I was raised in Washington, D.C., but my family is from Hawaii, so I spent my summers surrounded by palm trees, coconuts and lots of dolphins. Since I spent almost every summer bathed in island sunshine, I had a hard time with the cold and the snow when I first moved to Estonia. Since I grew up in the United States capital, though, I fell in love with foreign policy and government from a young age. I read The Washington Post every day, and on weekends, I escaped to the haven of Smithsonian museums.
My family lives all over the United States. My father and sister live in North Carolina, my brother lives in Texas and my mother lives in Maryland. I also have a very sweet maltipoo puppy that keeps my mother company in our home in Maryland. His name is Pono, which means “righteous” in Hawaiian. Growing up, I played soccer almost every day, but my favorite sport was beach volleyball because I loved diving in the sand.
After growing up in Washington, D.C., I moved across the country to study International Relations at Stanford University in California. In college, I had the opportunity to study abroad in Madrid, Spain and Geneva, Switzerland. In Madrid, I lived with a host family who taught me how to cook traditional tapas (appetizers) and discussed local politics with me.
