Dominique Cagliuso

About

Dominique Cagliuso is excited to return to Brave Generation as Director of Development & Strategic Partnerships, having served on the founding board alongside founder Tanya Kotelnykova when the organization first took shape at Columbia University in 2022. She brings extensive leadership experience in nonprofit development, strategic communications, philanthropic partnerships, and organizational growth. Throughout her career, Dominique has led development and communications departments, cultivated major philanthropic investments, and advanced organizational growth for nonprofits supporting missions including youth development in New York City, poverty alleviation in Africa, democracy preservation in the United States, and women’s rights globally.

Since the beginning of her academic and professional career, Dominique has been deeply committed to human rights, particularly the protection of refugees and forcibly displaced communities. Her early experience includes work with the International Rescue Committee and advocacy at the United Nations focused on forced migration and human rights. She holds a B.A. in International Studies and Politics/Human Rights from Northeastern University’s Marymount Manhattan Center and an M.A. in Human Rights Studies from Columbia University’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights. At Columbia, her studies and research emphasized international human rights and humanitarian law, including Russia’s war against Ukraine and violations of international law. This work further strengthened her commitment to supporting young people whose lives, education, and futures have been profoundly disrupted by conflict.

Dominique also serves as a strategic advisor to the Founder and CEO of Alekain Foundation, an organization expanding access to education and mentorship for girls and young women in Afghanistan. This work further reinforces her belief in the transformative power of mentorship and the fundamental importance of restoring access to education, opportunity, and self-determination for young people whose basic rights have been denied by governments and oppressive regimes.