Today's KAIROS Conversation Update: Let's Talk About the Conflict Between Israel & Palestine

[View this email in your browser]( KAIROS Conversations: Update We have two more special guests joining us on today’s KAIROS Conversations call. Today we’ll be joined by Asha Castleberry-Hernandez, U.S National Security & Foreign Affairs Expert, who will give us insight into the conflict in the Middle East. Also joining us is Amani Desamours, Advocacy Associate with the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. See you at 1pm EST! Asha Castleberry-Hernandez U.S. National Security & Foreign Affairs Expert Asha Castleberry-Hernandez is a distinguished national security/foreign affairs. She has over a decade of experience working as a Middle East Policy Expert in the public and private sectors. For the Biden-Harris Administration, Asha served as a Senior Advisor (Senior Executive Service) in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs (Middle East Policy) in the U.S. State Department. 2012-2015, Asha served in Kuwait, Iraq, and Jordan. She previously served as the Kuwait Desk Officer in the U.S. Army Central. Ashaalso served as a Senior Key Leader Engagement Officer for Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve. Before her deployment, Asha worked in the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, where she worked on the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in Africa. Asha is a sought-after expert globally and has worked with many U.S. Ambassadors. This year, Asha served on a panel with high-level Iraqi officials (with Senior officials from members of Parliament and military officers) to discuss combating ISIS and the role of China at the Erbil Security Forum in Iraq.  Asha was a panelist for the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, discussing the role of China in Israel and the rest of the Middle East Region at the National American Foreign Policy Committee. She participated as a guest speaker at the 2023 Foreign Policy Institute Black Sea Conference to discuss the Black Sea and Ukraine in Tbilisi, Georgia, with the Former Georgian Ambassador to the United States and additional senior experts. In April 2023, Asha briefed the U.S. Senate with Former U.S. Ambassador to Kuwait Douglas Silliman on the Future of Middle East Security. Asha is also a University Professor. She currently teaches Middle East Studies at St. Joseph University. Previously, she served as a professor teaching international relations, foreign affairs, and national security at Fordham University, George Washington University, and Baruch College. Currently a Major in the U.S. Army Reserves, Asha is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She's a Truman National Security Project's Defense Council member, an Adjunct Fellow at the American Security Project, and founder of Diversity in National Security Network. She's been awarded the 2016 Aspen Institute Ideas Scholarship and a scholarship recipient for the Socrates Program. A graduate of Hampton University and Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, Asha has studied Law and Business in mainland China, and she's also studied international politics at the University of Oxford's New College Program. She is a New Leaders Council Fellow and recognized as a Diplomatic Courier "Top 99 Under 33" Foreign Policy Leader and a 2015 Root100 "Top African American Rising Leader." She has been featured or quoted in numerous media outlets, including CNN, CBS News, Fox News, Washington Post, Washington Times, The Hill, Al-Jazeera English, I24 News International, Lima Charlie News, Uptown Magazine, Elle Magazine, The Root Magazine, Forbes, and more. She was awarded 40 under 40 Middle East Policy Council Expert, Top 50 National Security Experts from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and Top 40 under 40 Diversity Professors in Color Magazine 2023 Fall Edition.  Amani Desamours Advocacy Associate with the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids  Amani Desamours is the Advocacy Associate with the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids where she works alongside the Federal Team to reduce tobacco use with a focus on outreach to Congress and grassroots work. She is a graduate of Howard University's Master of Social Work program. Amy Barkley Director, Federal Field Operations, Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids Amy Barkley has been with the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids for 23 years. She currently serves as the Director of Federal Field Operations, leading a team of grassroots organizers and consultants in select states and congressional districts across the country to build constituent support for ending the sale of flavored tobacco products and other tobacco control policy priorities. Prior to joining the TFK Federal Team in October of 2020, she served on the State Team as a Regional Advocacy Director for 20 years, working in 11 states in the eastern half of the US. Amy has worked in tobacco control for over 30 years at the local, state, and national level. Prior to that she worked as a television and radio reporter in several outlets in Virginia. [Learn more about Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids]( Bibi Hidalgo Nonresident Senior Fellow, Brookings Metro Bibi Hidalgo is a nonresident senior fellow at Brookings Metro, and is focused on access to opportunity and prosperity. Hidalgo was the first woman appointed by a president to serve as the associate administrator for government contracting and business development at the U.S. Small Business Administration, a role that has oversight of over $154 billion in small business procurement contracts and business regulations across 24 cabinet and federal agencies. She led the development of a series of historic, government-wide procurement reforms that were announced in December 2021. Prior to that, Hidalgo was appointed by President-elect Biden to lead small business government contracting review for the Biden-Harris transition team. For several years, Hidalgo co-owned an advisory services firm with her younger brother and focused on providing support to corporations seeking to partner with innovative minority, women and veteran-owned firms. Hidalgo served at the White House with her brother under President Obama. As the senior advisor to the small business lead for the National Economic Council, she launched the first government-wide initiative to meet the congressionally mandated small and socio-economic contracting goals. Hidalgo has also worked on local policy and mobilizing initiatives in several cities, including Baltimore, Md. and Miami, Fla. Where Leaders Learn & Leaders don't have to Lead. See you Wednesday! Wednesday, October 4 · 1:00pm – 2:00pm EST Video call link: [( Or dial: ‪(US) +1 651-571-1259‬ PIN: ‪460 226 103‬# More phone numbers: [ [Join our KAIROS Community]( [Our KAIROS Website]( [Website icon]( [Instagram icon]( [LinkedIn icon]( [YouTube icon]( [Facebook icon]( Copyright (C) 2023 Atlas Strategy Group. All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website. Our mailing address is: Atlas Strategy Group 837 Washington Ave Bronx, NY 10451-4842 USA Want to change how you receive these emails? 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