Kristen Folkerts currently works as Coordinator for the U.S.-Africa Business Center at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a leading business advocacy group aimed at strengthening the U.S.-Africa trade and investment relationship. Her work specifically focuses on the North, West and Central African regions. Her professional interests include African affairs and expanding policy beyond the development paradigm, international trade, women’s empowerment, and project management. She also has a passion for health, specifically mental health, and previously volunteered as an EMT-Basic.

Kristen graduated from the University of Virginia with a BA in International Affairs and French. She spent a semester abroad in Senegal, interning for a women’s economic empowerment organization and studying microeconomics and health. Before working at the U.S. Chamber, she worked for Creative Associates International, a private global development company in the DC area. She is a member of the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ (CSIS) Africa Policy Accelerator program, Women in International Trade (WIIT), and is a Co-Chair of the Young Professional Network at the Women’s Foreign Policy Group (WFPG). She is fluent in French and speaks beginner Spanish and Arabic. She enjoys learning languages, cooking, and discovering new music.