex trafficking, political movements and social/economic policy, post-communist societies, international development, labor rights and European Union studies.

After graduate school, Nadia started working for CLASP, which is focused on energy efficiency standards worldwide, helping to curb climate change. In addition, she has worked for a variety of organizations, including a nonprofit that works with women-run NGO’s in Africa, an agency engaged in analyzing nations’ policies regarding low-carbon growth, a global health organization focused on low-income people and a national, non-partisan campaign increasing the number of women in elected office. Currently, Nadia is involved with a San Francisco foundation with a focus on housing, healthcare and education in Southeast Asia. In her free time she loves exploring places close and far and writing about traveling for a blog she shares with her husband.