Jennifer Barnes Kerns grew up on her family’s allotment land in Ada, Oklahoma, the headquarters of the Chickasaw Nation.  Since she was a child, tribal sovereignty and tribal diplomacy have fascinated her.  This year, she will study historical and modern tribal government relations with federal, state, and local governments as well as inter-tribal government relations.  She will begin training as a language carrier through participation in a Chikasha Anompa immersion course and she will raise awareness of foreign service career opportunities in Native American communities.  Per capita, Native Americans enlist and serve with the Department of Defense more than any other minority group, yet this population remains the most underrepresented in the foreign affairs community.  Jennifer hopes to change that and bring more diversity to the Department of State. She has previously served in Malawi, Zimbabwe, Thailand, Mexico, and South Korea, with a career devoted to promoting human rights and protecting U.S. citizens overseas.  Before joining the Department of State, she served as an Assistant Attorney General for the Chickasaw Nation.

Johanna Villalobos is committed to pursuing innovation, building resilient and diverse teams, and fostering a positive workplace. She aspires to lead by example and empower others to lead from any position. Department of State employees report feeling burned out due to unmanageable workloads, limited opportunities for growth, and a lack of accountability. Effective leadership that creates the conditions for teams to manage their professional and personal well-being is more crucial than ever before. Through the Cox Fellowship, Johanna will explore the relationship between happiness and leadership. Happy people are more productive and innovative. They are better leaders, they inspire others, and they affect real and lasting change. During her fellowship, Johanna looks forward to analyzing organizations globally renowned for success and productivity to gain insight into how they utilize happiness practices to retain talent and manage healthy and productive teams. She will work with social scientists and corporate experts to explore the real-world application of happiness and leadership principles. Simultaneously, Johanna will examine the Department from within through science-based research, industry benchmarks, and employee experience. Armed with this unconventional collection of information, Johanna will propose systemic changes that would allow the Department to not only become a ¨happier¨ institution, but also more effectively realize its global mission. Johanna has two decades of foreign policy, public diplomacy, and program management experience, having served and led teams in Bolivia, Ecuador, Morocco, Nicaragua, Paraguay, and Washington.