Bio

Katrina Sill is the Global Health and Development Lead at Founders Pledge, where she researches and evaluates high-impact funding opportunities (HIFOs) and manages the GHD Fund. Previously, she was Associate Director at Innovations for Poverty Action’s Right-Fit Evidence Unit, where she advised international development funders and implementers on their data-driven decision making. Before that, she was the Impact Division Director at One Acre Fund Tanzania, where she led applied research to improve the program’s impact portfolio for smallholder farmers. She holds an MPA in International Development from Columbia University and BAs in Anthropology and Communication. In her free time, she enjoys time in the mountains and connecting with value-aligned community.

Q&A with Katrina

Q: If you could choose anyone famous (real or fictional) to have dinner with who would they be and why?

I’d love to share a meal with Thich Nhat Hanh to learn from his equanimity, mindfulness, and compassion.

Q: As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

A lawyer. I thought it would be the perfect way to explore and debate ideas to reach rational decisions... until I realized it’s more about defending one side and that suddenly deciding the other side has a great point isn’t exactly encouraged.

Q: If a movie was made of your life what genre would it be, who would play you?

Definitely magical realism - somewhere between Everything Everywhere All at Once and Amélie. It would be full of whimsy, humor, and eccentricity, with the occasional moment of unexpected insight. I'd like to think I could be played by Natalie Portman, but it's probably more accurate to say Jason Schwartzman (and that would be a big honor).