Josie Safir, a supply chain major from Overland Park, Kansas, is making a meaningful impact outside of her university experience. After a high school service-learning trip to Tanzania in 2019, she began working with the Signify Foundation to provide the Dutch INitiative Kids Africa (DINKA) School with lighting around the school campus located in Arusha, Tanzania. She has continued working on the project through her college career.

The Signify Foundation, the $7 billion charitable arm of Signify (formerly Philips Lighting), provided solar lighting to the DINKA School. These lights are intended to improve the school’s atmosphere, learning environment and student home life.

Safir credits this project for the decision to pursue supply chain management as a career. In addition to her project, she worked as a remote intern during the summer between freshman and sophomore year for the Enlight Institute. The Enlight Institute is a budding Ugandan organization working to bridge societal gaps and authoring informational documents to solicit investment. She loved being able to explore the African supply chain and explore a culture different from her own.

The summer after her sophomore year, she interned with Hallmark as a product integrity supply chain intern in Kansas City, Missouri. There, she worked on sustainability and social responsibility projects with multicontinental supply chains.

Safir is also highly involved at KU. She has been a KU Admissions student ambassador since her freshman year. She is also a member of Alpha Delta Pi sorority and is involved in the Supply Chain Management Club. She believes all of these experiences have made her a better version of herself and have enriched her university experience.

Safir studied abroad through KU in Madrid, Spain, during fall 2022, furthering her education outside the classroom. She plans to dedicate her future supply chain career to solving complex global supply chain issues.