Belan Antensaye joined The Lab @ DC as a Research Assistant for the summer. She is a Master in Public Affairs candidate at Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs, where she focuses on tech governance, housing and transportation infrastructure, and economic development. Originally from Addis Ababa and raised in Vermont, Belan began her academic journey at Cornell University, concentrating on public health policy.
Before graduate school, she held roles in the nonprofit and public sectors, including the City of Burlington, where she worked across economic development, racial equity strategy, COVID-19 analytics, and helped establish the City’s Office of Racial Equity. Through the Ethiopian Diaspora Fellowship, she returned to Ethiopia to consult with clients ranging from health-tech startups to government hospitals. She later co-founded the Vermont Health Equity Initiative (VHEI), where she led statewide efforts to address health disparities through equity-centered emergency response strategies. At The Lab, Belan is building on this foundation to further explore the intersection of public innovation, civic design, and local governance.