Olivia Werby

Ed.M from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in International Education Policy
B.A. from Pitzer College in Sociology with a minor in Spanish

Olivia has worked in education in the U.S. and around the world, teaching in a women’s prison in Los Angeles, a vocational school for indigenous girls in Ecuador, and an orphanage in Botswana, where she also worked with a child psychologist to develop an art therapy curriculum. Most recently, Olivia worked with the Fulbright English Teaching Assistant program in Malaysia. She taught in a rural Islamic boarding school for a year before joining the Fulbright Commission staff as ETA program coordinator. As coordinator, she facilitated the expansion of the program from one state with 17 teachers to 100 nation-wide, newly partnered with the Ministry of Education, and reoriented the focus of the program on serving the country’s lowest performing schools.

After Malaysia, Olivia attended the Harvard Graduate School of Education, earning her Master’s in International Education Policy, and has since consulted on projects from El Salvador to Singapore to Venezuela, working to improve educational outcomes globally. She also worked in Indonesia, where she developed a program to train youth leaders to identify and solve small-scale urban problems facing their communities. Most recently, Olivia has been with the Mosaic Project in Northern California, an experiential education program for 4th and 5th graders focused on diversity, empathy, and conflict resolution.

She is thrilled to be returning to Southeast Asia with Where There Be Dragons’ Thailand and Indonesia programs. She considers the region a second home, and is excited to facilitate the exploration of burgeoning global citizens. Olivia grew up around the corner from a Thai buddhist temple and cultural center and studied Thai traditional dance as a small child, and helped her Artist mother lead workshops for children creating shadow puppets inspired by Indonesia’s wayang kulit. In addition, Olivia loves photography, sculpting clay, scuba diving, and exploring street food and art scenes around the world.