Shervin Hadjilou has been at the US Department of State since 2004. For the past five years she has been working on civil society and human rights related issues in the Office of Iranian Affairs, for which she has received Meritorious Honor Awards. Previously she served in the Public Affairs bureau, handling both domestic and international media for various State Department officials with a focus on Middle East issues. Prior to that she worked in the Near Eastern Affairs Office of Public Diplomacy conducting outreach to Arab and Iranian media outlets. Shervin first joined the Department as an intern on the Iraq Economic Desk while completing her Masters in International Affairs at American University in Washington, D.C. She received her Bachelors of Arts from Clark University in Worcester, MA. Shervin also enjoys volunteering for organizations such as Moms Against Poverty and serves on the steering committee for Roots of Development, an NGO dedicated to helping communities in Haiti and other countries attain self-sufficiency. Shervin is a native of Los Angeles, CA.