By Kate Selker
Aïssata Lam MC/MPA 2026 on leaving government office for HKS, becoming a mother, and her next phase of impact.
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At first, Aïssata Lam’s loved ones wondered why she’d step away from her job and her country to go to Harvard Kennedy School.
Aïssata had already built an illustrious career—she had been the spokesperson for the president of Mauritania during his campaign, and she was the founding director general of Mauritania’s Investment Promotion Agency. She’d just helped get the first Mauritanian leader of the African Development Bank elected. She was a member of the G7 Gender Equality Advisory Council, a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, and was awarded Mauritania’s Chevalier de l’Ordre du Mérite in 2020. New Africa Magazine named Aïssata one of the New Africa 100 Outstanding Women of 2025.
But while Aïssata knew she’d learned and accomplished so much in her career, she wanted to learn and do more.
“I just want to pause and come back stronger—the world is evolving fast. I want to go and sharpen my skills,” she explains.
Aïssata hoped her time at the Kennedy School would help her “listen more, listen better, make better decisions—informed decisions—to move in a more strategic way to achieve [her] goals.” She’d been accepted with a full scholarship as an MC/MPA Edward S. Mason Fellow and a Center for Public Leadership Emirates Leadership Initiative (ELI) Fellow.
“I've always been raised in aiming for excellence and aiming to do good, aiming to make a difference, aiming to challenge the status quo, aiming to go even when the going gets tough,” she explains. “All of this, I think, represents HKS.”
“I’ve always been raised in aiming for excellence and aiming to do good, aiming to make a difference, aiming to challenge the status quo, aiming to go even when the going gets tough. All of this, I think, represents HKS.”
Aïssata knew that moving to Cambridge and starting classes would hold plenty of change and challenge. But as she prepared to leave for campus in the summer of 2025, she learned of a new, significant change: she was pregnant.
Aïssata was both delighted and frightened. She wasn’t sure what her pregnancy would mean for her studies. She reached out to HKS, connecting with the senior associate director of student support services, Jimmy Kane, as well Saida Abdalla, the senior program manager of the ELI at the Center for Public Leadership, which sponsored her fellowship. They connected her with resources and reassured her that she’d have the School’s support both through her pregnancy and once her child was born.
“Everybody was super supportive,” she says. “I was really happy to see the kind of ‘holding’ environment that the school was creating for students like me.”
When Aïssata moved to Cambridge, her husband and her brothers helped her move in. Her family was nervous and excited for her; Aïssata was nervous and excited, too.
“I started the program scared and anxious, but as the first week went by, I realized that I was not alone,” she explains. “I met my village here on campus.”
Aïssata dove into classes and met classmates from around the world. For most of her life, Aïssata had found people outside of Mauritania had little idea of where the country was.
“HKS is the place where I had to least explain Mauritania,” she says.
Aïssata was the first Mauritanian student ever to attend HKS, and she found her classmates were curious about her country—becoming “honorary ambassadors” as they learned more about it.
“They’re as excited about talking about Mauritania as I am now,” Aïssata explains.
She loved the idealism of her classmates, too, and their commitment to changing the world. Their shared passion had a grounding effect.
“We live in this transactional world where everything is about money and status. It's important, but what surprised me is that at HKS, it doesn't necessarily matter,” she explains.
“When you're in a classroom, at the Forum, at the winter garden, who cares about your status or what you represent? Your ideas, how you want to change your community, and how you want to really move into the world is really what matters.”
Her classmates also showed great care as she moved through her pregnancy.
“They really created a space for me,” she explains. “Every time they wouldn't see me at school, I would receive 20 messages—'Are you OK? Do you need help? Do you need somebody to come and cook for you?’”
“When you’re in a classroom, at the Forum, at the winter garden, who cares about your status or what you represent? Your ideas, how you want to change your community, and how you want to really move into the world is really what matters.”
Aïssata says that her parents would sometimes call her, worried that she was isolated. “I’m like, ‘No, I’m not alone. You have no idea the family I have here,’” she says.
And while attending graduate school while pregnant was difficult, she put moments of challenge in a broader context.
“The pregnancy was challenging in itself, but I had in mind the women that were not as privileged as I was,” she says. “Thinking back—the women having to wake up at 6 a.m., go to the market or to the farm, being six months pregnant, eight months pregnant, and not complaining. Doing all the chores in the house. And here I am in Cambridge, attending HKS, walking to school with a full scholarship. It gave me a lot of perspective.”
She also leaned on the support of her classmates and professors. In December, just a month before Aïssata’s son was due, they hosted a baby shower for her.
“Everybody sent gifts and notes—the professors, the students,” she explains. “It was overwhelming how beautiful it was.”
Her baby was due just before the start of the spring term, so Aïssata emailed her professors in advance.
“I told them, ‘Okay, hello, I'm so looking forward to your class, but here is the thing: I'm giving birth in a week. I may miss the first classes, but know that I'm fully committed and dedicated, and I will be back,’” she explains.
“I did my full speech and they were like, ‘Why are you even trying to convince us? Just go and give birth and then we can talk.’”
Aïssata’s son was born in January. She and her husband were overjoyed. Aïssata focused fully on welcoming her son into the world and recuperating for two weeks, and then she went back to classes. It was a fast transition, but she felt ready.
She dove back into new challenges—like serving as co-chair of the annual Africa Development Conference at HKS. She raised funds, managed logistics, coordinated with the dean’s office and invited speakers. By the time of the conference in April, Aïssata had organized an incredible panel of guests.
“The president of the African Development Bank, the president of the West African Development Bank, one of the kings from Nigeria, senior officials from the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation. They all came because they wanted to support,” she explains.
Aïssata decided to build on the momentum of the conference to push to create a scholarship for African students at HKS.
“The conference was a success, but it doesn’t end there. I really want to leave HKS with that contribution because I know that it will make a difference for the students coming after me. I know how much it meant to me to have a scholarship, and I know there’s not enough for people from Africa. So I’m pushing for that,” she explains.
As the school year came to a close, Aïssata’s son turned three months old. And in preparing for graduation, she’s looking not just to her own future, but to his. She hasn’t picked a job yet, but she has a clear anchor in her choices.
“The only thing that I’m certain about, whatever the next step will be—I won’t compromise on myself and my family,” she says.
She also knows she remains committed to her nation and to Africa at large.
“There is still so much work to do,” she says. “In order for Mauritania to thrive, we need to also have a continent that is thriving. So for me it’s very clear. I’m going back on the continent, working for my continent, and indirectly also working for my country.”
And now, she has a new motivation.
“Whatever I was doing before, I was doing for my country, my continent, to make my family proud, to push myself, to challenge myself. But now I want my son to be able to live in a better world. I want him to be confidently stepping up and say, ‘I’m from Mauritania,’ and not having to explain more where Mauritania is,” she explains.
She’d been unsure how having her son would affect her ambition. But with her HKS degree and her new role as a parent, her goals are bigger than ever.
“I was worried I would be less driven, less ambitious. It's quite the opposite. I'm ready to move mountains—because I know that the world we live in has my son in it now.”
Banner and portrait images by Steph Stevens. Personal photos courtesy of Aïssata Lam.
