NPR: The ‘Girl Boss’ Of USAID Has $22 Billion To Spend And A Tight Deadline
“…When the newly installed USAID chief Gayle Smith was at a conference in Africa recently, the local leaders didn’t recognize the gender of her name. So they gave her a ‘Mr. Smith’ tag — which she now has on top of a bookshelf in her corner office at the Ronald Reagan building in Washington, D.C. The nameplate on her desk makes things clear. It says: ‘GIRL BOSS.’ Being a boss anointed in the final months of a president’s term is not an easy job. Three months ago, Smith took the top spot of the federal agency in charge of U.S. humanitarian projects like fighting Ebola, feeding refugees, and distributing more than $22 billion this year in aid…” (Gharib, 3/29).