Joylyn Beresford

Joylyn is an Executive Officer with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Recovery Division where she coordinates response and recovery operations to enhance the capabilities of state, local, tribal, and territorial governments by ensuring access to federal resources.  She also serves on FEMA’s diversity and inclusion committee and facilitates multicultural conversations in the workplace.  

Prior to joining FEMA, Joylyn worked at the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services in the Office of Emergency Management (DHSES). Her professional interests reside in serving as an interlocutor between government, state, and civil society groups, and focusing on a whole of community approach to addressing intersectional challenges. These include environmental disasters, other socio-political factors and threats that significantly impact vulnerable groups and overall human development.    

Joylyn has a background in international relations and has conducted research in Europe on the link between state policies, public trust, and resilient migration. Her other research interests include religion, identity, and diaspora populations, cultural nationalism and citizenship. She has also melded her research with vulnerable groups while abroad by developing an economic program for lower-income women in Sao Paulo. 

Joylyn earned her Master’s in International Relations at New York University and a B.A. in International Studies from the City College of New York (CUNY).