Jennifer Olson is a senior program officer for the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders. 

IIn this role she supports Leadership Institutes for the Fellowship. She previously managed the Professional Development Experience component of the Fellowship.

Before joining IREX, Jennifer worked at NAFSA supporting the development and implementation of over 40 annual conference workshops as well as the Trainer Corps, a network of over 300 volunteer trainers in international education. Previously, she worked to develop interfaith and multicultural student programming at the University of Maryland-College Park and spent two years teaching English conversation, media, and literature at Henan University in Kaifeng, China. 

ennifer holds an MA in international education policy from University of Maryland-College Park and a BA in international relations and religious studies from Beloit College.