Our Team

We are an organization led by youth, for youth. Though we represent many countries and many cultures, we are united in our passion for spreading cultural awareness and empowering youth to take autonomy over their education.

Join the Team!

Caroline Gao

Founder and Executive Director

Caroline is passionate about driving equity through cultural storytelling, civic engagement, and youth-centered education. As a Chinese American from small-town Oregon, she aspires to eliminate the cultural ignorance she experienced growing up and cultivate an inclusive future full of open-minded global citizens. Previously, she has served as a youth ambassador of the U.S. through the National Security Language Initiative for Youth (run by the U.S. Department of State), High School Diplomats (sponsored by the National Association of Japan-America Societies), and Between the Lines (run by the International Writing Program). She is also co-president and co-founder of the international youth literary magazine Aster Lit. In her free time, she enjoys learning languages, playing flute, and curating her K-pop playlists!

Taylor Whiting

Co-Executive Director

Taylor is from Ohio, USA. She is a high school student at Ohio Connections Academy and taking CCP classes at Kent State. Taylor has many passions and interests one of them being humanities, social science, arts, media, etc., that they hope to study in college. Taylor is a co-executive director at The World In Us, a group leader at your School's LGBTQIA+ and ally support group, secretary for NHS, and a part of their school culture and diversity, E-sports, Chess, Global Trek, and Drama. She joined The World In Us because one of her passions is language, culture, and history. Taylor saw The World In Us as an opportunity to teach about different cultures and learn about languages, and cultures that they did not know. Taylor enjoys reading, writing, the arts, and trying new things.

Katherine Verrando

Co-Executive Director

Katherine is a high school junior from Orange County, California who is passionate about creating change by eliminating cultural stigmas and empowering youth on a global scale. Through The World in Us, Katherine hopes to connect youth across the world to help them gain a better perspective of the world and other cultures.  Previously, Katherine participated in the National Security Language Initiative for Youth in Taipei, Taiwan. She is also the founder of the Changemakers leadership team, the Executive Assistant for her division's Key Club and a student leader at MUN Impact. In her free time, Katherine loves running, reading, and spending time with her family!

Tiffany Jones

Director of Social Media

Tiffany is from North Carolina, USA. She is a college freshman studying law and have been apart of TWIU for almost two years (and previously a IEP participant). Tiffany serve as the Social Media Director and Graphic Design Creator. Tiffany has been dedicated to the cause of spreading cultural awareness with the chance of it creating a more understanding world!

Muhammad Ibrahim

Director of Programs

Why doesn't learning sound fun to the majority of students? Why are we encouraged to be linear? Why does our education system construct walls around us and then ask us to think outside the box? These were some of the questions that always made Muhammad Ibrahim question conventional learning systems. However, it was difficult for a boy living in a small city in Pakistan to experiment and change the system without any exposure to the outside world. During COVID-19, he started volunteering for an online organization to expand my vision and explore diverse perspectives. Joining The World In Us allowed Ibrahim to explore different perspectives and their respective cultures. Now, working as the Director of Programs, Ibrahim contribute to enabling individuals from all or the world to explore and understand different perspectives through various programs at The World In Us. Outside this, Ibrahim is majoring in Furniture Design. Both tasks require them to dig deep into the problem at hand and design a solution that is both; efficient and sustainable. Self-discovery is what makes you aware of the talent, potential, and the world in us, which can be seen in the writing of a famous Urdu poet; Allama Iqbal:
خورشيد جہاں تاب کی ضو تيرے شرر ميں
آباد ہے اک تازہ جہاں تيرے ہنر میں۔
"The spark in you is a radiant sun;
A new world lives in you."

Titus Taing

Associate Director of Programs

Titus Taing is currently a high school senior from Los Angeles, California. Titus's favorite hobbies are investing and cars. A fun fact about Titus is that they can name all the countries in the world if you give them a blank map! Titus is the Associate Director of Programs for The World In Us, and they joined the team to learn more about different cultures and interact with other people. Titus wants to gain a global perspective on different issues and topics to be more mindful of different perspectives.

