Mimoza Kusari-Lila

The fact that you deal with so many problems starting from the existential ones — like the lack of access to drinking water — all the way to the job seeking requests, these are the parts that add to the challenge of being a mayor of a municipality.

Mimoza Kusari-Lila holds an MBA degree from Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA. Ms. Kusari-Lila was able to graduate, after she won a scholarship named, “Ron Brown Scholarship Program,” from the State Department in June, 1999. At the time she was awarded a scholarship, Ms. Kusari-Lila was a refugee in Skopje, Macedonia and was working as an assistant reporter with the National Public Radio (NPR).

She finished her Bachelor’s studies in Economics from the University of Prishtina in 1998, after which time she briefly worked for Medicine Sans Frontier (Doctors without Borders), an International NGO assisting the internally displaced people of Kosovo from the Serbian regime at that time. Ms. Kusari-Lila left Kosovo in March,1999 for a one day interview at the US Embassy in Skopje, Macedonia, for her US scholarship. She ended up as a refugee for three months because on the very same day of the interview, the border between Kosovo and Macedonia was closed and she could no longer go back to her hometown and her family. This is how she ended up working for NPR and covering war stories from refugee camps in Macedonia.

Being part of a network strengthens your capacities, encourages you to continue the good work but also gives a strong signal that you’re not alone.

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