Our Team
We are an organization led by youth, for youth. Though we represent many countries and many cultures, we are united in our passion for spreading cultural awareness and empowering youth to take autonomy over their education.
Caroline Gao
Founder & President
Caroline is passionate about driving equity through cultural storytelling, civic engagement, and youth-centered education. As a Chinese American from small-town Oregon, she aspires to eliminate the cultural ignorance she experienced growing up and cultivate an inclusive future full of open-minded global citizens. Previously, she has served as a youth ambassador of the U.S. through the National Security Language Initiative for Youth (run by the U.S. Department of State), High School Diplomats (sponsored by the National Association of Japan-America Societies), and Between the Lines (run by the International Writing Program). She is also co-president and co-founder of the international youth literary magazine Aster Lit. In her free time, she enjoys learning languages, playing flute, and curating her K-pop playlists!
Katherine Verrando
Executive Advisor
Katherine is a high school junior from Orange County, California who is passionate about creating change by eliminating cultural stigmas and empowering youth on a global scale. Through The World in Us, Katherine hopes to connect youth across the world to help them gain a better perspective of the world and other cultures. Previously, Katherine participated in the National Security Language Initiative for Youth in Taipei, Taiwan. She is also the founder of the Changemakers leadership team, the Executive Assistant for her division's Key Club and a student leader at MUN Impact. In her free time, Katherine loves running, reading, and spending time with her family!
Taylor Whiting
Executive Advisor
Taylor is from Ohio, USA. She is a high school student at Ohio Connections Academy and taking CCP classes at Kent State. Taylor has many passions and interests one of them being humanities, social science, arts, media, etc., that they hope to study in college. Taylor is a co-executive director at The World In Us, a group leader at your School's LGBTQIA+ and ally support group, secretary for NHS, and a part of their school culture and diversity, E-sports, Chess, Global Trek, and Drama. She joined The World In Us because one of her passions is language, culture, and history. Taylor saw The World In Us as an opportunity to teach about different cultures and learn about languages, and cultures that they did not know. Taylor enjoys reading, writing, the arts, and trying new things.
Viola Ciovati
Executive Director
Viola is an Italian girl eager to tell the untold side of other people's stories, especially if these stories belong to minorities and/or subalterns. Through writing, she believes that it is possible to change people's perspective because it brings awareness and comprehension. Beyond her work as author of articles, she studies political science with a particular focus on international security and middle eastern issues. In her free time, Viola loves learning languages, reading 19th century books and cooking new recipes!
Alex Liew
Chief Operating Officer
Alex is passionate about driving equity through fostering supportive workplace environments, promoting global citizenship, and advancing youth-centered education. He has been involved in over 20 different education initiatives and is the Chair and Chief Executive Officer of youth-led education organization URounded. He is also the Chief Operating Officer of youth-led climate organization Inspirate and a Human Resources Associate at The Cornell Daily Sun. In his free time, he enjoys playing basketball and playing chess!
Rai Muhammad Ibrahim
Editorial Director
Coming all the way from Pakistan, Ibrahim is an interior design student who aims to not only achieve balance in his designs but also in empathy, acceptance, and importance towards all the diverse cultures on this planet. He loves listening to stories of people from different backgrounds, and gives equal attention to all regardless of their cultural background. “Diverse cultures bring diverse perspectives to the table, which can help formulate and drive unique solutions towards ever-evolving world problems”, is one of the reasons, he says, eliminating cultural ignorance is crucial to this world. He continues to pursue his passion for cultivating cultural empathy and eliminating cultural prejudice at The World In Us, while forming life-long friendships to cherish. When he's not working, he loves to read, 3D model, and exercise.
Brooklynn Corbin
News Director
Brooklynn is a college freshman looking to get her degree in biology. As a Puerto Rican raised in rural America, she was inspired to join the World in Us, to continue to help stop cultural ignorance at its root. In high school, she was vice president of her chapter of the National Honors Society, on the student council, and helped to raise over $1,000 for the Thirst Project. In her free time, she enjoys reading, writing, animating, and filmmaking!
Rumesa Salman
Newsletter Director
Rumesa is like a caffeine-fueled superhero, balancing deadlines, witty banter, and an anklet that announces her arrival with a signature "chuun chuun." Whether she’s diving headfirst into research like a detective solving mysteries or casually juggling a dozen projects, she somehow makes it all look easy (while still managing to complain about her sleep schedule). Rumesa is deeply committed to social causes—having taught underprivileged children through TCF, spearheaded a clothing drive for the less fortunate, and works on environmental initiatives to combat pollution. She's fluent in multiple languages, and can even school you in chess. Basically, if you need someone who’s brilliant, hilarious, and impossibly productive, she’s your girl.