Jiyul

Team Lead of Programs

Jiyul is a Grade 11 student who joins us from Jeju Island, South Korea. In The World in Us, she is the team lead of the Programs team as well as the podcast creator of the organization. Being an international school student in Jeju, Jiyul had the opportunity to share cultural knowledge and break stereotypes with students from diverse backgrounds. Through this experience, she became interested in learning about different languages and cultures as well as sharing her own, which she aims to continue cultivating through The World in Us. In her free time, Jiyul loves to work on her French, play guitar, and spend time with her friends and family.

Viola Ciovati

Director of Blog

Viola is passionate about the world and its countless nuances. Indeed, she is determined to defend all those minorities who have the right to freedom and life. Viola lives in Italy and works for The World In Us as a Blog Director. Through articles and writing she believes it’s possible to make a change in people’s perspective by raising awareness about culture and reasons for diversity. This is why her actions are leading her towards the studies of International Relations and Middle-Eastern policies. She’s also a writer for Politics Hub, an enthusiastic participant at HSMUN sessions, and a volunteer for looking after children at her town’s parish. In her free time, Viola loves learning languages, reading 19th century books and cooking new recipes!

Nevyn Parisa Haque

Director of Outreach

Nevyn Parisa Haque comes from Dhaka, Bangladesh. She is studying for her first year of A-Levels. She is the Director of Outreach at TWIU. She is also a member of the Blog Team and Chapters Team. Her hobbies include listening to music, reading about ancient mythology, researching cases and writing.
She has participated in Rotary’s Virtual Youth Exchange in 2020. Through this program, she has gained an interest in learning about different cultures and how to help others become global citizens. She joined the TWIU as she can help others to create lifelong connections with people around the world. She is also an editor at Ink and Feather Literary Journal.

Leen Morsel

Director of Competitions

Leen enjoys writing and educating others. Coming from the Middle East, it wasn't easy seeing the poor, misleading representation of her culture in the Western media. She's very passionate about cultural diversity and believes that we can be in a better place if we all try to understand and appreciate each other. Even if it's on a smaller scale, she joined this team because it represents what she believes we should all be doing as people.

Azka Sarmad

Director of Chapters

Nothing excites Azka more than the word “culture” itself. As a Pakistani, Azka knew what it was to feel like when your culture and traditions are wrongly interpreted, and it became the sole reason for her to join TWIU. She not only saw TWIU as a means of spreading her own culture but also to get exposure to all the cultures in the world. She identifies TWIU as her peace place and whenever she is out of her peace place you’ll either see her surrounded by books or with a badminton racket in her hand. Also, if anyone wants a person to talk about Taylor Swift or BTS, Azka would be the right choice.

Alondra Due

Director of Team Relations

Alondra is a college sophomore. Alondra's hobbies include martial arts, sports, business, poli sci, and reading. Alondra joined to grow as a leader and work on different skills with an innovative group of people. They want to accomplish different projects and assist in the growth of TWIU.

Dolly Hirawat

Dolly is from Madhya Pradesh, India, and is passionate about public speaking and is an advocate of human rights and gender equality. She joined TWIU because she believes through TWIU, many people can be educated about the different beautiful cultures of the world. Apart from TWIU, she is also a part of the GirlUp Project and other youth-based organizations that help youth raise their opinions and work for the betterment of the world. She is also an artist and digital creator. She loves to read, write, and paint in her free time.

Lindsay Parsons

Lindsay is a freshman in 9th grade, living in the state of Maryland in the United States, Lindsay is an amateur coder and writes stories online that are semi-popular within their niches. Lindsay knows a lot about reptiles and has a YouTube channel where they record gaming videos. Lindsay has autism and ADHD, currently learning Spanish, and has traveled to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands in the Summer of 2023. Lindsay wanted to join The World in Us because it sounded like an interesting organization, and they enjoy traveling to other places and learning about culture. Lindsay also wishes to do something good in the world, spreading cultural awareness through The World in Us and fighting toxicity online. Lindsay was also part of a community that raised over 300,000 dollars for the birthday of a sea otter.