Lara Heskestad is from Carmel, New York. She attended Drew University where she studied psychology and French. After graduating, Lara moved to Honduras to work with various orphanages around the country. She then traveled to France to pursue a master’s degree in Global Communications and Development from the American University of Paris. There, Lara had the opportunity to travel to southern India and work with a grassroots NGO focused on gender equality in the region. As a project consultant, she assisted in drafting a proposal for a grant offered by the United Nations’ Initiative to End Violence against Women and also constructed a new website for the organization. Lara later traveled to Tunis to work at the Center of Arab Women for Training and Research (CAWTAR) where she focused on promoting the visibility of the center’s gender-oriented projects in the Arab region. She enjoys spending her spare time running, hiking and catching up on the latest foreign films.