Profile

Emmanuelle is an entrepreneur who is passionate about social change. An IHEID alumna and holder of a master’s degree in children’s rights, she brings two decades of experience working with international organizations across three continents. Her experience spans across advocacy, research, policy development, community building on issues relating to human rights, child protection, youth employment and corporate social responsibility. Emmanuelle was one of the founding members of Human Rights Watch office in Geneva, she researched the issue of youth gangs in Guatemala, she ran child protection campaigns for the social enterprise Friends-International in Cambodia and launched Friends-International presence in Switzerland advocating for child protection in the tourism industry.

In 2020, Emmanuelle launched Yojoa, which stands for Youth Job Accelerator. Convinced that inclusive growth is the only way to build resilient communities, Yojoa approaches diversity and inclusion as a performance lever and supports companies in their journey to develop more inclusive cultures. In this context, Emmanuelle and her team developed tailor made programs to facilitate employers’ access to young professionals and trainees with a migration background, with a view to unlock the potential of young migrants into the workforce. A common thread through Emmanuelle’s work has been the will to deconstruct and move beyond stereotypes, and to change narratives to foster inclusion in society. 

Emmanuelle is the mother of two children and author of the book: “Au-delà des cerfs-volants, chroniques d’une étrangère en Chine” (éditions Slatkine, 2015) based on her experience living in China.