Student Profile: Alejandra Chavarria, MPP Class of 2022

“You don’t know where you’re going until you look back,” says Alejandra Chavarria, who admits her trajectory towards working as a negotiator at the Ministry of Foreign Trade of Costa Rica and pursuing her Master of Public Policy (MPP) was not always clear.

Unsure what to do after earning her undergraduate degree from the University of Costa Rica, Chavarria studied law and photography simultaneously. Although she enjoyed photography, she began to focus on her career prospects and completed her law degree. However, as she began working in law firms as a paralegal (and later as a lawyer), she realized she did not enjoy the work she was doing. “Outside of the volunteer work I did at a legal aid clinic, my work at the law firm felt very repetitive, and I knew it was not for me. I lasted about three months in the last law firm I worked at. Fortunately, I was offered an internship at the Ministry of Foreign Trade, and I thought, ‘Ok, fine, I’ll see what it’s like.’ And I loved it— I was offered a full time position, and I’ve been there for six years now.”

“I like to be intellectually challenged—to work a little harder and learn a little more. I’m one of few at the ministry to work on two teams: Services & Investment and Intellectual Property, and my research spans many subject areas. As a small ministry of only 80 people, we have to be very adaptable, which makes the work exciting.”

When Chavarria first started at the ministry, she was assigned to be part of the team negotiating the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA)  at the World Trade Organization (WTO),  as well as the team negotiating the Free Trade Agreement between South Korea and Central America. For the past five years, she has worked in the adhesion process of Costa Rica to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) at the ministry.

“Adhering to OECD entails many structural and legal changes, meaning it is important to make data-driven decisions, and Costa Rica is in a very good moment for data-driven decision-making: it’s a proud moment to see how lawmakers are changing their views on the world.”

Inspired by her work with the ministry, Chavarria earned her Master’s in International Markets and Commerce from Lead University, Costa Rica in 2017 and was invited to participate in Stanford University’s Hoover Summer IP Institute on the Economics and Politics of Innovation in 2018. “I spent those two weeks learning to make regulatory decisions based on data. I fell in love with that concept, and I wanted to grow into a professional that uses data for decisions. Two of my classmates were Harris alumnae and encouraged me to apply. After talking with them and doing additional research, I applied early action in October. I was very sure I wanted Harris—and the current global situation has only reinforced that for me.

I spent those two weeks learning to make regulatory decisions based on data. I fell in love with that concept, and I wanted to grow into a professional that uses data for decisions.

“COVID-19 has shown very clearly that international development is a global effort,” Chavarria says. “We can’t think as individual nations anymore, but as a global community. The urgency is accelerated by the fourth industrial revolution, climate change, and international health crises, so I want to stay in the area of international development where I can make the most impact.”

“The post-COVID world is going to be so different: I can’t say where I’ll be in 10 years. I could be doing public policy in Costa Rica, or working for an international organization like the OECD or WTO. All I know for sure is that I want to leave behind a better world.”