Resident Community Council

Joseph Kouadio - President 

Elise Yi Gao - Vice President 

I'm Elise / Yi from Mainland China, a third-year Berkeley undergrad studying Econ (econometrics). I've really enjoyed the atmosphere living at I-House since the summer of 2023, so I joined the Student Council as vice president to make I-House more like home#2 for all of us! I like meeting new people, cooking and playing board games with friends, embracing differences, and reaching for harmony(求同存异). P.S. I love Duolingo, and try to learn more languages, so welcome to say hello in your language!! 

David Gravanita - Secretary 

David comes from Portugal and is a 1st Year PhD in the BPP program at Haas, and does research on the intersection between economics and politics. He studied Economics at Nova SBE for his undergraduate degree, and at Bocconi for his Masters. His work experience prior to the doctorate includes over 2 years of Research Assistantship between Bocconi, Harvard Business School, and Columbia’s Center on Poverty and Social Policy. Besides his native Portuguese, he is fluent in English and Italian. He serves in the council as the Secretary, running council meetings and taking minutes, and will join the Finance Committee of International House. 

Lisa Kasamba - Treasurer

Lila Madden - Communication Officer 

Marguerite Kelly - Non-Officer Council Member Representative

David Muller - Non-Officer Council Member Representative

Obiamaka Ude - Non-Officer Council Member Representative

Obiamaka is a second year doctoral student in the Department of City and Regional Planning in the College of Environmental Design. Her work as a graduate student will examine whether sustainable textile manufacturing can mitigate soil and water degradation while also producing sustainable economies in order to resolve cycles of production that are detrimental to the environment. She believes that city planners as arbiters of land use and development have a unique responsibility and opportunity to reconcile ecological and economic systems. She envisions a world where ecological stability is a central component to the work of economic development within the field of urban planning.

Prior to coming to Cal, Obiamaka worked as a city planner in Los Angeles. Her role enabled her to bring permanent supportive housing to Skid Row in Downtown Los Angeles, advocate for projects in the presence of city officials, and utilize her power to incorporate community-based knowledge in the approval of the development projects.

Obiamaka received her Master of City Planning degree from the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at MIT, and is a U.S. Fulbright Fellow. In her spare time, you might find her stitching a new sewing project into the evening or see her chasing sunshine in between study sessions. She is from Los Angeles, California.

Nico - Non-Officer Council Member Representative

Hi there, I'm Nico, a graduate student at UC Berkeley with a passion for global perspectives. My journey started in Germany, where I grew up in a culturally diverse environment as a son of Czech migrants, surrounded by friends from all corners of the world. These early friendships ignited my interest in languages and cultures. As of now, I have become proficient in German, English and Spanish (parts of my family live in Paraguay), while still picking up French. The fact that I grew up in this environment also sparked my interest to explore other languages like Arabic, Italian and Turkish.

Besides my studies, I am happy to actively engage as a member of Ketaaketi e.V., a German-based NGO that is operating in various countries such as Burundi, Ecuador, Gambia, Liberia, Madagascar, Nepal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. My experiences have shaped my academic path, and I'm currently pursuing a master's in development Practice, driven by the belief that understanding and embracing our global diversity is key to solving complex global challenges. During my undergraduate years, I studied social and cultural psychology as well as general social sciences which further fueled my passion for international development. In the past I have lived, worked and studied in various countries in Africa, Europe and Latin America.

In my free time outside of classes and work commitments, you'll often find me either in my room playing Mario Kart, Pokémon and FIFA or at the International-House library, where I like to study while enjoying tereré—a tradition passed down from my family in Paraguay. I'm also an active individual who loves staying fit and having fun, whether it's playing soccer on various intramural teams or cruising around on my longboard.

I'm excited to be part of the vibrant international community at Berkeley, where I hope to continue fostering intercultural connections and making a positive impact on a global scale. Let's explore the world together!

Josemaria Gabriel Fadri - Non-Officer Council Member Representative

My name is Josemaria Gabriel Fadri, and I am from Manila, Philippines. I am doing the Master’s of Engineering program in Civil Engineering, focused on Transportation Engineering. I am interested in public and active transportation and their potential to bring communities together. I am part of the Resident Community Council as the Non-Officer Representative to Asia, as well as a member of the Dutch and French clubs at Berkeley. I know these languages to varying levels of proficiency: Filipino (Tagalog), English (both native), Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, Japanese, Romanian, German, Dutch, and Korean. Alongside transportation and languages, catch me wearing blue in the dining hall to talk about topics like Eurovision, K-Pop, Taylor Swift, Cities: Skylines, Toontown, and The Sims! 

Dinah Lawan - Non-Officer Council Member Representative

Dinah Lawan was born and raised in a rural community in Northeastern Nigeria. Miss. Lawan
speaks four different languages: Kibaku, Hausa, Fulani, and English. Kibaku is one of Nigeria’s
endangered languages spoken by over 200,000 people and is only orally spoken by its natives.
Kibaku is Miss. Lawan’s mother tongue and it is the language she grew up speaking. Hausa is
one of the three major languages (Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba) in Nigeria that is predominantly
spoken in the Northern part of the country. Fulani and Hauda are very similar in dialogue but
have different word usage. Fulani is only orally spoken by a few people, mostly from the north.

Miss. Lawan has been in the United States since 2018. She earned her BA at the University of
Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana, where she majored in Political Science and minored in Peace
Studies and Studio Art (ceramics). Miss. Lawan is a second-year Ph.D. student in the Political
Science Department at the University of California, Berkeley, where she primarily studies
political violence, security, development, and peacebuilding, and gender in Africa. As a
first-generation student, Mss. Lawan comes from a community that has brutally experienced
terrorist violence. Consequentially, she decided to pursue a graduate degree after college in the
hope of contributing to the journey of dismantling the terrorist organization in her community
and the process of rebuilding the community in the aftermath of the violence. Mss. Lawan loves
and enjoys helping and supporting vulnerable people from rural communities—another essential aspect of Miss. Lawan’s dream is to create a program to provide educational opportunities for young girls in her community and beyond.