Published Monday, March 29, 2004
An Afternoon With Isabel Londono
International Education Policy Monday Seminar Series
By Michael Lisman
APPIAN STAFF WRITER

Isabel Londono speaks from experience when she implores you to ask yourself: “am I constructing the story of my life that I would be proud to tell?”

It was Londono’s own fascinating story, combining her advice for introspection and self-awareness in assessing professional aspirations, that Londono (Harvard Ed.D. ’96) treated the IEP cohort to as the IEP Monday Seminar guest speaker on March 22nd.

Isabel Londono speaks in the International Education Policy Monday Seminar Series [Appian, Lisman].

The ebullient Londono, born in Colombia and educated both there and in the US, fortuitously arrived to HGSE after a potpourri of a career in finance, business, and government, including putting together two campaigns for public office in Colombia, the first of which she described as “a mess.” Reflecting on her move to Harvard from Colombia to pursue her doctorate, Londono mused: “people decide to get more education for a variety of reasons – my reason for coming to Harvard? I got divorced for the second time, and decided that if I couldn’t be an exemplar in family planning, maybe I could do well in academics! The point was I didn’t really have a clear sense of what I was getting into – and it was the best decision I could have made.”

Interested in making a real difference with her unique blend of skills, and disaffected by her experiences in the corporate world, she explains that she felt “tired of thinking.” Self described as “action oriented,” she related to the group that she used to tell her advisor, Professor Noel McGinn, that she was “tired of theories, I wanted to ‘DO’.”

Currently, Londono serves as the Executive Liaison for Programs at the Kellogg Foundation office in Washington, DC. After completing her Doctorate she was one of the founders and served as the Director of COLFUTURO, an initiative designed to help Colombian professionals assess, get into, and pay for top-quality graduate education programs, and then return to Colombia to apply their knowledge towards national development. Seeking to avoid funding an academic “brain drain” on Colombia, Londono instituted incentives to entice the professionals to return to Colombia after their academic programs.

Echoing the advice of other IEP Seminar presenters, Londono emphasized the importance of a deep support network and building relationships far and wide throughout all walks of your life. “How do you get a job?” she quipped - “…not because of degrees you have – but because of friends.” She also opined that “choosing a job is just as delicate as choosing a life partner; (you have) to choose at the same time as being chosen.”

Rounding out Londono’s list of recommendations for HGSE (and any other) job seekers:
· Believe that you will get it
· Do “things” all the time so that will maximize your experience and your connections

For more information, visit:

· www.colfuturo.org
· www.wkkf.org

The next IEP Monday Seminar will be Monday, April 12th, with Emily Vargas-Barón, Ph.D, Executive Director at The RISE Institute.

Michael Lisman, a part-time Ed.M candidate in IEP, works at LASPAU: Academic & Professional Programs for the Americas.