77: What It’s Like Being a BadAss Global Policy Advocate w/ Madeline Rose, Mercy Corps [Main T4C episode]

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Madeline Rose is a Senior Global Advocacy Advisor at Mercy Corps, a global humanitarian and development NGO, where she works to create and implement public policies to solve some of the world’s biggest problems. She’s a policy expert and advocacy strategist with innovative problem-solving skills, evidenced by her success in designing Mercy Corps’ first globally coordinated advocacy campaign, which she now leads. Her current focus is passing a bill called the “Global Fragility and Violence Reduction Act of 2018” in the U.S. Congress that will help end violence in Guatemala, Nigeria, Iraq and many other conflict-affected countries. Madeline travels frequently and works with her Mercy Corps colleagues in countries around the world to find out what may be driving violence in their countries in order to identify solutions to stopping it. Madeline studied Diplomacy and World Affairs at Occidental College and during her time there, interned with the United Nations. After graduating, Madeline moved to D.C. and worked in the Capitol Hill office of former Rep. Mike Honda (D-CA) as a Legislative Correspondent and Staff Assistant. It was in Rep. Honda’s office that Madeline learned the value of mentorship and truly kicked off her career. Since then, she’s worked her way up at Mercy Corps, moving from policy advisor up to her current title. Where others focus on finding problems, Madeline focuses on creating solutions to make the world a better place.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT IN THIS EPISODE:

• Why global advocacy matters in the shifting power structures of today’s world
• How to stand out as a policy advocate by identifying the pathways to solutions to the issues you care about
• What is the process of getting a piece of legislation passed in order to fix a global problem
• Why knowing how to analyze big data sets will give you an edge in the job market if you want to break into advocacy
• Why advocacy is a slow process and how to be a patient advocate
• What is SFOPS and why it’s one of the most important things you need to learn if you want to break into the world of international advocacy or foreign affairs
• What and who to know before you go into a policy career
• How to use self-advocacy to get a pay bump or better title as a young professional
• How to look for Fellowship opportunities while you’re still in college and why they’re so valuable