After graduating from State College of Florida Collegiate School in 2017, Hanna attended Florida Gulf Coast University where she graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. degree in Communication Studies and a double minor in Political Science and Global Studies. She obtained her Master of Human Rights degree with a concentration in Global Gender Studies and Arabic at University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs. While at Humphrey, she served as Graduate Communication Coordinator for the University of Minnesota Human Rights Program and was a Foreign Language Area Studies Fellow in the Arabic language. 

 

Hanna has worked on international projects both during her academic career and after graduation. Most notably, she worked with a refugee support organization, LESS ONLUS, in Naples, Italy, and was a secondary school teaching assistant in Madrid, Spain.

Her core professional work focuses on gender equality for women and girls in marginalized communities, and she has experience working on issues such as gender-based violence, women’s economic empowerment, social inclusion, and education. During the final year of graduate school, Hanna started her role as a Communication Officer for the international NGO Women for Women International in Washington, D.C. In this role, Hanna led digital campaigns to promote women's economic and social power in conflict-affected regions, and she has been able to work with women in Afghanistan, Iraq, Ukraine, Ethiopia, Syria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria and more.

 

During Hanna's time at FGCU, she was vice president and competitive team trainer for the FGCU Model UN team, and she led FGCU’s competitive team during their first national conference in New York City. Over the last few years, she's been instrumental in helping the Naples Council on World Affairs and FGCU prepare strong committee chairs for SWFLMUN during a time when that was particularly challenging. She also volunteers her free time at Model UN Conferences around the world, such as her work with the University of St. Gallen’s international Model UN in St. Gallen, Switzerland and the United Nations Association’s Intergenerational Model UN. 

 

Today, Hanna works for the United Nations Foundation as a Communication and Advocacy associate for Data2X, an initiative that works to improve the quality, availability, and use of gender data to make a practical difference in the lives of women and girls. In this role, she has the ability to work closely with experts in the gender equality movement worldwide and participate in key international moments such as the United Nations General Assembly and the UN Commission on the Status of Women. We're thrilled to have her back this year as our Keynote Speaker.