Daniela comes from Mexico City, where she lived until she was 25 years old. Before coming to the world of development, she was working in the field of tourism. Daniela holds a Bachelor’s degree in Tourism Management; during that time she gained customer service and tourism experience working as an intern for Walt Disney World. 

Daniela interned with the African Refugee Development Center (ARDC) in Tel Aviv, a non-profit organization founded by refugees and Israeli citizens to assist, support, and empower refugees and asylum seekers in Israel; this was an excellent experience to learn and expand upon many transferable skills in the field of community development. The organization seeks to ensure access to basic social services and to facilitate integration, self-sufficiency, and ownership to the community. Daniela acted as a Higher Education Caseworker, working with clients interested in furthering their educational development, pursuing university degrees, vocational and technical training, and scholarships. She also conducted research, mapping the skills of the asylum seeker community, in order to strengthen existing programs with the knowledge and best practices from the field. 

The ARDC provides various programs that aim to strengthen the capacity and autonomy of African asylum seekers in Israel through education, training, professional guidance, and action toward a more dignified life. Participation in these programs builds leadership and group decision-making abilities, as well as vocational skills. The ARDC organized a manicure and pedicure course for women, held by a professional training school in Tel Aviv. The impact of these learning and development opportunities for asylum-seeking populations is not to be undervalued, shown by the fact that one of the students even received a job offer from the training school after completion of their program.

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