About Me

Paul LaMancusa Jr
I was born and raised in Buffalo, New York. As a child of the 90's, it was a typical upbringing in many ways filled with soccer practice, Pokemon cards and summer jobs. My mom worked at the the family business that my grandfather started after WWII, selling baby furniture, and my dad was a state employee who commuted an hour back and forth to work each day.
Sharon and Paul Sr. reluctantly sent me off to West Virginia University where I earned my Bachelor's of Science in Journalism cum laude and was awarded the "Outstanding Senior" award by the Reed College of Media. During this time I played rugby and administered the West Virginia University Men's Rugby Club. I was also an active member and Intern for First Hand Co-op, which works with partners located in Central America to increase earnings on their coffee exports and reinvest the region.
Also, during this time I applied for numerous summer internships and failed to get any... The blessing in disguise was that instead I spent those summers backpacking on a shoestring budget and by myself through Latin American countries including Mexico, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Colombia, Bolivia, Argentina and Uruguay. Such were, perhaps, more formational than any other experience noted here (until present day).

My Mentor Laura (Right)

Following my undergraduate degree, I enrolled in the Masters of Public Administration (MPA) Program at West Virginia University where I received a Graduate Assistantship with the Reed College and several other merit based scholarships. I took a special interest in research and analysis and public-private partnerships in solving public problems.  In addition to school work, I co-instructed upper level research courses, and in my final semester served as a Federal Contracting Intern at the NASA IV&V facility in Fairmont, West Virginia.
I remained in West Virginia following my MPA and worked as a Contract Administrator in the same facility I had interned. After longing for an urban life again for too long, I accepted a position with the United States Department of Agriculture, as a Management Analyst for the Chief Financial Officer.
In 2016, I had clicked enough buttons and pushed enough paper, so I applied for the Peace Corps's inaugural Community Economic Development Program in Colombia. I wanted to mix my travel and international work experiences with what I had learned in some of my more formal roles and education. The timing was as perfect personally as it was professionally. Our cohort arrived in August 2016, and we've been helping define our roles as ever since.