Isabel Varela
Senior Manager, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)Isabel is the Senior Manager, DEI, at the German Marshall Fund of the US, responsible for developing and implementing the organisation’s diversity and inclusion strategy and initiatives.
She has worked in the DEIA space for almost 10 years, most recently serving as DEIA (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility) Advisor at the Inter-American Foundation, a US Government agency. Prior to that, she held roles with a leading DEI consulting firm, Cook Ross Inc., previously based in MD, to implement DEI and cultural competency programs. The firm’s clients included government agencies, nonprofits, private corporations, universities, media and tech firms, based in the US and globally.
From 2008 to 2014, Isabel served as Special Assistant to the Ambassador of Cabo Verde, her native country, at the Diplomatic Mission of Cabo Verde to the US in Washington, DC. In this capacity, she served as a liaison between the Diplomatic Mission and the US Congress, think tanks, and nonprofit organisations.
She has taken executive training in leadership and communications at Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, Harvard School of Continuing Studies, and Georgetown University. She graduated in Economics from ISEG (Higher Institute for Economics and Management), Lisbon Technical University, in Portugal.
Isabel is fluent in English, French and Spanish, in addition to Portuguese and Creole, her native languages.