This past week the Public Diplomacy Council hosted a very special event centered around cultural diplomacy. PDC member and American pianist Pauline Yang shared her musical outreach during public diplomacy visits organized by Ambassadors in Japan, Ethiopia, and Portugal. Her stellar presentation was inspiring and a breath of fresh air when so many virtual events…
In two years’ time, shortly after graduating from the Harvard Kennedy School, we will join the U.S. Department of State Foreign Service to begin serving as American diplomats. At that time, we will be presented with the same question that all diplomats must answer: where do we wish to serve? Our answer to that question…
The September 14 First Monday Forum featured two outstanding speakers, Washington Post columnist Karen Tumulty and former Los Angeles Times correspondent Paul Richter, author of the book The Ambassadors: America’s Diplomats on the Front Lines. A dynamic husband-wife team, the couple have been regarded as among the best journalists in Washington. With extensive expertise in…
An Intergenerational Dialogue When newly elected PDC President Sherry Lee Mueller and newly hired PDC Fellow Olivia Chavez first met, they both were unsure what their new responsibilities entailed but they knew one thing; they wanted to work together and learn from each other. What follows is an excerpt from our conversation on multigenerational leadership,…
“Don’t talk to strangers,” is the advice we’ve all heard growing up from our parents. However, for a young girl from rural Illinois talking to strangers would lead her to countless unexpected moments of spontaneous citizen diplomacy and a rewarding career in public diplomacy. Dr. Sherry Mueller disobeyed her mother’s advice as she boarded a…