Vera Rousseff

Vera was raised in Tacoma, Washington and grew up spending her summers in Bulgaria, where her family is from. She received her B.A. in International and Global Studies from Middlebury College in Vermont, where she also studied French and Russian. After graduation, she moved to Washington, DC and briefly interned at the Aspen Institute before joining Chemonics International, where she supported USAID-funded international development projects in Eastern Europe. Following the USAID shutdown in spring of 2025 and the subsequent loss of her job at Chemonics, Vera spent a month solo travelling in Morocco and is now on the lookout for new career opportunities.