African American Women Striving To Increase Diversity In The Ranks of U.S. Foreign Service After college, Lia came across the Thomas R. Pickering Fellowship in Foreign Affairs. The Pickering Fellowship, a program funded by the U.S. Department of State and administered by historically Black college Howard University, was Lia’s pathway into the foreign service. Lia has said that one of the elements of the Pickering Fellowship is that fellows serve in an embassy overseas for a summer, and serve in the State Department for another summer, so as to get a sense of what a foreign service officer does over the course of the two internships.
By Gary Raynaldo
DIPLOMATIC TIMES
Meet Lia Miller. Lia is an African-Ameri-
can, a wife and mother of two, and is also a U.S Foreign Service Officer/Diplomat living overseas in the former Soviet Republic of Yerevan, Armenia in Eastern Europe. As a Foreign Service Officer, Lia has worked extensively on issues across the Middle East, North Africa, and Latin America during her 15 years with the U.S. Department of State. She is currently the Chief Public Affairs Officer at U.S. Embassy Yerevan. Lia has also held assignments in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, the Operations Center, the Bureau of Public Affairs, the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, and at the U.S. Embassies in Bolivia, Tunisia, Nicaragua, and Oman. Lia is a 2001 Thomas R. Pickering Graduate Fellowship alumna. Lia was also named a 2018 Black American National Security & Foreign Policy Next Generation Leader by New America and the Diversity in National Security Network and separately as a Regional Policy Expert by Women of Color Advancing Peace and Security. Lia recently shared her experiences as a foreign service officer during Georgetown University’s Institute for the Study of Diplomacy Diverse Diplomacy Leaders Speakers Series along with foreign service officer Christina Tilghman, both of whom served as President of the Pickering and Rangel Fellows Association. For Lia, working as a diplomat for the U.S. government was initially not in her career plans when she graduated from college. Lia said it was more of a “happy accident” that she became a foreign service officer.
“I never thought I’d be a part of the government. I initially wanted to be a social worker. But I had realized that I didn’t have what it took to adopt 20 children. Then I went back to school and got a (Thomas R.) Pickering Graduate Fellowship with a Masters in International Relations and Public Administration. I specialize in public affairs and public diplomacy. So, the budding social worker in me gets to be fulfilled because I get to work with people.”
-Lia Miller
Lia said she had a curiosity of international travel at a very early age when her grandparents opened
The Department of State Has To Have The Will To Make Changes on Diversity: - Christina Tilghman
(credit: theblackexpat.com) Lia Miller is a career Foreign Service Officer at the U.S. Department of State. She currently serves as the Chief of the Public Affairs Office at the U.S. Embassy in Yerevan, Armenia located in the Caucasus region between Asia
“For me, feminist foreign policy is women-centric, women-focused policy, written and driven for and by women.” Lia Miller said in interview -Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy
Increasing diversity in the upper ranks of the U.S. Department of State entails a “cultural shift”, says Christina Tilghman, a career foreign service officer. Christina is currently Senior Advisor for Diversity and Inclusion in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. “It is a cultural shift. Our culture has to change. We have to look at how we are going to change the (State) Department. The Department has to have the will to change. We know, as persons of color, representation matters in the Department,” Christina said. She joined the Department of State as a Foreign Service Officer in 2010. “I was the only Black woman and the only person of color when I first started at the U.S. Consulate,” Christina recounted an experience early in her career at a posting abroad. She is a 2006 Thomas R. Pickering Undergraduate Foreign Affairs Fellow. Lia Miller says the Pickering Fellowship is a vital network to address issues of diversity, retention, promotion. “More recently, the Pickering Fellowship is to strive for more change in the Department to put people who look like us in more decision-making positions.” In addition, the Charles B. Rangel Graduate Fellowship is a program that aims to attract and prepare outstanding young people for careers in the Foreign Service. Advice To Young Foreign Service Offices Developing Careers:
(credit: thursdayluncheongroup.org / Foreign Service Officer Christina Tilghman, is Senior Advisor for Diversity and Inclusion in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
their own travel agency. She said she was bitten by the traveling bug early on in life which stimulated her curiosity about the world beyond the US.
DIPLOMATIC TIMES ISSUE O5 JANUARY - MARCH 2021 PAGE 30
Christina: “Mentors! Don’t be afraid to reach out and ask someone to be your mentor. If you see someone who championing your values, reach out to them. At the end of the day, this is your career. If you want support in your career, reach out. You need to find your voice in the Department, so as not to be viewed as the ‘angry Black woman’. Lia: “Mentorship is important. A lot of my mentors have left the Department due to changes in the presidential administrations over the years, but I still reach out to them. You need mentors not only in the beginning of your career, but also even if you have been in the foreign service 15 years or longer.
