an “exploratory foodie team” while attending Cornell), connecting with people, taking long walks, journaling, and jamming out to music in her free time. She also once completed a half marathon without training, an experience that, in her own words, she would not recommend. She looks forward to guiding and nurturing students’ independent thinking, self-confidence, and collaborative spirit. Wendy will be leading Fellowships in Nature and Innovation domains, starting with a visit to Silicon Valley. Her expertise in the scientific method will encourage an analytical approach. Education: UC Santa Cruz (BS), Cornell University (PhD) Languages: English, Mandarin Birthplace: Long Island, NY Lived in: USA, China Special Book: How Far the Light Reaches , Sabrina Imbler
in technology and as a data analyst. He is eager to mentor the next generation of students as they embark on their own transformative journeys. Now with a goal of visiting every country in the world, Daniel enjoys learning all there is about geography, international relations, and global trade. He is proud to be an Eagle Scout, and is an adept scuba diver, musician, and rock climber. As a Fellow, he will lead and design Fellowships in the Nature and Innovation domains, including a trip down the Appalachian Trail in the United States. Education: University of Texas, Cornell University Languages: English Birthplace: Dallas, TX Lived In: USA, Balkans Special Book: The Fifth Season , N. K. Jemisin
secured substantial funding to support underprivileged high school students’ access to prestigious American universities. Claudia recently established her risk advisory consultancy for investors interested in doing business in Africa. She intends to open her own law firm once she qualifies as a lawyer in Kenya. Claudia’s domestic and global experiences have enriched her perspective. She enjoys travel, podcasts, hot yoga, philosophy, and politics. With her diverse background and commitment to social change, Claudia is eager to mentor the next generation of leaders within the Baret Scholars program. With her legal training, Claudia will lead Fellowships in domains of Innovation and Politics, starting with the New York City Legal Nexus fellowship. Education: Wesleyan University (BA), Oxford University (LL.B), Columbia (LL.M.) Languages: Swahili, Giriama, English, and Kamba
Ronan: He’s also a skilled guitarist, with his rock album “The Difficult Ones” available on Spotify. Ronan will be one of our Fellows, specializing in Creativity. He looks forward to mentoring students in the Baret Scholars program, and will be teaching a Creative Writing workshop as one of our Afternoon Options. Education: Oxford, UCLA Languages: English, Italian Birthplace: Rome, Italy Lived In: Italy, UK, USA Special Book: The Master and His Emissary , Iain McGilchrist
WENDY LIN
DANIEL WEISER
CLAUDIA KAHINDI
RONAN MACRORY
Wendy is a global citizen with roots in both the U.S. and China. Growing up in a household where Cantonese was spoken but Mandarin was taught, while transitioning
Residing in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, Daniel describes himself as a ‘hippie in a suit’. With a degree in environmental economics from Cornell University and a mountain man lifestyle, the term fits. His love for the outdoors, cultivated in the wilds of North Texas where he grew up, fuels his passion for STEM, activism, conservation, and sustainability science. After high school, Daniel headed straight to university. There he started an education consulting start-up called We Redeploy. However, upon graduating, he took the gap year he always wished he had. Arriving in Athens with just one night booked at a local hostel and deliberately lacking a plan, Daniel spent the ensuing months busing and hitchhiking across the Balkans on $17/day. This experience profoundly transformed his life. A staunch advocate for the immense value of the gap year, he has principally worked
As a Giriama and Mijikenda woman from Kilifi on the Coast of Kenya, Claudia is the first Rhodes Scholar from her community. She is the only Baret member to have both herded cattle and earned a law degree from Oxford. Following her early education in Kenya, Claudia went on to major in Politics, Philosophy & Economics (PPE) and minor in African Studies at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, USA, then to University of Oxford, finally completing an LL.M. at Columbia as an Appel Fellow. Claudia’s diverse legal expertise encompasses international human rights, civil rights, and commercial law. Claudia’s dedication to social impact is demonstrated through her role as the Founder and Project Manager of the KIU Project in Kilifi, Kenya, where she enhanced educational opportunities for local students. Additionally, as a Development Assistant at Legal Outreach in NYC, she
Ronan has always had the soul of a world traveler: at the age of 9, he ran away from home to try and reach the Amazon rainforest. Thankfully, he was stopped before getting far. Today, Ronan is a creative filmmaker and avid reader who was born in Rome to an Irish-English family. He studied at Oxford, where a screening of Amadeus by Milos Forman, followed by a lecture by the director, sparked his passion for filmmaking. After graduating, he moved to Beijing to teach English and met his idol, filmmaker Zhang Yimou. He later earned an MFA in Film Production/Directing at UCLA, working with B-movie legend Roger Corman, which shaped his approach to storytelling. Ronan’s work has led to collaborations with 21st Century Fox, Google, and the United Nations, and he has also taught at UCLA, sharing his experiences with future filmmakers. A fun fact about
between the suburbs of New York and the city of Beijing, she cultivated a
diverse academic and cultural perspective from an early age. Her Chinese Zodiac sign is a pig, which also happens to be her favorite animal – her dream since childhood has been to keep a piglet as a pet. Wendy’s passion for biology was sparked by an independent high school research project in plant biology. Her enthusiasm for research only grew at UC Santa Cruz, and she recently completed a PhD at Weill Cornell Medicine, studying how gut bacteria impacts colorectal cancer development. She also became an adept programmer in her time at Cornell. A lover of learning and adventure, Wendy enjoys trying new foods (she created
Birthplace: Kilifi, Kenya Lived In: Kenya, USA, UK
Special Book: The Genealogy of Morals , Friedrich Nietzsche
154 BARET SCHOLARS
155 THE BARET TEAM & ADVISORS
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker