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Mara Bolis
Seasoned leader with experience in economic development dedicated to advancing gender equality at home and around the world.
Mara Bolis is a Research Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School's Center for Public Leadership and Center for International Development (CID). She began her fellowship in 2023 and is focusing her work on leadership capabilities to drive gender equality.14
Prior to her fellowship at Harvard, Mara Bolis held the position of Associate Director of Women's Economic Rights in Oxfam's Gender Justice and Inclusion Hub. In this role, she oversaw and partnered with other teams to advance women's economic empowerment initiatives.6
Research and Expertise
Bolis's work at Harvard Kennedy School centers on several key areas:
- Gender equality and women's empowerment
- International development
- Organizational change for gender inclusivity
She is involved in various activities and projects at Harvard, including:
- Participating in CID's Speaker Series events, discussing topics like "The Dangerous Story of Women and Data"5
- Conducting research and raising awareness to increase opportunities and living standards for women in the La Mé region of Côte d'Ivoire1
- Leading interactive workshops on gender-inclusive organizational change7
Academic Engagement
As part of her fellowship, Bolis is actively engaged in the academic community at Harvard Kennedy School. She participates in and contributes to student seminars, sharing her expertise on gender and development issues.3 Her work aligns closely with CID's focus on centering gender in international development, as evidenced by her involvement in CID's initiatives and podcast series.2
Mara Bolis's fellowship at Harvard Kennedy School represents a continuation of her career-long commitment to advancing gender equality and women's economic empowerment in the context of international development.
Highlights
The energy to tackle gender inequality in the La Me region of Cote d'Ivoire is contagious! As part of my recent trip, former Prime Minister Patrick Achi requested a gender sensitization workshop for elected and administrative regional government officials. We brought together 50 leaders (50/50 men and women) for a conversation that was lively, at times raucous even. The room vibrated with diverging viewpoints and life experiences. I'm still waiting for the results of the pre/post survey but one early indicator is that several participants immediately requested follow up sessions. What else can you expect from the dream team of Nadege Angbo, Kotomi O., Femi Olonilua, CPA, Maylis Djikalou and Anna Rokia N’diaye? Harvard Center for International Development
Yesterday was the first official seminar on the promotion of gender justice in the La Mé region! This monumental first step is part of the development of the strategic plan for the promotion of gender in La Mé.The event was chaired by former Prime Minister Patrick Achi and opened by luminaries such as Mayor of Adzopé Florence Achi and the World Bank’s Heba Elgazzar. It was amazing. Harvard Kennedy School students Femi Olonilua, CPA and Kotomi Odate presented their research based on feedback from over 300 women from across the region. Women talked about their aspirations in agriculture and commerce, their interest in learning about women’s rights and the barriers they face around time and transportation. The subsequent discussion with the international donor community, local women’s rights leaders and administrative actors from various government agencies augmented the research recommendations calling out vital impact imperatives such as literacy training and facilitating access to identification cards. On the later point We were talking to the former Prime Minister tonight and he said—“Can you imagine anything more limiting than not having an identification card? Without it essentially you don’t exist.” There is so much empathy and political commitment to this topic in this region. Patrick Achi and Florence Achi are ready to work! Fingers crossed the international community will be right there beside them! Harvard Center for International Development was the incubator that facilitated my partnership with Prime Minister Achi on this work and I couldnt be more grateful. Fatema Z. Sumar Asim Ijaz Khwaja Katy Doyle Valerie Krempus
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Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
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Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
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Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
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Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
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