Louisa Lincoln PhD’25

Head of Impact & Engagement, Public Media Bridge Fund

2021–22 Lipman Fellow
2022-23 Lipman Fellow Coordinator
PhD, Annenberg School for Communication

Can you tell us about your new role and what drew you to it?

I’m the Head of Impact & Engagement at the Public Media Bridge Fund. The Bridge Fund was established following the rescission of federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the nonprofit entity that distributed funds to hundreds of local public media stations across the country for nearly 60 years. Our mission at the Bridge Fund is to secure local public media service for the communities nationwide that are most at risk of losing it following the loss of federal funds—and, more broadly, to help the American public media system transition to a more sustainable and impactful future.

I’ve worked in nonprofit journalism for more than nine years and researched the U.S. public media system during my doctoral studies at the Annenberg School for Communication, so both this role and this organization felt like a natural—and incredibly timely—extension of my previous work. I was also lucky enough to join the Bridge Fund as a consultant, which allowed me to get to know the team before coming on full-time.

How does your organization advance impact in the communities or systems you care about?

The public media system has long been deeply important to me—not just from a professional perspective of working in the field, but also on a personal level. I grew up listening to Minnesota Public Radio and watching countless hours of PBS Kids shows (Arthur, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, you name it). I believe in the underlying universal access mission of the public media system, namely that everyone should have access to free, high-quality local news and information about their community, along with educational and cultural programming.

At the Bridge Fund, I’m thrilled to work for an organization focused on securing universal access in as many communities as possible and reimagining what the public media system can and should be in this country.

The job market is tough right now—what helped you stay grounded or motivated during your search?

Two things really helped keep me grounded and motivated during my search this summer (in addition, of course, to my wonderfully supportive family members, friends, and professional mentors).

First, I took time off. This sounds counterintuitive—and it wasn’t easy to do, in practice!—but I had a pre-planned family vacation that allowed me to step away from job applications, celebrate finishing my graduate program, and recharge my batteries before returning to the job search. Even if a trip isn’t an option for you, try to schedule some time off from job searching—whether it’s weekends, afternoons, or even just a few hours a week—to give yourself some time and space to recharge.

Second, I had two to three side projects I was working on in addition to job searching. These contract projects helped me transition out of being a graduate student, expanded my professional network, allowed me to put my research into practice, and generally provided a welcome distraction from full-time job searching. Ultimately, it was a consulting role that opened the door to my new full-time position. So, if you’re on the job market, be open to any and all opportunities for contract work, part-time roles, or consulting gigs—you never know what one opportunity could lead to down the road.

Jesús “Louie” Zúñiga MS’24 MSEd’24

Corporate Portfolio Manager, Myriad USA 

2023–24 Lipman Fellow
MS Nonprofit Leadership, School of Social Policy and Practice
MSEd International Educational Development, Penn Graduate School of Education

Can you tell us about your new role and what drew you to it?

My new role is working with Myriad USA as a Corporate Portfolio Manager. Myriad USA is an international grantmaking intermediary that facilitates U.S. grants for nonprofits registered in other countries, and I am a relationship manager focusing primarily on helping our corporate donors with their global philanthropy. I help evaluate, originate, and manage grants supporting nonprofit work across the world.

I was drawn to this work because it allows me to combine my interests in international development, fundraising, and grantmaking in a critical moment for international nonprofits. Myriad USA emphasizes high-impact philanthropy via locally led solutions around the world and is very aligned with my vision for philanthropy and the learnings I gained from my Lipman experience.

How has your Lipman Fellowship shaped the way you approach your work today?

My Lipman Fellowship has had an enormous impact on how I approach my work. It’s not uncommon for me to come across candidates from my Fellowship in my work because the missions are so aligned. Many of our donors bring a similar grantmaking mindset, and my Lipman training helps me understand their approach and priorities. However, even more than teaching me about the innovative locally led international nonprofit landscape and improving my grant evaluation skills, the Lipman Fellowship made me a better leader and teammate. I use skills and concepts from our strengths-based group training constantly and am grateful for the additional awareness it helped me bring to my work.

What advice would you share with others seeking meaningful roles in social impact?

It’s a very difficult time to carve a path in a social impact career, but it’s also a critical moment for the sector to gain and retain talented individuals. Be determined, build upon your Penn networks, and knock on as many doors as you can. I had a long and bumpy job search myself, but my advice is: get creative, give yourself grace, and keep at it. Play to your strengths—especially your Clifton ones!

How do you see this position fitting into your longer-term path in social impact?

International development will never again be what existed in the USAID era, and the post-USAID reality is still far off. Philanthropy is also on the brink of transformational evolution as the Great Wealth Transfer’s opening act has coincided with a dramatic moment of shrinking funding sources, expanding conflicts, and stubbornly persistent problems. My longer-term goal is to grow at Myriad USA and learn as much as possible so that I can help lead philanthropy’s next chapter toward impact that future Lipman Fellows might be proud of.

Lakshana Ramakrishnan LLM’25

Assistant Manager, Office of the CEO, Breakthrough India

2024–25 Lipman Fellow
LLM, Penn Carey Law School

What challenge or opportunity are you most eager to take on in this position?

I’ll be joining the Breakthrough Trust as an Assistant Manager in the CEO’s Office in November. The challenge and the opportunity with this position is the very steep learning curve that I’m about to encounter. The role focuses on program management and implementation, and on assisting in the CEO’s work with partner organizations, donors, and the Board. To say the least, it’s a bit of a shift from my background in litigation. Learning about Breakthrough’s operations and working in the development sector means I can learn deeply and widely about the area in which I hope to build my career. It’s challenging because of how deep and wide my learning is going to be.

Is there a particular insight or value from your time at Lipman that you find yourself returning to?

I’d say a big one for me is leveraging my strengths. The Fellowship was probably the first time I got to identify what my strengths were and how I could instrumentalise them in my work. I’ve begun to come back to this over and over. Whenever I approach a task, I find myself looking to see how best I can leverage my strengths to be better at the task and to make it more efficient for myself. I’m also looking forward to working with a big team again and doing my bit in fostering psychological safety within the team, the way we did during the Fellowship.

What advice would you share with others seeking meaningful roles in social impact?

Three things that worked for me were really falling back on my network, being intentional about making connections, and being patient. It’s a tough job market, and I had a very particular role requirement in mind while navigating it. I didn’t hold back when reaching out to my network and being honest about what I was looking for. This allowed me to make valuable connections that I could build on. Unfortunately, these things take time, and there’s no way around it but to play the long game.

How do you see this position fitting into your longer-term path in social impact?

I had a chance to sit down with Breakthrough and tell them exactly how I wished to step into the social impact space. They sent back a job description after that conversation. This position is exactly what I wanted, in the sense that I got to express my interests and expectations for it. Breakthrough works to prevent violence against women and children through a preventative approach. An opportunity to shadow the CEO of an organization like Breakthrough means I get to learn so, so much about the administration of an SGBV organization, which is exactly what I hope to do myself in the long term.

These stories reflect what connects so many Lipman Fellows—the drive to learn deeply, collaborate widely, and keep making an impact long after their time at Penn.