Stephanie Reist was born in Zurich, Switzerland but grew-up in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park. She graduated from Williams College in 2009 with a degree in Comparative Literature and a concentration in International Relations and Latin American Studies. She moved to Durham, NC in 2010 to pursue a PhD in Latin American Studies at Duke University and in 2013 she also began working on a Master in Public Policy through Duke’s Sanford School. Her doctoral and policy research focuses on the territorial rights of Afro-descendant communities in South America, and how these rights are affected by conflict, national and international policies, and development initiatives. Thanks to generous support from the Mellon Foundation and Duke’s Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, she has conducted research for her dissertation in both Colombia and Ecuador. During the summer of 2014, Stephanie participated in the Duke Program on Global Policy and Governance in Geneva and served as an intern at the International Organization for Migration. Stephanie enjoys traveling, reading, cooking, and watching films.