Harvard College 2000 Podcast: Andrea Volfova Filipi

Harvard College 2000 Podcast: Andrea Volfova Filipi

Author: Harvard College Class of 2000 March 12, 2026 Duration: 1:01:55

Dara talks to Andrea about “life being extraordinary” and “mulling over grand plans for the future.” Andrea discusses moving to the United States to attend Harvard, soon after the end of the cold war. She has always been interested in foreign affairs and dreamed of working at the United Nations (spoiler alert- she did!). After college, she went to the London School of Economics to study Development and then returned to Prague for her dream job at an NGO. An ad in The Economist changed her life- sending her into a career at the UN where she’s been for the past 20 years on and off, at both UN headquarters and many countries in Africa. Writing for Let’s Go was life-changing for Andrea, allowing her to see what war does to a country. Andrea also opens up about her health challenges related to a congenital heart issue.

Andrea lived in Mather House and concentrated in Psychology. She is originally from Prague and now lives in Western Sahara.


What happens after the cap and gown are put away? Harvard College Class of 2000: The Podcast explores that long, winding road. This isn't a formal reunion report but a series of conversations with classmates, catching up on more than two decades of life. You'll hear about careers that took unexpected turns, personal milestones, and the perspectives that only time and distance can provide. We also circle back to our shared origin point, swapping stories about those formative Cambridge years-the moments that stuck, the lessons that mattered, and the quirks of a particular time and place. Each episode is a different story, a unique path stemming from a common starting line. It's a chance to reconnect with voices from the past and discover where they've landed in the present. Tune in for a thoughtful, often surprising, and deeply human look at the journey from then to now, all through the specific lens of this class. This podcast is created by and for the Harvard College Class of 2000, offering a genuine audio chronicle of our group's evolving narrative.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 79

Harvard College Class of 2000: The Podcast
Podcast Episodes
Harvard College 2000 Podcast: Cori Racela [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 41:01
Cori talks about working at multiple jobs (including Putney Student Travel- which she hooked Dara up with a job in Alaska!) before going to law school and becoming a health lawyer in California. Cori is now the Executive…
Harvard College 2000 Podcast: Ming Hsu Chen [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:44
Ming Hsu Chen talks about her goal to become the first Asian American Thurgood Marshall, but pivoted to create a career with her main interests: ethnicity, religion and faith, law, civil rights, and immigration. Ming is…
Harvard College 2000 Podcast: Nathaniel Ekman [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:33
Today, Eileen interviews Nathaniel Ekman, one of The Paths We’ve Traveled speakers at reunion. Nathaniel opens up about his mental health struggles while at Harvard, being diagnosed with bipolar disorder at age 21, and l…
Harvard College 2000 Podcast: Kyle Clayton [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 56:40
Kyle talks about pivoting from pre-med to technology, with an interesting role in technology at City Harvest, a food rescue organization in NYC (after a cool stint using ad tech for important issues). He’s a chess aficio…
Harvard College 2000 Podcast: Kim McManama O'Brien [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 32:48
Congrats to Kim on her new book, Mentality Wins, that came out this week! Kim has a couple of irons in the fire- in addition to being an author, she runs a group mental health practice, Unlimited Resilience, for athletes…
Harvard College 2000 Podcast: Judith Danovitch [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 50:57
Judith talks about how shopping period changed her career trajectory to stay in school forever and become a psychology professor at the University of Louisville. Judith’s research in child development and information sou…
Harvard College 2000 Podcast: Megan Henry [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 46:52
Megan talks about how she discovered nutritional anthropology, worked at WIC (Women, Infants, and Children), and ended up doing a PhD in international health at Johns Hopkins, raising her three kids, and working in sodiu…
Harvard College 2000 Podcast: Jasmin Sethi [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 32:18
Today, Eileen talks to entrepreneur Jasmin Sethi, CEO of Sethi Clarity Advisers. Jasmin works with clients to improve efficiency in compliance using AI, identify opportunities in regulated sectors such as retirement plan…
Harvard College 2000 Podcast: Nick Weiss [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 50:21
Nick’s story is a unique one, starting with taking time off of school for a year which led to a new path, allowing him to think about what he wanted to do versus staying on the path set out for him. Nick’s new path inclu…