Shannon was born and raised in California with a youth spent in Roseville, college years lived in Los Angeles and adult life continuing to blossom in San Francisco. She has a double major in Accounting and Business Law, her CPA (though inactive) in California, experience serving on the Suicide Prevention Hotline and as a Court Appointed Special Advocate in San Francisco, and is about to conclude almost three years working as a recruiter for accounting and finance professionals in the Bay Area. Shannon’s international experience ranges from studying abroad in Madrid, to serving in the Peace Corps in Honduras, to traveling to a new location every two years for pleasure with her mother. Her passion is service, and she therefore cannot tell you how stoked she is to be serving as a Fellow for an organization that promotes what she has experienced to be the most sustainable development activity abroad: microfinance.
Fellows Blog Posts by Shannon Kossick
Apr 26, 2015
United States
A letter can’t make that much of a difference in the overall scheme of things…right? I mean, how much lost in translation really is there from adding a letter (neighbor v. neighbour – you may just sound that much more sophisticated with the latter, but that’s about it), subtracting a letter (foregoing v. forgoing – you’ve either already passed the thing by or never had it in the first place, so I wouldn’t worry about it either way), changing...
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Nov 9, 2014
Ghana
Life under a mosquito net is anything but ordinary; it’s extraordinary. You may think of it as simply an encased existence for the sole purpose of rest without interruption from animals (I would say insects, but that doesn’t include reptiles) that have the potential to disturb your sleep or pass along potential ailments…but it’s so much more than that. First, let’s consider the preparation that goes into constructing this life. After purchasing a (hopefully) sizeable net, it should then be... Continue Reading >>
Life under a mosquito net is anything but ordinary; it’s extraordinary. You may think of it as simply an encased existence for the sole purpose of rest without interruption from animals (I would say insects, but that doesn’t include reptiles) that have the potential to disturb your sleep or pass along potential ailments…but it’s so much more than that. First, let’s consider the preparation that goes into constructing this life. After purchasing a (hopefully) sizeable net, it should then be... Continue Reading >>
Oct 12, 2014
Ghana
As currently the only Fellow serving in West Africa, I feel quite responsible for ensuring that I do my absolute best when representing not only Kiva (#KivaLove) but also my field partner and my American homeland. (My current partner is a microfinance organization called Grameen Ghana that serves clients in the Northern Region of Ghana. It is not affiliated with the Grameen Foundation but rather - per the organization’s Credit Manager - follows the model of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh.) You... Continue Reading >>
As currently the only Fellow serving in West Africa, I feel quite responsible for ensuring that I do my absolute best when representing not only Kiva (#KivaLove) but also my field partner and my American homeland. (My current partner is a microfinance organization called Grameen Ghana that serves clients in the Northern Region of Ghana. It is not affiliated with the Grameen Foundation but rather - per the organization’s Credit Manager - follows the model of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh.) You... Continue Reading >>