From Fleeing War to Harnessing Celebrity Power to Create Change
Meet Ajla Grozdanic, Head of Goodwill Ambassadors and Celebrity Relations at UNDP, who shares with us her inspiring journey and gives us a glimpse into her work of engaging celebrities to amplify UNDP’s message for sustainable change.
My first encounter with the UN dates back to when I was a child growing up in Bosnia. When the war broke out in 1992, our parents took me and my younger brother to stay with our grandparents in a small town near the western border with Croatia, hoping we would be safer there. Shortly after they returned to the capital, Sarajevo was under siege, trapping my parents there for the next two years.
Meanwhile, armed aggressors occupied my grandparents’ hometown, converted the local soccer stadium into a concentration camp for men and eventually forced some 10,000 residents to sign off all of their property and leave the country on busses, cars and trucks, as part of an organized convoy. My family was among those forced to flee.
Once we reached the border, our convoy was stopped and militants carrying guns entered the busses and threatened us. After being held up for 12 hours, we were forced to return. To our relief, the UN stepped in and, a week later, escorted the convoy safely across the border, from where we were transported by train to Germany.
This was my first and lasting impression of the UN, marked by a feeling of gratitude for taking me and my family to safety. I felt the same way towards journalists, who came to document the war and tell our story. In fact, I learned years later that thanks to CNN’s coverage of our convoy, once it arrived in Croatia, my parents caught a glimpse of me on TV and knew that we were alive.
Ever since that formative childhood experience of war, I knew I wanted to work for the UN or become a journalist when I grew up. Or do both, as it turned out.
After living in Germany as refugees for several years, my brother and I were reunited with our parents and together we resettled in the United States. There, I finished high school, then earned college degrees in international relations, German and Spanish, followed by a master’s in journalism.
I worked as a newspaper reporter and magazine editor for a number of years before joining a refugee resettlement organization. There, I leveraged my journalism skills to write the stories of individuals and families who, having been forced to flee their homes and leave their lives behind, now lived in refugee camps or were resettled in another country. What really struck me when interviewing people from around the world is that no matter where they came from, they all wanted the same things in life: a safe place to live, a job to earn a living, an education for their children and a better tomorrow.
Having been through the same experience, it was only natural that I would end up working in the international development sector and do my small part to help others rebuild their lives. Building on my background in media, I transitioned to a career in communications at international development NGOs. Seeing the impact that star power can have in delivering a message, I started to work increasingly with high-profile celebrity advocates. This eventually became my specialty and led me to where I am now: Head of Goodwill Ambassadors and Celebrity Relations
My job is to leverage the platforms and voices of celebrity advocates to raise visibility and mobilize support for UNDP’s work. Next to coordinating celebrity participation in events organized by UNDP or the UN, I also position celebrity advocates in top-tier media outlets to speak on issues central to UNDP’s mandate through interviews or opinion articles. For example, when the whole world was watching actor Michelle Yeoh make history with her Oscar win, the UNDP Goodwill Ambassador redirected the global spotlight through an opinion piece in The New York Times that focused on her work with UNDP on disaster recovery efforts, including her visit to Nepal after a devastating earthquake.
One of the most impactful and rewarding aspects of my work is taking our celebrity supporters to see first-hand the programs UNDP implements around the world. This is what makes them truly powerful and authentic advocates. Not only do celebrity program visits boost visibility for UNDP both globally and at the country level, they also motivate the celebrities to become change makers in their own personal and professional lives. For example, visiting UNDP programs and seeing climate solutions in action around the world inspired our Goodwill Ambassador and Game of Thrones star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau to create his own documentary series on climate action called An Optimist’s Guide to the Planet, which aired on Bloomberg television this year.
Celebrity support has been key in boosting the impact and reach of UNDP’s signature Don’t Choose Extinction and Weather Kids campaigns on climate change, as well as other initiatives on a wide range of issues, including addressing inequality during COVID-19 recovery, protecting the ocean and fighting for gender equality. Among the numerous celebrities who have supported UNDP’s campaigns are Emmy and Grammy-award winning actor Jack Black; Oscar-winning actor and UN Messenger of Peace Leonardo DiCaprio; actor and activist David Oyelowo; professional swimmer, musician and UNDP Ocean Advocate Cody Simpson; as well as UNDP Goodwill Ambassadors Connie Britton, Antonio Banderas, Yemi Alade and Padma Lakshmi.
Most recently, I engaged Emmy and SAG award-winning actor Uzo Aduba in UNDP’s campaign called building gender equal economies, which shines a spotlight on gender social norms and government policies that prevent women from equally participating in global economies. As part of the campaign, the US-born actor, whose family rose from poverty in Nigeria, published an opinion article for CNN from her personal perspective as a new mom. Sharing her family’s experience of defying gender barriers to break the cycle of poverty, she pointed to UNDP’s work in her family’s native Nigeria as an example of a country turning things around and revising its policies to pave the way for gender equality.
Since joining UNDP in late 2015 in the newly established Goodwill Ambassador manager position, I have spearheaded the development of the program, collaborating with teams across UNDP — from headquarters to country offices. What I value most about this job is meeting the people who benefit from UNDP’s work and seeing the positive impact on their lives and communities.
Having lived through a war — which took the lives of many of my relatives and separated me from my parents for two years — I consider myself lucky to have survived, to be reunited with my parents, and to have had the opportunity to start over. Too many people facing conflicts, wars, disasters, or poverty aren’t getting a second chance. This is why organizations like UNDP that tackle real-world challenges in real-time are critical. I am proud to work for an organization that makes a direct difference in people’s lives, whether it is through delivering programs in the most vulnerable communities, raising public awareness of the critical issues facing the planet or affecting global policy change.
To those starting out in their careers, I would say that achieving your dreams comes down to three things: education, passion, and perseverance. Success often involves playing the long game. Keep following your passion and get loads of relevant experience. And if you have multiple passions, there is nothing wrong with pursuing more than one. You never know how, one day, those different experiences and skills end up complementing each other to make you just the right candidate for the job of your dreams. When you pursue what you love, even if your path is not linear, it will eventually lead to where you are meant to be.
