Best Practices for Volunteering Overseas

Mark is co-founder and CEO of MovingWorlds.org, a global platform that helps people volunteer their expertise with social impact organizations around the world, on their own or through corporate-sponsored programs. Since its launch in 2011, MovingWorlds.org has unleashed over 7 million dollars worth of professional skills across 60 countries. Mark has been featured in Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, Forbes, Stanford Social Innovation Reviews and many more as the founder of the "Experteering" movement. Mark also serves as Adjunct Faculty at University of Washington Tacoma's Center for Leadership and Social Responsibility and is a contributor at Huffington Post Impact. In his free time, Mark can be found spending time with his wife, skiing, and volunteering with the American Cancer Society co-chairing its nationwide volunteer leadership team.

Nafessa is currently the Director of Business Development at Bamba, a real-time web-based data-gathering platform that allows organizations to access, engage, and gain insight from hard to reach target populations in emerging markets on their mobile phones. In this role, Nafessa focuses on business development and strategic partnerships with impact-oriented organizations. Nafessa joined Bamba from MovingWorlds, where she was part of the founding team. There she focused specifically on the sustainability of global development projects, building cultural competency, and executing corporate volunteer programs, leading her to work directly with companies like Microsoft, helping them to drive impact and foster employee engagement. Nafessa’s previous work includes: global development projects and research in poverty alleviation (microfinance), women’s empowerment post sexual assault, and corporate volunteerism. Nafessa holds a dual Master’s in Global Public Health & Social Work focused on International Social Entrepreneurship from Columbia University. 

Her work has taken her to live and work in Spain, India, Indonesia, and Kenya.

In her spare time, Nafessa is often found breaking into song and dance in public spaces in Washington, DC in order to fulfill her childhood Bollywood dream.