From a young age, Margarita Aswani, SIS/BA ’96, SIS/MA ’98, knew she wanted to work in international affairs.

“Since I was five years old, I said I wanted to be prime minister of Greece,” Aswani said in a recent interview. “As a child, I was inspired by Margaret Thatcher, and I wanted to be her when I grew up.”

Born in Greece, Aswani immigrated to the United States when she was 10 years old. She recalled that, as a child growing up in a home with a family that was politically involved, she never saw international affairs “as separate from her career trajectory.”

That inspiration and experience would ultimately lead Aswani to a life of service abroad, working with many organizations around the world to promote democracy and support international development through actions ranging from election observing to COVID-19 relief.

We recently sat down with Aswani to hear more about her journey to the School of International Service (SIS), her international career path, and her advice to future generations of professionals seeking a path in international development.

Finding SIS

When it was time to look at colleges, Aswani said it was important to her parents that her college was close to home. Aswani recalled being drawn to American University (AU) for its campus that was “just the right size” and the right distance from her family’s home in Pittsburgh, PA.

At SIS, Aswani found her footing on campus through playing intramural sports, attending concerts and film screenings, and working her on-campus job. She also built friends across cultures, recalling rounds of backgammon and intramural soccer games with “the Greeks, the Turks, and the Arabs” at a time when tensions were heightened between Greece and Turkey.

“I just had a really positive experience. AU was a really big part of my life,” Aswani said.

When she finished her undergraduate degree, Aswani decided to stay at SIS and pursue her master’s in International Development.

At the conclusion of her graduate studies, Aswani had to complete a work experience, and she ultimately settled on a role with the International Republican Institute (IRI)—an American nonprofit dedicated to advancing democracies worldwide—in their Africa division, kicking off an international career journey.

Finding a Footing in International Development

Within two weeks of graduating from SIS, Aswani moved to South Africa to work in the regional IRI office, where she trained locally elected officials how to manage and pass budgets. From there, Aswani helped to open the first IRI office in Nigeria after the sudden death of Nigerian dictator General Sani Abacha. In furthering that effort, Aswani helped to secure a $5 million grant from the National Endowment for Democracy to support election observation in the region.

Through the experience of observing Nigeria’s election, Aswani had the opportunity to work with John McCain and Colin Powell, who served as joint leaders of the election observations.

 “I had the privilege of working with some incredible human beings in our American history,” Aswani said.

After a few years with the IRI, Aswani went on to work in the private sector as a communications director with Lafarge, the world’s largest cement manufacturer, before taking a job as a consultant for a paramilitary outfit financed by the Department of Defense, where she served as a legislative executive liaison with the Nigerian National Assembly. She then went on to work as a consultant for the British Department for International Development, where she worked on advocacy, communications, and conflict analysis.

Her career journey would lead her next to a DAI program funded by the British government where she ultimately served as a deputy team leader for the British government's largest anti-corruption program in Nigeria.

She eventually left those roles to lead Mercy Corps, the U.S. government's largest food security program operating in northeastern Nigeria during the pandemic. Through her leadership, Aswani helped nearly double the organization’s funding and layer in a pandemic response to COVID-19.

Most recently, Aswani worked as a deputy director of strategy planning and management for the agricultural development team at the Gates Foundation, supporting farmers in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia doing sustainable, inclusive, and innovative agricultural development.

Over the span of her career, Aswani had the opportunity to observe 13 elections in Africa and work in nearly as many countries.

“I've had the privilege to work in more than 12 countries in sub-Saharan Africa—a lot of it based out of Nigeria,” Aswani said. “You could toss me somewhere in Africa and I’d probably have friends there.”

Reflecting on how SIS prepared her for her career journey, Aswani shared that the rigorous nature of her classes, the life experience of her professors, and the frameworks that she learned through her SIS coursework left a deep impression.

“The papers that we were asked to write and the mental models and frameworks that we were presented with to deploy were highly instrumental with how I showed up for work in the future. Those were critical in helping to make my career a success,” Aswani said. “And just the humility and lived experience the professors brought to the room—especially when a lot of them had been at negotiating tables—it defined how I showed up for my work in my career.”

Advice for SIS Students

Students looking at an international career path should be ready to be uncomfortable, Aswani said.

“I've been shot at during elections, I have lived on peanuts and bananas for a week at a time, and I have drunk warm Coke because the water was not clean to drink,” Aswani recalled. “So, I would say, get ready to be uncomfortable and build your experience that way. And then, really listen deeply when you do get out there.”

At a time when roles in international development are dwindling at the U.S. federal level, Aswani’s biggest piece of advice to students and recent graduates is this: think outside of America.

 “Think about what is possible outside of America,” she said. “Who are the other donors? There's the Germans, the European Union, the Brits—and so many more options to think about. There’s a life outside the United States, so keep your eyes and options open.”