Harvard College Contributors
2020-2021
Taylor Whitsell ('22)
Taylor hails from Danville, Kentucky and studies Government, European History, and Politics & Societies at Harvard College. He is currently writing his thesis on domestic war crimes prosecutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and his primary academic interests include transitional justice, human rights, conflict resolution, and Central and Eastern Europe. This past summer, he completed an internship in which he analyzed survey data from Poland, Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine, and followed the political developments and increasing mobilization in Belarus closely. This sparked his interest in Belarus, and he hopes that through writing an article for the Harvard Human Rights Review, he can shine a spotlight on the brave protestors in Belarus and offer insightful analysis of this critical turning point in the country.
Ariel Silverman ('23)
Ariel is a rising junior at Harvard College studying Social Studies and Environmental Science & Public Policy. Ariel developed a passion for human rights in high school when she began studying the challenges facing vulnerable communities, the economy, and the climate. Since then, she has done a variety of climate change and social justice advocacy and research to inform others about these systemic issues and the need for widespread change. Ariel hopes to pursue a career in environmental and public interest law after college. Outside of school, she is a member of the Women’s Ultimate Frisbee team and a first-year outdoor program leader.
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Hiranmayi Turaga ('23)
Graduate Students and Professionals
Sara Ketabi (HKS '24)
Sara Ketabi is Founder and CEO of CollatEd Lab Inc, an international foreign policy consulting organization that operates in 109 countries. Previously, Sara was a member of the UNICEF USA National Council of Leadership Development, designing national programs and youth leadership initiatives for over 900 college and high school clubs across the nation. She co-founded Hale to develop sustainable, development focused, engineering solutions to tackle the issue of poverty/global health through data-driven policy recommendations, and has founded an edtech platform, CollatEd Lab, with the support of international ministries, UNESCO, UNDP, the World Bank, and the African Union in the past as well as a data science startup. Her work with Hale directly overlaps with the World Health Organization through a citizen science accelerator currently being initiated. In addition, she has founded a social innovation nonprofit organization that inspires students to find their passion(s) and launch social impact initiatives through skill-building workshops, conferences, and education projects globally.
Sara has spoken at the UNICEF Global Annual Summit on leading through the Sustainable Development Goals, UN High Level Political Forum, United Nations General Assembly, the Women Economic Forum, Harvard Global Health Leadership Conference, Global Education and Skills Forum, and more. As an avid public speaker, she has spoken at the 2020 Women Economic Forum under the President of Egypt, UNESCO Tech Conference, Harvard UNICEF Conference, and more. As a UNESCO Inclusive Policy Lab Expert and Fellow, she’s a Global Scholar, United Nations SDG Honors Awardee, UN Global Compact Fellow, and 2019 Global Shaper by the World Economic Forum. Her work has been endorsed by the President and Prime Minister's Office of Rwanda and Libya for her contributions to sustainable development, global health, and government. She is a cohort member of the UN SDG 2030 Partnerships Accelerator and hopes to continue accelerating corporate-government cooperation to achieve the SDGs.
Tarinna Olley
Ms. Tarinna Olley is a counselor, trainer, author, Adjunct Professor, ordained clergy, and poet. She is currently employed with a Federal government agency in Washington, DC in which she provides substance abuse counseling services and case management services. She also served as the Program Manager and Deputy Program Manager for the Federal Women's Program for two Federal agencies for over seven years. In addition, she is a charter member and first Chapter President of the Federally Employed Women of Justice Chapter (2016-2018). Ms. Olley is a leading expert in her field of counseling services and global leadership development.
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Ms. Olley attended both Temple and Howard University. She is the founder of Tarinna Olley Therapeutic Services in which she provides independent consultant services in the social services arena. She has presented and conducted trainings and spoken domestically and internationally. She currently is a contributing writer for Thrive Global Publication. Ms. Olley is a global leader and was selected as a participant in the HIVE Global Leaders Program in 2016, held at Harvard University. Ms. Olley continued her global efforts by being an invited speaker at the inaugural HIVE Africa Global Leaders Program in 2017 in Abuja, Nigeria. In 2018, she launched her first international training STARS-GMT (Sexual Trauma and Restorative Services-Global Mission and Training) in Abuja, Nigeria and in 2019 in Kiev, Ukraine. Ms. Olley's personal philosophy is that of a butterfly in which we all have cocooned experiences and evolve and birth at the appointed time.
Meredith McKinney (HES '21)
Meredith McKinney, a Harvard graduate degree candidate with a focus on International Relations, holds another graduate degree in applied sociology, minor in public policy, from the University of Texas Dallas, where she also received her undergraduate degree in criminology with a minor in law. She is an active board member with the nonprofit Harvey Nexus that delivers career coaching and recruiting services to underserved communities, was recently appointed by her county commissioners to serve on a committee aimed to drive tourism and attract diverse businesses, is an Affiliate at the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research, and is the founder of the Harvard Student Coalition to Free Renty. Meredith is a passionate human rights and equality advocate, with extensive experience and enthusiasm for public policy, research and academia.