Valerissa C. Baker, 29
BS biological sciences ’15, MPH health policy & management ’17
Business Development Manager, World Vision Inc. (San Diego, California) and Franchise owner, Chick’NCone (New York City)
You could say Valerissa Baker’s road to an executive position at World Vision started at Drexel, and it quite literally did. As an undergraduate, Baker was the first recipient of the Dornsife Global Development Scholars program. Her 2014 co-op took her to Zambia with the global nonprofit World Vision, where she led a research project on maternal and child health. Today, she is a business development and product manager for World Vision with a global portfolio that includes Zambia and other countries in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Baker’s most recent success took her back where she started: securing a $6 million partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Rotary International to combat malaria in Zambia and strengthen their local health system. For World Vision, Baker co-manages the acquisition of high-net-worth donors, corporations, foundations and churches, linking interests across multiple sectors of high need in developing countries from water, sanitation and hygiene to humanitarian and emergency affairs, child protection and development health food security. While studying for her master’s in public health from Boston University, Baker returned to World Vision for six months in South Africa where she created a grants criteria system to improve donor compliance and satisfaction. After a stint teaching science in the Boston public schools, she returned to World Vision in 2017 as a senior program management specialist. Among its many programs, World Vision is the largest non-governmental provider of clean drinking water in the world, and Baker finds profound meaning in taking donors across the globe to see the changes resulting from their donations. A single road linking a remote community with a city or the completion of a new well that provides fresh water saves lives, she says, whether providing a lifeline in an emergency or ending the cycle of poor health. “That’s so powerful to me,” Baker says. “How a well or a road can transform a community far from town centers.” Baker, who serves on the Alumni Board of Governors, envisions herself as a major leader in the field of public health one day with a lofty goal: “I want to see poverty alleviated,” she says. “That’s one hundred percent achievable with more people working together and holding each other accountable.”
In her own words:
My Greatest Accomplishment: My greatest accomplishment to date is having traveled to over 50+ countries and learning how to build rapport across multiple cultures. Through this, I’ve developed a huge global network! I’m especially proud of the many young business owners around the world who’s hard work pulled them and their families out of poverty — they all inspire me to continue the work that I do.
How Drexel Helped Me: Drexel taught me a great deal about professionalism. I learned how to tackle interviews with courage, speak with confidence at large engagements, and (most importantly) how to network. Additionally, having first-hand working experience through my cooperative education was invaluable for the start of my professional career.
What Success Looks Like to Me: In my opinion, success should be measured by how resilient one is. We are not all handed the same opportunities and resources in life; thus for some of us, being courageous and risking comfort to fulfill a dream is frightening beyond reasons related to the goal itself. Not losing determination, especially when facing multiple issues like social injustices that prevent the advancement of certain peoples, is true success.
How the Past Year Has Influenced Me: My business partners and I opened a franchise called “Chick’NCone” in Harlem, New York, this March, after experiencing a year of delays due to the pandemic. The pandemic forced me to become more financially savvy and really prepare for the unexpected. However, of all things the pandemic influenced, my new norm of working from home has certainly increased my productiveness.
My Top Post-Pandemic Plan: Once it is safe and morally ethical to travel abroad, I’d like to take a trip to see family and friends overseas. Zoom calls were exciting in the beginning of quarantine, but after a year of scheduled meetings it would be nice to see more people face-to-face again.