Project/Program Development Officer
Foreign Service, United States Agency for International Development
(USAID)
Stacey T. Warren began a career in cosmetics working for L’Oreal
and Clairol. But in order to satisfy her desire for philanthropic
works, Stacey also performed volunteer services for abused women by
providing cosmetic makeovers in an effort to partially restore
their damaged self- esteem and self-image. Her love for helping
others, combined with a growing interest in International
Relations, prompted Stacey to obtain her MBA at The Peter J. Tobin College of Business.
Following graduation in 2003, Stacey did not follow the
customary MBA path to the doors of Wall Street or the Fortune
500. Instead, she joined the U.S. Peace Corps as a Small
Enterprise Development Volunteer and was stationed in the Republic
of Guinea, West Africa. She was assigned to a NGO to assist a rural
village to export shea butter to Holland for use in the cosmetics
and food industries. “I was grateful for having taken the Business
Statistics course because while working with a NGO I quickly
realized how rural economic programs in the field undergo rigorous
statistical analysis to quantify the need for programs, outline
direct benefactors, and determine its potential contribution to
improving the quality of life in a community”, says Stacey.
After completing her Peace Corps service in Guinea, Stacey moved to
the Republic of Tanzania, East Africa. “Working with a new project
in Tanzania had its challenges because my job was to begin a
start-up rural-based enterprise,” says Stacey. This enterprise was
designed to aid women within the region to establish and run their
own artisan business. “My first task was to create a financial
system to ensure the project funding was accurately maintained and
appropriately spent, which required the in-depth knowledge of
financial management that I gained at Tobin.”
Three years later, Stacey has returned to the United States and
reflects back on her experience. “I had a lot of challenges working
in the rural villages. Aside from the work I was involved in, I had
to adapt to the local food and harsh conditions of the region, but
I stuck to my goal and that was to help people. The experience
convinced me to continue doing humanitarian work,” she says. Stacey
is currently in the Foreign Service on her first assignment at the
US Embassy in Liberia, West Africa as the Program/Project
Development Officer working for the United States Agency for
International Development (USAID).