Nevyn Parisa Haque
Outreach Director
Nevyn is a Bangladeshi girl who has an interest in learning and understanding different cultures. Traveling from a young age and participating in a virtual youth exchange program has peaked her curiosity even more. She joined The World In Us to understand about the different cultures and help others to understand the impact of cultural awareness and to create life-long friendships. Nevyn is studying business, law and psychology. She loves to write and edit articles. Other than that, during her free time, she likes to listen to music, read books about mythology and mystery, crime and photography and watching sitcoms and movies. 
Sushmitha Sundaram
Podcast Director
Sushmitha Sundaram is an Indian-American 11th grade student in California, USA. By actively participating in the World In Us as a Podcast Lead and a prominent event coordinator, she aims to create more cultural awareness among our current youth and help individuals gain a better understanding, as well as a greater appreciation, for people from various countries, linguistic backgrounds, and diversities. Sushmitha unleashes the most creativity through her dancing, art, writing, and speaking.
Valerie Ye
Podcast Team
Valerie Ye is an Asian-American high school student from New York City, one of the most diverse cities in the world! She has been interested in language and culture ever since her first Spanish classes in middle school where she was first exposed to the joy of forming phrases and sentences in what once seemed like such a foreign language. This initial spark ignited a deeper curiosity, driving her to explore beyond the English-speaking world. Joining the World In Us podcast team was the perfect platform to bring her desire to spread the voices of people from different backgrounds. If you ever come visit NYC, you can find her to give you tours of historical neighborhoods and recommending hidden gems for food!
Lindsay Parsons
Programs Team
Lindsay is a freshman in 9th grade, living in the state of Maryland in the United States, Lindsay is an amateur coder and writes stories online that are semi-popular within their niches. Lindsay knows a lot about reptiles and has a YouTube channel where they record gaming videos. Lindsay has autism and ADHD, currently learning Spanish, and has traveled to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands in the Summer of 2023. Lindsay wanted to join The World in Us because it sounded like an interesting organization, and they enjoy traveling to other places and learning about culture. Lindsay also wishes to do something good in the world, spreading cultural awareness through The World in Us and fighting toxicity online. Lindsay was also part of a community that raised over 300,000 dollars for the birthday of a sea otter.
Brandy Gutierrez
Programs Team
Brandy Gutierrez is a Mexican-American living in Florida, USA. She loves cross-cultural connection and learning about anything from economic inequality to Portuguese to poetry! I am passionate about working with the World in Us because I have been so inspired by the power of an international education and intercultural connection. She is also committed to driving change around the world on key policy issues like climate change through her avid volunteering with Citizens Climate Lobby, the Youth Action Fund, her schools’ Green Club as Co-President. She is also a NSLI-Y Korean Summer Finalist and Naples Council on World Affairs scholarship recipient.
Graham Borden
Programs Team
Graham Borden is a high school student from Northern Kentucky in the United States of America. Through language learning and global friendships, Graham has learned the value of including everyone's perspectives, and taking the time to fully understand one another. As a participant of the National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y) program, run by the United States Department of State, Graham had the opportunity to study abroad in South Korea during the summer of 2023, allowing him to improve his skills in the Korean language, and further his knowledge of Korean culture. Also as a participant of the Disney Dreamers Academy and HOBY World Leadership Congress, Graham has learned how to implement these values and skills into his career field and leadership positions. In his free time Graham loves learning new languages (currently Spanish and Korean), playing board games, improving his photography, and traveling to new places! 
Azka Sarmad
Chapters Team
Nothing excites Azka more than the word “culture” itself. As a Pakistani, Azka knew what it was to feel like when your culture and traditions are wrongly interpreted, and it became the sole reason for her to join TWIU. She not only saw TWIU as a means of spreading her own culture but also to get exposure to all the cultures in the world. She identifies TWIU as her peace place and whenever she is out of her peace place you’ll either see her surrounded by books or with a badminton racket in her hand. Also, if anyone wants a person to talk about Taylor Swift or BTS, Azka would be the right choice.Katherine Lam
Programs and Chapters Team
Katherine Lam is a secondary school student in the United States of America. As a program ambassador and summer alumna of the National Security Language Initiative for Youth, Katherine is passionate about fostering globally conscious policy through cross-cultural education. As a Red Cross youth leader and UNICEF chapter president, Katherine also helps to spearhead international humanitarian law campaigns at her high school, and hosts regular seminars exploring the overlap between classical history and contemporary social trends. In her spare time, Katherine can often be found translating Spanish literature, inline skating, or caring for her seven pinto-bean vines.