Alyson Curro is a 2016-17 Luce Scholar, supporting the work of local women’s rights organization Akhaya Women in Yangon, Myanmar.

After receiving her B.A. in Political Communication at Louisiana State University in 2010 (geaux tigers!), Aly spent 2.5 years in Istanbul, Turkey, reporting on gender-based violence and discrimination for Today’s Zaman, the then-largest English-language daily in Turkey (with recent political events, it’s shuttered). She also contributed regularly to The Washington Post and reported for other international outlets like Roads and Kingdomsand Bitch. (For funsies, Aly also contributed to Outside.)

The urge to get more directly involved in patriarchy smashin’ led Aly back to the U.S. to pursue a master’s degree at Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. There she conducted research for UN Women on the barriers female UN employees face, helped build a coalition to pass campus sexual assault legislation in Louisiana, and helped advise Princeton University’s administration in implementing new campus sexual assault policies and practices.

Aly most recently worked as an adviser on civil society engagement to the UN Foundation’s Policy Team in New York, and a 2016 Women’s Policy, Inc. (WPI) Congressional Fellow, working at the intersection of gender, health and economic policy, for U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin.

Besides trying to tame the beast that is the Myanmar language, Aly is not so slowly eating her way through the city of Yangon and working on perfecting her Mandalay Rum Sour. Guinea pigs welcome.