Our Team

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Michaela is currently an academic advisor at Northeastern University. She holds a Master's degree in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from Boston University and a BA in American Studies and German Studies from Smith College. During her undergraduate program, she studied abroad in Hamburg, Germany and returned after graduation as an English Teaching Assistant to the same city from 2016-2017. Michaela enjoys reading, taking walks, listening to podcasts, and absorbing as much queer content as humanly possible. Her favorite memory from her Fulbright grant period is meeting, traveling, and collaborating with other Fulbrighters, who taught her so much about teaching and provided her with community while abroad.

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Tim is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law and currently works and lives in Washington, DC. He graduated with a BA in English and German Education from Messiah College, where he also served as student body president and studied abroad in Germany. Tim returned to Germany for his Fulbright ETA grant in Hamburg from 2016-17. Tim is a national parks junky (Acadia being his favorite). In his spare time he also enjoys traveling, reading, listening to podcasts, and watching RuPaul’s Drag Race. His favorite memory from his Fulbright grant period was canoeing with his host family through the canals branching off the Alster River in Hamburg.

Tim manages Prism’s membership engagement, administrative and legal matters, and chairs the Board of Directors.

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Lara is currently a graduate student studying Intercultural German Studies at the University of Göttingen. They graduated from the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire in 2015 with a BA in German Education, where they served as president of the German National Honors society and also studied abroad in Germany. Lara completed their year as an ETA in Hamburg in 2016-17 and then stayed on as a teacher there for a year prior to graduate school. Additionally, Lara enjoys going for extended wandering walks in big cities or forests, reading, and any and all activities that dismantle the gender binary. Their favorite memory from their Fulbright grant was meeting and traveling with some of the most wonderful people and getting to make Hamburg a long-term home after getting a job at their placement school.

Lara is Prism’s financial guru, keeping track of the budget and spending. They also take minutes for meetings and manage our records.

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Rubi is a recent graduate from Florida State University, where she earned a BS in Interdisciplinary Social Sciences and a BM in Piano Performance. She completed her Fulbright grant from 2019-2020 in Mexico City through the Binational Business program, where she worked for a non-profit building Diversity and Inclusion programs. Born in Mexico City, Rubi greatly enjoyed getting to explore the city’s museums, nightlife, and thriving culture, although her time in Mexico was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Her favorite memories include travelling with friends and trying as many salsas as possible.

Among other tasks, Rubi identifies data-driven diversity stratetiges, advises the Board on issues of DEI, promotes new programs and initiatives to bolster DEI within Prism, and addresses issues facing spefici demographic populations.

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Originally from Germany, Heidrun received a Fulbright scholarship for graduate studies in psychology and business administration in 1998/99. Thanks to a PhD stipend form the Max-Planck Institute, she later conducted experimental research in the Netherlands, and she now works in London as a Senior Lecturer and organisational coach. Heidrun has long been engaged in LGBTQ+ sports clubs and international tournaments, and regularly volunteers at events such as London Pride. She currently plays for the ‘London Royals’, the UK’s first and largest LGBTQ+ hockey club. The club was founded by her wife, and is the proud 2019 recipient of the German Fulbright Alumni Mulert Award for mutual understanding. Heidrun wants to support the mission of the Fulbright Prism initiative as the team's Chapter Development Coordinator.

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Liv is currently a Project Assistant for the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI). She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Studies and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from Dickinson College. During her undergraduate program, she studied abroad in Rwanda and returned to the continent, this time in West Africa, after graduation as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Yamoussoukro, Côte d’Ivoire. Liv’s favorite memory from her Fulbright grant was organizing an International Women’s Day march with one of the all-girls schools she was working with, Lycée Mamie Adjoua. Liv is passionate about cross-cultural immersion, camping, swimming, live music, and hanging out with the queer community!

