Laura Freschi joined DRI in November 2008. Her work includes managing the Aid Watch blog and coordinating DRI programs and events. Prior to joining DRI, she received her MA in international affairs, with a concentration in international development and economics, from the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS). She has worked in Washington DC with a USAID contractor on education reform in Iraq, on international educational exchange programs with students from the Middle East, and as a researcher and assistant editor for the Wilson Quarterly and the Washingtonian Magazine. She has lived in Italy, Syria, Morocco and Bulgaria and speaks Italian, French, Arabic and Spanish. She also holds a BA from Brown University in comparative literature.