Young Professionals Network

She is also co-founder of The Brussels Binder, an online database of female policy experts aimed at improving gender diversity in policy debates. Before joining Bruegel, she was Secretary General of the European Association of Sugar Traders (ASSUC) and Trade Policy Adviser for the associations representing international trade in flowers (Union Fleurs) and EU imports of processed agriculture and fishery products (Frucom). Paola holds two master's degrees, in Local Economic Development from the London School of Economics and in Management from Bocconi University and a Bachelor Degree in Economics and Management for Arts, Culture and Communication. She speaks Italian, English, Spanish, French. Her main interests include economics of international trade, social innovation and entrepreneurship. She also enjoys arts, painting and photography.

 Her focus area has primarily been on interrogating socioeconomic policy as it relates to young people, with a recent transition into African heritage research for the purpose of mainstreaming African heritage into the continents’ governance and development frameworks and institutions. She is the program’s coordinator for the African heritage research study project at MINDS and does freelance program work for nonprofit organizations, corporate, and entrepreneurial outfits. She was previously at the Centre for Development and Enterprise where her focus area was the socioeconomic and socio-psychological development implications of the education and employment policies as they relate to young people’s development and preparedness for change and leadership. Mandisa holds degrees in both Philosophy and Psychology from the University of the Witwatersrand.

Prior to joining the Foreign Service in 2015, Mills worked at Meridian International Center, promoting the State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program as a program associate and intern coordinator. She has also worked on projects with the Transatlantic Inclusion Leadership Network, l’Agence Française de Développement, as well as fellowships in Africare, the Commission for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. She holds a dual master’s degree from Columbia and Sciences Po Universities in international and public affairs. She is a 2013 Charles Rangel International Affairs Fellow and a 2012-2013 U.S. Fulbright Research Grantee. She is proficient in Spanish, Amharic, and French.

She is currently a visiting researcher at the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, University of Oxford particularly researching the media’s representation of Africa and the impact this has on the continent’s ability to attract foreign direct investment. She has a keen interest in the intersection between law, the media, and economic development. Previously, Mary-Jean was an intern, and later a contractor, at the International Criminal Court, The Hague. In 2015, she was selected as one of Africa’s 100 brightest young minds by Brightest Young Minds, South Africa. Mary-Jean is a One Young World Ambassador and holds an LL.M. from Harvard Law School and a LL.B. (cum laude) from the University Of Pretoria, South Africa.