Carla Villafane is a senior at Columbia College pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Public Health. Hailing proudly from San Juan, Puerto Rico, her cultural heritage has profoundly influenced her academic interests, focusing on postcolonial development, global health inequalities, and the impact of American and European Imperialism in Latin America and the Caribbean. Carla has gained critical experience as a Mediation and Litigation Assistant at the New York State Attorney General’s Office, where she handled landlord-tenant mediation and immigration issues. She also works as a Research Assistant at Columbia SIPA and has previous experience at Caraway, a women-led health-tech startup, and Kasirer LLC, a top government relations firm in NYC. On campus, Carla is the President of Pi Sigma Alpha Mu, the Political Science Honor Society. She is the former President and current Marketing Director of the Puerto Rican Student Association and represents undergraduates at the Institute for Latin American Studies. Carla is fluent in Spanish, English, and French, and has elementary proficiency in Catalan and Portuguese.