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For most people, choosing a bad present for someone just ends in a lukewarm ‘thank you,' but in diplomacy, the stakes are much higher. For Ambassador Capricia Marshall, the wrong gift could set off an international crisis. As U.S. Chief of Protocol under President Barack Obama, where she worked to create the perfect environment for diplomatic negotiations, one of Ambassador Marshall’s responsibilities was choosing gifts for heads of state and national delegations – gifts that were meaningful, culturally appropriate, and sent the right message from the President.

Join Perry World House and the Christopher H. Browne Center for International Politics to learn how gift-giving shapes international diplomacy, and how the President of the United States chooses gifts for leaders around the world.

Speaker

Capricia P. Marshall is president of Global Engagement Strategies, LLC, which advises international, public, and private clients on issues relating to the nexus of business and cultural diplomacy. Marshall is currently Ambassador-in-Residence at the Atlantic Council in Washington, D.C. She recently launched her book Protocol, The Power of Diplomacy and How to Make it Work for You. Sharing unvarnished examples from her time in office, she presents a master class in soft power and an accessible guide for anyone who wants to be empowered by the tools of diplomacy in work and everyday life. Marshall served as White House Social Secretary in the Clinton Administration from 1997 to 2001 and United States Chief of Protocol in the Obama administration from 2009 to 2013. In her posts, she enhanced traditional protocol methods with new tools to build relationships between dignitaries and industry leaders world-wide. She oversaw the diplomatic details of multiple state visits, G20 and G8 convenings, presidential inaugurations and summits such as the Nuclear Security summit, APEC, NATO and Sunnylands summits. Marshall currently serves on the boards of the Case Western University International Advisory Board, The Strategic Planning Board, The Blair House Restoration Fund and The Council of American Ambassadors.

Moderator

LaShawn R. Jefferson is Perry World House’s Executive Director. She brings to Perry World House over two decades of legal and policy advocacy, strategic planning and communications, and research and writing on women’s international human rights through civil-society organizations and philanthropy. She joined Perry World House after almost seven years at the Ford Foundation, where she worked to advance women’s human rights globally and in the U.S. through field building and investments in the areas of rights advocacy; strategic communications and engagement; intersectional leadership and analysis; research; and capacity building. For fourteen years, she also held several leadership positions at Human Rights Watch, a global human rights organization, where she led their women’s rights research and advocacy work, providing strategic and intellectual guidance to the work on women’s international human rights, crafting and executing long-term advocacy strategies, and representing HRW at the highest level of national and international fora. She is the author of many reports on a variety of issues confronting women around the world, and has written op-eds and articles that have appeared in the Wall Street Journal and The International Herald Tribune. She received a B.A. from Connecticut College and an M.A. in International Relations and Latin American Studies from Johns Hopkins SAIS.

COVID-19 GUIDELINES

Perry World House is following the University of Pennsylvania’s COVID-19 guidelines. In-person access to our hybrid events is now open to the public as well as the Penn community.

All in-person attendees MUST either show their Green PennOpen Pass (University of Pennsylvania faculty, students, postdocs, and staff or badged contractors) OR Green PennOpen Campus (all other visitors including event attendees) in order to take part in-person. Masks are now optional at our public events.

You must complete your PennOpen Campus screening on your cell phone or computer BEFORE arriving at Perry World House. Click here for more information about PennOpen Campus and how it works.

We will continue to provide virtual access to all of our hybrid programming. Zoom details will be found in your order confirmation email.