Our Sponsors
The Up Until Fulbright Podcast is fully sponsored by the United States Department of State through the Public Diplomacy Section of the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia under the 2025 Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund (AEIF 2025).
The AEIF 2025 Program Objectives is designed to increase the impact of the U.S. government’s investment in exchange participants and programs by helping alumni develop and implement projects that support U.S. policy objectives and promote shared interests.
One of the themes for AEIF’s objective is to convene alumni from different Fulbright programs to further foster both regional and global collaboration. As AEIF hopes to support Fulbright alumni in developing their leadership capacities and community building, we intend for the podcast to reflect this goal in staying connected with Fulbright alumni and strengthening the relationship the Fulbright community has with the U.S government and fellow alumni.
Our Co-Hosts:
Wesley Warshawer
Wesley Warshawer is a U.S. Fulbright Alum who pursued his Master’s Degree in Global Economy & Strategy at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea in 2014-2016.
Before the Fulbright, as a small child, he got a laminated blank map of the world as a gift. This map had the outline of every country but no written names. He wanted to know every single one, and tortured all house-guests by asking them how many nations they could identify. This simple present profoundly affected Wesley’s entire life, as he grew a passion for everything global.
Contact Wesley at wesley.warshawer@fulbrightmail.org or check his Linkedin out!
Our Co-Hosts:
Sokunthyda Long
Sokunthyda Long is a Cambodian Fulbright Alum who pursued her Master’s Degree in International Business & Economic Law at Georgetown University between 2021 and 2023.
Thyda was a child who hated school. When she started kindergarten, she would cling onto school gates, aggressively crying and begging to go home. This went on for three and a half years. She was also known as the little girl who slept on the canteen table during lunchtime. Of course, this changed. She is currently doing her PhD in legal anthropology at Yale University and does not sleep on school dining tables anymore.
Contact Thyda at sokunthyda.long@fulbrightmail.org or check her Linkedin out!
Our Story and Name Origin
Wesley and Thyda met in Washington, D.C. right at the start of Thyda’s Fulbright journey. Thyda was about to begin her Master’s Program and Wesley was visiting his 98 year old great uncle, who lived nearby. Another Fulbrighter organized a dinner at a sushi restaurant where Wesley and Thyda met.
Years later, Wesley told Thyda about his idea to connect Fulbrighters together. Sometimes, American Fulbrighters going abroad never intersect with Fulbrighters from abroad coming to America. Thyda said she liked the idea, and wanted to co-host a podcast about it.
We had the idea. We even came up with the self-explanatory name in early 2023. We just needed a push to start the project.
Then we got one.
A few years later, Thyda received an email from the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh Cambodia about the AEIF grant. She quickly texted Wesley with the news…and the idea came back to life.
We put in our proposal a few weeks later. A few months after that, AEIF and the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh officially approved it on July 25th, 2025.
