Ana Cutter Patel is an international consultant, the Rotary International Representative to UN Women and the host and founder of the Noisy Women community. She offers 25 years of experience in international peacebuilding, gender empowerment, development and human rights, most recently as the Executive Director of the Outward Bound Center for Peacebuilding (2010-June 2019), and the co-founder of the Rotary Zones 33 & 34 Youth & Peace in Action (YPA) initiative (June 2020 – present). Her background spans from building a water system as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer in the Dominican Republic; to teaching international conflict issues at Columbia University; to training governments on human rights and the demobilization of ex-combatants in Colombia and West Africa.
For the past 10 years, Ana has delivered programming, spoken at numerous conferences, facilitated workshops, and taught courses on topics related to peacebuilding, most recently at #Envision2020 a cyber peace conference organized by the Rotary Peace Fellowship Alumni Association (2020), as well as the Alliance for Peacebuilding annual conference (2019) and the Rotary World Peace Conference in Ontario, CA (2020). As a speaker and facilitator, she offers creative and interactive sessions that use learner centered experiential learning techniques to engage audiences and students. Ana is also the founder and editor of Noisy Women, a virtual global community that amplifies and supports global feminist movements and the positive impact women make through their art, activism and work.
Ana is a Rotary International Peace Fellow, a 2016 Visionary of the Hearts on Fire Foundation, and a Global Peace Index Ambassador. She has published two co-edited volumes, Disarming the Past: Transitional Justice and Ex-combatants (January 2010), and Experiential Peacebuilding (September 2019). Ana currently serves as a Board Member with Girl Be Heard, the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA/NYC Council), and International Medical Response. Ana graduated from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon and received a Master of International Affairs from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University in New York. She also holds a graduate Certificate in Peacebuilding from the Rotary Peace Center in Chulalongkorn University in Thailand.