Tulsi Byrne (MA International Affairs ’15) came to The New School
looking for a career change. With an undergraduate degree in
International Relations and Economics and a background working in
compliance for a financial service firm, Byrne was looking for a masters
program where she could apply her international development interest in
a business context.
“The most important things I learned during my time at The New School
were the skills that I acquired through my statistics and economics
courses and the refinement to my writing skills in the intensive
research seminars,” says Byrne.
During her time with the Julien J. Studley Graduate Programs in International Affairs,
Bryne took a data visualization class and used the skills she learned
in the program to lead a data project with the United Nations Global
Compact, the UN's corporate sustainability initiative. This role, which
started as an internship, turned into a full time job. During her time
with the UN Global Compact, Byrne served first as Manager of Social
Sustainability and Gender Equality, then as Manager of Integrity, a
position which required drafting and developing thought leadership
pieces.
“From a content perspective,” Byrne says, “the classes I took on
human rights, natural resources, gender, and corporate sustainability
provided strong theoretical frameworks that I could apply to my job at
the UN Global Compact and beyond.”
Recently, Byrne made the transition from the UN Global Compact to
work on the Responsible Investing team at Nuveen, an asset management
company. In this role, which combines her previous experience in
financial services and sustainability, Byrne helps integrate
environmental, social, and governance issues into investment decisions.