Announcing Our New Emerge Sri Lanka Team

Two incredible women will pack their bags and head to Sri Lanka in September 2008: Ellen Sojka and April Wachtel.

Ellen Sojka-Emerge Sri Lanka Director Ellen has a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering and minors in Management and Chemistry from MIT. From her involvement in her sorority, Alpha Chi Omega, as well as MIT’s Panhellenic Society,Ellenhas developed a passion for empowering women and promoting women’s issues.Ellen began working with Emerge in October, 2007, as the Emerge Finance Director. She has deferred Teach For America to move to Sri Lanka as Emerge’s Sri Lanka Director, where she will oversee all of Emerge’s activities in Sri Lanka, including expansion of the Bead Program and the development of the Emerge Village Project. In her spare time,Ellen loves going to musicals, yoga, and reading fiction.

April Wachtel- Sri Lanka Program Development Officer April has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Boston University, where she also focused on communications, writing, languages, and logic. April spent 2004 to 2006 working in fine dining restaurants and finding her intellectual path through a wide range of internships. In 2006, she discovered the Hundred Dollar Laptop project at MIT, and became enamored by the thought that simple design+ strategy+ amazing people can solve world problems. Inspired by the project, she entered the Massachusetts College of Arts (MassArt) Industrial Design Certificate program. April is thrilled to be working with Emerge, eager to combine her creative and business interests to serve others. As the Emerge Creative Director, April will carry Emerge’s mission forward, expanding the Emerge Bead Program and working on Emerge’s general programming.

We can’t wait to see how they help Emerge grow!