Claire Astrid is a Belgian-American graduate of Texas Christian University, where she studied Political Science, Mandarin, and French. She is currently an analyst at Janes, tracking Chinese and Russian investments in the Middle East, Central Asia, and North Africa through a national security lens. Previously, she worked in refugee resettlement in Texas, serving mostly Afghan and Iraqi arrivals. She is pursuing the MPP to explore how national security policies account for their human impact, driven by a mission to ensure policy reflects the voices of those most affected. Claire Astrid is a passionate language learner, having studied 12 languages with maintenance levels in 9, including Mandarin (B2), Arabic (C1), Persian (B1), and Russian (A2). She has traveled to six continents and aims to reach 100 countries before the age of 30. A former competitive powerlifter, Claire Astrid now trains in MMA, focusing on Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Claire Astrid is an Eisenhower Global scholar.