Raisa grew up in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and studied cultural anthropology, political science, and economics at Duke University. After graduating, she moved to Dhaka to work for an ICT4D-focused social enterprise and then joined USAID Bangladesh to support the democracy, rights and governance portfolio. In 2018, she made her way to D.C. to work for DAI where she has backstopped transition/peacebuilding programming and most recently worked as a MEL specialist for the roll-out of USAID's Digital Strategy. This summer, she interned with the humanitarian cash and voucher assistance (CVA) team at United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).