Stacey T. Warren

Project/Program Development Officer Foreign Service, United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

Stacey T. Warren began a career in cosmetics working for L’Oreal and Clairol. But in order to satisfy her desire for philanthropic works, Stacey also performed volunteer services for abused women by providing cosmetic makeovers in an effort to partially restore their damaged self- esteem and self-image. Her love for helping others, combined with a growing interest in International Relations, prompted Stacey to obtain her MBA at The Peter J. Tobin College of Business.

Following graduation in 2003, Stacey did not follow the customary MBA path to the doors of Wall Street or the Fortune 500.  Instead, she joined the U.S. Peace Corps as a Small Enterprise Development Volunteer and was stationed in the Republic of Guinea, West Africa. She was assigned to a NGO to assist a rural village to export shea butter to Holland for use in the cosmetics and food industries. “I was grateful for having taken the Business Statistics course because while working with a NGO I quickly realized how rural economic programs in the field undergo rigorous statistical analysis to quantify the need for programs, outline direct benefactors, and determine its potential contribution to improving the quality of life in a community”, says Stacey.

After completing her Peace Corps service in Guinea, Stacey moved to the Republic of Tanzania, East Africa. “Working with a new project in Tanzania had its challenges because my job was to begin a start-up rural-based enterprise,” says Stacey. This enterprise was designed to aid women within the region to establish and run their own artisan business. “My first task was to create a financial system to ensure the project funding was accurately maintained and appropriately spent, which required the in-depth knowledge of financial management that I gained at Tobin.”

Three years later, Stacey has returned to the United States and reflects back on her experience. “I had a lot of challenges working in the rural villages. Aside from the work I was involved in, I had to adapt to the local food and harsh conditions of the region, but I stuck to my goal and that was to help people. The experience convinced me to continue doing humanitarian work,” she says. Stacey is currently in the Foreign Service on her first assignment at the US Embassy in Liberia, West Africa as the Program/Project Development Officer working for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).