Lina Abisoghomyan

"My interest area more generally has always been in international affairs, and I began to explore that through internships and fellowships throughout high school and college...I think the cherry on top was when I decided to concentrate my degree in International Relations in Foreign Policy & National Security. I had an amazing capstone course professor and thesis mentor who was a high-up in the IC, and I began my first job out of college at the Pentagon shortly after graduating. From there, the rest is history!"

"My ‘North Star’ in my role as a strategy consultant is to support the client in making data-driven decisions that help address their short-term needs, and long-term goals. I work in teams to solve our clients’ most pressing, high-impact issues - helping them to efficiently and effectively conduct daily tasks as well as plan for future milestones. Day-to-day, I work together with a team of data analysts to understand, interpret, and analyze what the data they aggregate and model is telling us. I then work with my peers in strategy to devise, design, and help to facilitate the implementation of a plan using insight from that data, along with market research and industry knowledge, to deliver results."

"I’m most excited about the increased adoption of technology for diversified application. There are so many challenges that come with increased technological integration into our daily solutioning, but it makes me that much more excited to think about what’s on the other side once these challenges are overcome. I’ve seen what seems to be a great change in culture towards ‘technologization’, and an openness to learning about and embracing ameliorated modernized solutioning."

"Perhaps unsurprisingly, I would say COVID-19. There are a lot of effects that are already apparent, such as the increased use of technology, or the redefinition of human connection and interaction but there are so many ripple effects that are yet to come. In the intelligence community specifically, because of the unique circumstances of the work that is being done, I think these ripple effects will be that much more complex and difficult to fully predict."

Favorite Podcast: 30 Animals that Made Us Smarter (BBC)