Meet the Team

Meet some of the Globalteer teams in Peru, Cambodia and Colombia!

Globalteer has two main offices. Our Peru office in Cusco is our South American volunteer hub and is also our head office. Our office in Siem Reap, Cambodia is our Southeast Asain hub and of course where we host many of our Cambodia  volunteers.  We also have a permanent member of staff in Medellin, Colombia who looks after all our Colombia volunteers.

Scroll through to find out more about all the members of the wonderful Globalteer team in Peru, Colombia and Cambodia.

Management Team

Jim Elliott, Founder and General Manager - Cusco, Peru
Jim Elliott Globalteer staff

British-born Jim is the founder and General Manager of Globalteer which he set up in 2006 to help match much-needed volunteer helpers with carefully selected projects and NGOs in the developing world. Jim used money he inherited from his grandmother to set up a community project outside Siem Reap in Cambodia in 2007. Whilst Jim is still a director of the project, it is now run independently and caters for more than 250 children and their families by providing free education and access to vocational training and many social services that are not freely available in Cambodia.

In 2010 Jim and his Peruvian wife Camila founded Picaflor House, our community project outside Cusco in Peru after visiting the village of Oropesa and finding that there were no afterschool programmes for children in the area.  Instead, children were often working in the village bakeries (Oropesa is famous for its bread), in the families’ fields or caring for their younger brothers and sisters. Many volunteers on Globalteer’s Peru after-school education programme are placed at Picaflor House which now has over 60 children registered.

Jim now lives most of the year in Cusco with his wife and two children, but also spends time visiting the team and our volunteers in Cambodia each year. So you may bump into him if you are volunteering at Picaflor House, and if you are in Cambodia you may find him at the Globalteer offices, enjoying a Beer Lao in one of Siem Reap’s quieter bars or supporting one of the many charity trivia quizzes in town.

Crissy Baker, Regional Manger - Siem Reap, Cambodia
Globalteer Team Cambodia Crissy

Crissy began with Globalteer in 2019 as our Programme Coordinator; in May 2020 she advanced into the role of Regional Manager, SE Asia. From the USA, Crissy has a mixed background including social work, education and management.

Crissy has degrees in International Relations and Education. While living in the USA, she worked as a counselor and mentor for disadvantaged youth as well as volunteering with African refugees. Her international experience includes volunteer teaching in Jamaica and Ethiopia, studying abroad in Tanzania and teaching English in Hong Kong. Additionally, she has extensive travel history throughout Asia.

A life-long love for world history drew Crissy’s attention to Cambodia. During a visit to the Kingdom in 2017, she felt a calling to move there and work with the local population. After a few years of teaching abroad, she decided it was time to move back into the non-profit sector. That is when she found Globalteer.

“Working for Globalteer allows me to combine my passion for cultural exchange, community service and education. I love being able to work with such a diverse population. Regardless of the different backgrounds of staff and volunteers, we are all united by the desire to do good in the world. I also really enjoy working with our interns as they pave their way into the field of charity work.”

When you visit Siem Reap, Crissy will introduce you to your project as well as Cambodia as a whole. She can advise you on anything from cultural norms and tourism to dance floors and art shops

Peru Team

Candice Conrades, Marketing Strategist - Cusco, Peru
Globalteer Team - Cusco

Candice Conrades first became part of the friendly Globalteer team in Cusco, Peru in January 2016 as Volunteer Development Coordinator.

Joining Globalteer all the way from Australia, Candice originally studied marketing and event management at university before becoming interested in international development.

For Candice, there were many appeals for working with Globalteer:

“I really identify and align with the vision and mission of Globalteer, and wanted to be a part of a team that is genuinely trying to make a difference. Working with local sustainable projects is definitely something that is also important to me as I believe these are most important to long-term community change.”

With this being her first time to Peru, she is loving the beautiful mountain scenery of Cusco, and is looking forward to exploring the area’s many hiking trails and trying as much food as possible (especially the baked goods and sweets!).

