Career Opportunities at the U.S. Department of State

John Leake is a second-year master’s student in Regional Studies – Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia at Harvard University. His research interests include Russian politics, Soviet history, and issues of race and racialization in the post-Soviet space. He recently completed a summer internship in the Youth Programs Division in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. He is also a Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellow and will join the Foreign Service after graduation. John is an alumnus of the National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y) program to Russia and served as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Kazan, Russia. He is originally from Memphis, Tennessee, and graduated from New York University.

Stephanie Jensby is a Foreign Service Officer currently serving as a Strategic Media Analyst in the Office of Design and Editorial in the Department of State's Bureau of Global Public Affairs. Prior to this, Stephanie has served in a broad array of overseas tours at U.S. embassies and consulates in Brazil, Turkey, Denmark, Belgium, Peru, and Morocco. She has also served domestically, as a Program Officer and a Grants Officer Representative in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs; and as a Public Diplomacy Desk Officer in the Bureau of African Affairs. Before entering the Foreign Service, Stephanie worked in the private and non-profit sectors. She has a Master of Arts in Intercultural Management from the School for International Training. She is from Brooklyn, NY, is married, and has two children.

Molly Kress is a Program Officer in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ Youth Program Division for the National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y), a language and cultural study program for U.S. high school students to learn critical languages overseas. Her previous assignments in the public diplomacy arena include the Office of the U.S. Speaker Program and the Office of Policy, Planning and Evaluation. She was also the country officer for Iran, working with the Persian translation team. Molly is a Civil Service officer who began her career at the State Department in the Foreign Service, including postings in/on India, Afghanistan, the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, Germany, Sri Lanka, and UNICEF. She graduated from Georgetown University with a degree in English and Spanish literature and completed her master’s degree at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.