Danica has been passionate about languages for as long as she can remember. When she enrolled in Arizona State University, she originally intended to study Spanish. However, the Chinese Language Flagship program at ASU, designed to lead toward professional fluency in Mandarin, altered her course.
After four intensive years studying Mandarin and taking courses in economics at Arizona State, Danica attended Nanjing University in China for one semester. She then interned in Suzhou at a social enterprise focused on improving the livelihoods of workers in Chinese factories.
After graduating from ASU, Danica returned to the same enterprise in Suzhou--this time as a full-time employee. Most days, she operated entirely in Mandarin, leading project designers and interacting with a team of salespeople who did not speak English. She credits The Language Flagship for preparing her so well and says she is "proof that it truly does create global professionals."
"As a program manager, I was responsible for creating a mobile application that factory management would use to engage their frontline workers," Danica said. "I had the opportunity to research the migration trends of the Chinese labor force, the factors that contribute to turnover in Chinese factories, and the complexity of global supply chains."
"The position therefore sparked my interest in the nexus of big business and human rights, and is one of the reasons I decided to pursue law," she added.
After returning to the United States, Danica spent two years at the US Department of Homeland Security in Washington, DC, where she worked on a diverse portfolio of international trade issues as a special assistant to the executive assistant commissioner, Office of Trade. Now in her first year at Harvard Law School, Danica looks forward to a future that brings together all of her interests so far.
About The Language Flagship
The Language Flagship is a national initiative to change the way Americans learn languages through a groundbreaking approach to language education for students from kindergarten through college. Through a network of 25 Flagship Programs at 21 institutions of higher education across the US, The Language Flagship graduates students who will take their place among the next generation of global professionals, commanding a superior level of proficiency in one of ten languages critical to US national security and economic competitiveness."