In 2018, Candice transitioned from being a Volunteer Development Coordinator into our Marketing Strategist, so she is working hard on a daily basis to be sure that the word gets out about Globalteer and all of our wonderful partner projects! Her role is essential, as the more people that know about and understand what Globalteer is doing, the more volunteers we can introduce to our projects, helping them make the most effective impact possible and achieve their goals!

 

Mercedes Rhode, Social Media Coordinator - Cusco, Peru
Globalteer Staff, Mercedes

Mercedes is Globalteer's Social Media Coordinator. She is from Canada where she studied archaeology at Simon Fraser University. She always dreamed of travelling and living overseas.

Mercedes first arrived in Peru in September 2017 as a backpacker and volunteer; hoping to further her archaeology skills and knowledge. It has been her second home ever since. Before Peru she traveled mostly in Canada and North America; but also had the opportunity to attend a field school in Oman during the end of her university career.

Before joining Globalteer she was working as a portrait photographer in her home town. Mercedes enjoyed working with people of all ages and travelling around the city, but felt like something was missing; so she returned to Cusco shortly after Christmas.

She is excited to be apart of the Globalteer team in Cusco and the opportunity to be part of a team that makes such a difference, with projects that help and support communities that really need it. She is excited to be working with and meeting people she can relate with and who are truly passionate about the work they do.

Mercedes will be looking after Globalteer's social media presence. Additionally she will be creating video and blog content to keep you all updated with all things Globalteer. Keep an eye out for her posts and make sure to give them a like!

Genny Richard, Admin and Accounting Assistant - Buenos Aires, Argentina
Genny Globalteer staff

Genny is Globalteer’s Administration and Accounting Assistant, currently working remotely from Argentina. She joined us at our Cusco office in August 2016 and her role is finance-focused, compiling Globalteer’s accounts and carrying out various administrative tasks.

‘Before Globalteer, I was working in a corporate business environment, but I never felt quite fulfilled or as if I was in the right place. I’ve always wanted to explore and to make a difference in the world, and by working with Globalteer, I feel that I am doing that, at least in some small way! It feels great to be working for such a wonderful organisation with global connections, and with such wonderful teammates!’

Genny’s first trip to Cusco was with her university in 2010. She fell in love with Peru, and never dreamed she’d be back in a million years. However, the story went full circle after Gennys’ graduation, when she met her Peruvian husband while in Texas. They decided to make the move back to his hometown of Cusco, in January of 2016. She started her role with Globalteer there before moving  to Lima in 2017.  A fun fact about Genny is that she could be considered ‘Peruvian by birth!’ having been born in the small town of Peru, Indiana in the USA.

Outside of work, Genny loves salsa dancing, being out in nature, finding the best local eateries in Lima and learning more about the indigenous cultures, history, traditions, and religions of Peru.

Luz Chapi Huillca, Community Programme Manager - Cusco, Peru
Luz

Luz Chapi is the Community Programme Manager for Picaflor House. With her excellent language and people skills, Luz has taught English in Peruvian schools, helped tourists learn Spanish in Cusco, worked in the USA, and has also been employed in the tourism sector.

Luz is a vital part of the team that helps run Picaflor House. She coordinates pupil attendance, teacher and volunteer activities, helps with the children’s homework and teaches various classes – just to name a few of the important things that she does!

Luz has always wanted to use her skills in a way that helps those who most need it, and this is exactly what she does at Picaflor House. Knowing that Picaflor House helps children to achieve more at school, and have more faith in themselves, provides her with more than enough motivation to help Picaflor House achieve its objectives.

In addition to her tasks at Piucaflor House, Luz is also in charge of identifying new initiatives to develop new local projects in the surrounding communities; such a the Women's Empowerment Project!

If you volunteer with our Peru Community Project at Picaflor House you will be working with Luz on a daily basis.

