International Experiences

Aileen has long been involved in human rights and other international issues, including:

• As Los Angeles Deputy Mayor from 2009-2013, she frequently welcomed foreign dignitaries and delegations to Los Angeles and coordinated the City's response to the 2011 tragic earthquake and tsunami in Japan, working closely with the US-Japan Council;

• In May 2009, she organized in Los Angeles a 60-hour training course for Liberia's first sexual assault unit, which visited model programs throughout the city and received training by leading prosecutors, police officers, and victim advocates on state of the art ways to manage sexual assault investigations and prosecutions;

• In March 2009, she completed a 25-hour seminar on "Transitional Justice" in countries following civil wars by participating in a course developed by the International Center for Transitional Justice and Stanford Law School;

• In 2007, she participated in Harvard's Women and Public Policy Program (WAPPP) trip to Liberia, providing training about model sexual assault programs to judges and lawyers and speaking to many leaders in the security sector about integrating women into security forces;

• In 2007, Aileen completed the University of Southern California (USC) Center on Public Diplomacy Summer Institute Advanced Training Course in Public Diplomacy;

• In 2006 to 2007, Aileen served as a member of the Advisory Board of Women for Women International (which provides assistance to women in nine war-torn countries, helping them heal from sexual assault and develop their own small businesses) and traveled with that organization to Rwanda to participate in the organization's strategic planning sessions;

• In 2005, she traveled to Senegal with The Trusteeship to conduct a site visit of Tostan, a leading community  development organization with great success in curtailing female genital cutting. Subsequently, she "adopted" a village and assisted in fundraising and publicity efforts for the organization, which on the 2007 Hilton Humanitarian Prize;

• In 2004, Aileen traveled to rural China with a Rosebud delegation that supports the education of a thousand impoverished Chinese girls. She attended their sixth-grade graduation;

• In 2002, Aileen traveled to remote parts of China as part of a support team for the Lifeline Express, a train with advanced medical equipment and doctors, who removed the cataracts from the eyes of people in many small villages;

• In 1999, she accompanied the Operation USA to Nicaragua, following a hurricane, and helped provide medical supplies and housing materials in hard-to-reach areas. She also participated in a film documenting these efforts;

• From 1967 to 1969, Aileen served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Brazil and traveled widely throughout Latin America;

• In 1966, Aileen traveled with the Experiment in International Living to India, where she lived with a Sikh family in the Punjab, and in1962 she was a member of the fist high school Experiment group in Japan; 

• In 1965, Aileen spent her junior year of college abroad in Spain and traveled with a Stanford student program throughout Russia and Eastern Europe;

•  Aileen has traveled over the years throughout Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Europe.