Natalia is a founding partner, a senior consultant, and the current Chairwomen at Beyond Reform & Development (BRD), a social business and a mission-driven consulting firm specializing in policy research, public management reform, capacity development and partnership building, operating in 15 countries across the MENA region consulting and advising public institutions, public officials, UN agencies, international organizations and civil society groups.

Natalia is a senior advisor and researcher on projects pertaining to diverse development issues at the local, national and regional levels including social innovation and entrepreneurship, local governance, civil society and community empowerment, environment, women and youth, economic development, strategy and organizational development etc…

She pioneered multiple initiatives on social entrepreneurship and innovation in the MENA region. She led the research and strategy design for the social entrepreneurship ecosystem development in the South Mediterranean countries with the European Union. She designed and implemented formal and informal education programs on social entrepreneurship and trained university professors in universities across the MENA and specifically in Lebanon, Tunisia and Yemen. She recently facilitated the efforts and dialogue in Lebanon around the formulation of a social entrepreneurship policy and framework to boost the social entrepreneurship ecosystem. She fosters social entrepreneurship as a solution for enhanced livelihoods opportunities and economic development in the MENA region; and supports social entrepreneurs and SMEs at the technical level for increased results and impacts.

She is a visiting lecturer at Université Saint Joseph (USJ) and teach a course on Opportunities and Challenges of Lebanon Social Entrepreneurship Ecosystem. She presented in multiple international conferences including Hong Kong, United Kingdom and Morocco on Social Entrepreneurship. She has recently published a chapter entitled “Social Incubation and the Value Proposition of Social Business Incubators” in the book Social Entrepreneurship in MENA published by Palgrave MacMillan in August 2015.

She holds a MA in Environmental Policy Planning from the American University in Beirut as well as a BS in Pharmacy from Université Saint Joseph (USJ).