ALUMNite 2019

Alumni Impact Award: Kristin Van Busum

Kristin Van Busum’s work in Nicaragua wasn’t supposed to have anything to do with children. She was there on a Fulbright scholarship to study the problems that small farmers faced in gaining access to food markets. But when a persistent young girl began demanding that Van Busum become her teacher, the Boston-based policy-worker had an awakening. She was surrounded by the children of poor, rural coffee farmers—children who were isolated, uneducated, and essentially invisible. Her Fulbright work never came to fruition, but instead gave way to Project Alianza, an educational initiative that is building schools, hiring teachers, and eliminating learning barriers in the coffee-growing communities of Nicaragua, and beyond. Focusing on literacy, health and hygiene, environmental sustainability, and gender equality, Project Alianza has educated over 2,000 students in 22 communities.

In addition to leading Project Alianza, Van Busum is a public speaking coach at BostonSpeaks and cofounder of WomenSpeaks where she trains emerging women leaders and entrepreneurs to become fearless and confident public speakers. Van Busum was recently selected as a 2019 NYU Changemaker, and in 2018, was selected as a winner in the MassChallenge Boston accelerator for founding a high-potential, high-impact startup. She is a TEDx speaker, an Aspen Institute Fellow, and previously worked at RAND Corporation. Van Busum has backpacked to 40+ countries and is currently planning a trip to Antarctica for her mom's 70th birthday. She loves to salsa and bachata, and is a proud capstone client and Wagnerd alumna.