![2012 achievement award winner and U.S. Embassy Harare Public Affairs Counselor Sharon Hudson-Dean in 2011 speaking to 400 high school girls about Women’s History Month](http://pdaa.publicdiplomacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/SharonHudson-Dean_500.jpg)
2012 achievement award winner and U.S. Embassy Harare Public Affairs Counselor Sharon Hudson-Dean in 2011 speaking to 400 high school girls about Women’s History Month
Sharon Hudson-Dean, a 2012 Public Diplomacy Achievement Award winner, is now a regular contributor to the Center for Public Diplomacy (CPD) blog, published by University of Southern California. Her most recent story, posted on 14 February, describes the value of expert language skills in public diplomacy, written while learning Latvian in preparation for her assignment as deputy chief of mission in Riga.
Hudson-Dean received one of the 2012 awards for her work as Counselor for Public Affairs, U.S. Embassy Harare, Zimbabwe for “cultivating new and effective platforms for U.S. engagement with Zimbabwean youth, women, opposition groups and a hostile media , building American and Zimbabwean partnerships and exchange alumni support for public diplomacy efforts, and harnessing the power of social media to outstanding effect.”