The following interview was conducted as a part of our year-end fundraising campaign, Invest in Emerging Leaders, to showcase alumni and the impact that the fellowship had on their leadership journey.
Macie Bayer is originally from Southern California and currently living in the Washington, DC metro area. She a graduate of Brigham Young University and former FLIA fellow from the Summer 2015 cohort, where she worked with Boys & Girls Club of Provo. She currently works in the Global Health Bureau at US Agency for International Development (USAID) in the Research and Policy Division.
What is your personal social change mission?
I am particularly passionate about international development, women's empowerment, youth development, social innovation and interfaith work. And most recently, I've learned that I love working in the field of global health, especially maternal health. I like being able to see measurable results and am interested in how implementation research and evaluations can help inform and improve programs "on the ground".
How do all of these interests work together? I'm not sure but I'm excited to figure it out.
What are a few skills you took away from your fellowship that will help you be an effective leader?
Having the opportunity to design and manage a project has been invaluable in my current work. It was a great experience to look at an organization, find the gaps, and then design a project based on that knowledge.
SHARE A MEMORY WITH US.
There were many experiences that I loved, mostly on field trip with the kids. However, the Kids Adventure Games weekend was especially inspiring. During a very difficult section of the obstacle course, one girl fell down and was hurt pretty badly. Without hesitating, another girl turned around, comforted her, and threw her arm around her shoulder whispering encouraging words to her the rest of the way through the course. At the end of the day, upon reflecting, the girls were so proud of themselves for conquering their fears and overcoming the challenges together.