Dr. Heather Ashby is a foreign policy and national security expert in Washington, D.C. She has worked at the intersection of homeland security and international affairs, and on U.S.-Russia relations at the Department of Homeland Security. In 2014, she received her Ph.D. in Russian and Global History from the University of Southern California with a focus on the relationship between the Soviet Union and people from Asia, Africa, and the Americas. From 2012-2013 she served as a Boren Fellow in Moscow, Russia, and was named by New America as a Black American National Security & Foreign Policy Next Generation Leader in 2018. She currently serves as the Program Leader for the Women of Color Advancing Peace, Security, and Conflict Transformation (WCAPS) GenZer Program, co-chair for the WCAPS Intersectionality of National Security Sub-Working Group, and a Board Member for the Washington, D.C. chapter of the Women in International Security organization. She has published articles in Foreign Policy and Inkstick. You can learn more about her on LinkedIn.

Fun fact: Heather enjoys reading historical romance novels.