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Adriana is currently a prospective graduate student applying to both Law and PhD programs. She graduated from John Carroll University in 2019 with a BA in English: Literature and East Asian Studies, where she participated in numerous student organizations like serving as Vice President of both Pre-Law Society and Asian Pop Culture Club. During her undergraduate studies, she was awarded a special grant to participate in a Silk Road Research Fellowship to travel throughout many parts of Northern China for her university during the summer of 2017, which would jumpstart her research endeavors in East Asian Archaeology. Shortly after graduating, Adriana completed her Fulbright Study/Research grant in Beijing, China in 2019-2020, but was cut short due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Her project and prospective dissertation focus on analyzing Tangut Buddhist art and iconography within an archaeological site known as Yulin Cave #3, located near Dunhuang in the Northwestern Gansu province of China. Adriana enjoys writing, music, fashion, makeup and video games. Her favorite memory from her Fulbright grant period was the time that her mentor and classmates threw her a surprise birthday pizza party after a long day of classes.

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Lara Ehrenhofer received a US-UK Fulbright Award to undertake a PhD in the neuroscience of language at the University of Maryland, College Park, which she completed in 2018, after two degrees in language and literature at the University of Oxford. During Lara’s time as President of the National Capital Area Chapter of the Fulbright Association, NCAC developed new advocacy initiatives to build bipartisan support for the Fulbright Program in US Congress and won an award for outstanding programming. Her favourite memories of her grant period centre on building community with Fulbrighters of all ages, origins and interests, many of whom now count among her closest friends. Lara now lives in Berlin, where she is transitioning into a career in data science and dreams of one day getting a dog of her very own.

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Aleksandar is currently a Community Development consultant for various queer nonprofits. He graduated from Northwestern University in 2018 with a BA in Global Health Studies, Neuroscience, and Slavic Languages and Literature. There, he founded Northwestern’s Slavic Society and studied abroad in Serbia and Bosnia-Hercegovina during the summer after his sophomore year. Aleksandar returned to the Balkans for his Fulbright Study/Research grant, this time in Skopje, Macedonia, from 2018-19 to study the resiliency of queer identities and the subsequent creation of safe spaces in response to systematic discrimination. Aleksandar’s biggest joy comes from drag, both as a performer and as a spectator. When he’s not putting on a show, he also enjoys traveling, cooking, and eating. His favorite memory from his Fulbright grant period was organizing and hosting Macedonia’s first ever Pride parade.

In his programming role with Prism, Aleksandar develops inclusive and engaging month-to-month programming for Fulbrighters. If you have ideas, send Aleksandar an email!

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Originally from Iowa, Christopher Curran now works as a translator of Spanish and Portuguese in Nayarit, Mexico. He graduated from Macalester College and UC Hastings College of the Law, where he received an award for his work on advocacy with immigrant youth. After law school, he worked for five years as an immigrants’ rights attorney in San Francisco, specializing in the representation of queer and gender-based asylum seekers in Immigration Court and courts of appeal. From 2018-2019, he partnered with the Trust for Social Achievement to complete a Fulbright research project on housing rights with Roma communities in Bulgaria.

As Prism's Queer History and Education Coordinator, Christopher is developing classroom materials and gathering a database of oral history interviews with queer elders and luminaries. To participate, contact him by clicking on his name above.

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Oscar is currently an associate at a strategic communications firm in Los Angeles. He graduated from Williams College in 2017 with majors in Latinx Studies and Political Science. He is a 2019-2020 Fulbright alum having done the Binational Business Program in Mexico City, where his hobbies included exploring different taco stands and being able to soak up Mexico's natural and cultural beauty and diversity. Oscar is passionate about traveling and food and is a proud advocate for QTPOC issues and community-building.

As Prism’s Strategic Liaison, Oscar gathers feedback and data from LGBTQ Fulbrighters, Commissions, and the broader community and advises the Team on developing trends. He also manages Prism’s strategic plan.

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Mailé is a zinester currently living in South Korea. They graduated from Ohio University with a BFA in theater stage management. Mailé was an ETA in South Korea in 2018-2020. During their time as an ETA, they volunteered with the Korean Adolescent Mentorship Program where they mentored young queer students. Their hobbies include cooking with too much garlic, hiking, and growing basil on their windowsill. They also love stick-and-poke tattoos, at-home haircuts, and queer YA romance novels.

Mailé leads Prism’s zine initiative, which includes collecting, curating, and publishing works from LGBTQ Fulbrighters. If you are interested sharing a piece, contact them by clicking on the name above.