Voices of Exchange U.S. State Department ECA Alumni Affairs

How can you be a rock band without instruments – and connect with people through song? Tune in to the next episode of Voices of Exchange and discover how one a capella group, The House Jacks, created a pitch perfect connection through song and how their music has struck a chord with audiences across the world, most recently in Latvia and Estonia.
With a special holiday treat at the end, this final episode of Season 3 is one you won’t want to miss. 
Catch Voices of Exchange on all major podcast platforms and at alumni.state.gov/voicesofexchange. Subscribe at bit.ly/SubscribenowVoE.

What happens when five musicians who have never met before and haven’t performed in person since the start of the pandemic get together in Abu Dhabi and Dubai?
In the second part of this hip-hop diplomacy story, the ExchangeAlumni team of Next Level artist-educators dive into the magic of connecting in person and serendipity.
For more Voices of Exchange, visit alumni.state.gov/voicesofexchange. Subscribe at bit.ly/SubscribenowVoE.

What happens when five musicians who have never met before and haven’t performed in person since the start of the pandemic get together in Abu Dhabi? Music, magic, and lifelong connections through “hip-hop culture.”
In the first part of this hip-hop diplomacy story, the ExchangeAlumni team of Next Level artist-educators and Next Level Director Julian Brickhouse chop it up on music and mutual interests, and the breakthroughs they made in the United Arab Emirates.
For more Voices of Exchange, visit alumni.state.gov/voicesofexchange. Subscribe at bit.ly/SubscribenowVoE.

Marie Christina Kolo wasn’t trying to be Wonder Woman when it came to the secret she kept for many years. But in her work as a climate activist, she wanted to be strong for her community. It wasn’t until she became a Mandela Washington Fellow that Marie Christine found the courage to get vulnerable, which allowed her to make a deeper impact.

To some people, dealing with climate change might seem like an uphill battle and even be depressing. But to Melissa Low, an ExchangeAlumni who has been working in the field – and participating in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of Parties, or COP – for over a decade, it’s not a zero-sum game.

Mathew Holloway and Cornelius Finley have a few things in common: they are both Black men. They both come from Southern United States. And they are both ExchangeAlumni, who attended a seminar on American identity with other exchange program alumni in Minneapolis, Minnesota. But that’s where the similarities end...  
In our two-part series on American identity on Voices of Exchange, Mathew and Cornelius talk about race, belonging, reclaiming your story, and why American identity is not just “black and white.”