Jenny, Byrne, Fundraising and Communications Officer, Cusco, Peru
globalteer team in peru

Jenny is Globalteer’s Fundraising and Communications Officer. A new role for 2021, she is now in charge of finding funding to support Globalteer’s projects in Peru and Cambodia as well as supporting further initiatives in the future.

Not sure what she wanted to do with her life after studying psychology, Jenny volunteered for 8 months at a children’s charity in Mexico, an experience that ignited her passions for working with children and travel. On her return to the UK, she volunteered full time with a literacy charity in Manchester, did a master’s degree and worked as a teaching assistant in a hospital. However, she felt that Latin America was where she wanted to be, so when she found the opportunity to volunteer at an orphanage in Bolivia, she jumped at the chance.

Life eventually took Jenny to Cusco, Peru, in 2013, along with a transition into the world of travel sales, due to the area’s intense focus on tourism.  Having lived both in the city and in rural towns outside Cusco, Jenny sees the area’s economic divide and the needs of certain sectors of the community on a daily basis, but has been unable to find sustainable ways to be part of solutions, until now! She is excited to return to the not for profit sector with Globalteer and use her skills and knowledge to support the charity’s programmes around the world and the people who need help most.

Cambodia Team

Jared Cahners, Sports Project Manager - Siem Reap, Cambodia
Jared - meet the globalteer team in Cambodia

Jared is originally from the United States, but at this point feels far more comfortable with Cambodian village life than its American counterpart. Though he has lived in many places in Cambodia and has worked on many roles, the one aspect of his life that has stayed constant has been his promotion of sports, especially Ultimate Frisbee, and now, disc golf. As an Ultimate athlete he competed in multiple world championship tournaments and as a coach he has worked with Cambodia’s Women’s Club team since its inception. Jared originally came to Cambodia to do research in Ratanakiri for his PhD in Anthropology. After realizing that the academic life was not for himhe moved to Phnom Penh and worked in corporate research, casino management, and education. Then he moved to Siem Reap to lead food tours. Now that he and Globalteer have found each other, he is excited about the opportunity to share his love of sports to young Cambodians by giving them athletic opportunities they would not otherwise have had.

Kong Lak, Sports Programme Head Coach - Siem Reap, Cambodia
Globalteer Team Cambodia Lak

Kong lack is originally from Prasat Char village. After working as a chef and a housekeeper, he decided it was time to embrace new challenges and help his community. Lak recognized the limited education available within the village and discovered most students knew nothing about sports. Realizing he wanted to help the students in his village reach their full potential, Lak began teaching Sports Education at Helping Hands. Through sports, Lak is able to teach the students the importance of health, teamwork, communication and having fun while also developing the students' confidence. Lak leads our team of coaches to ensure the Sports Programme is delivering  fun and high quality sports activities to students from Helping Hands and several neighboring schools.

Jess Robinson, Community Programme Coordinator - Siem Reap, Cambodia
Jess Robinson

Jess Robinson became part of the Globalteer team in February 2018 as the Cambodia Community Programme Coordinator. Joining us from England, Jess first volunteered with Globalteer at our Cambodia Community and Clean Water Projects in 2017. She explained that volunteering “turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made!  The experiences I had through Globalteer were life-changing, and I fell completely in love with Siem Reap.”  She knew she had to return to Cambodia, and she “took the plunge” and moved there in December of 2017. And we are so glad she did! It didn’t take long for her to find her way back to us!

Jess knows our Cambodia Community Programmes inside and out, so she is a great resource if you have any questions while you are volunteering with us in Cambodia, especially since she was also a volunteer once! She has travelled through South East Asia, including to our Cambodia Elephant Sanctuary, so be sure to ask her about that as well!

If you become a volunteer in Cambodia, you may come across Jess running or doing yoga in Siem Reap, or perhaps she’ll be planning a new travel adventure! And you’ll know you’ve come across someone who loves their job. She told us, “There are so many great aspects to this job, I particularly love seeing the positive effects our programme has on the students – watching them learn and seeing their smiles brightens every day! It makes such a difference to go home at the end of the day and feel like you’ve done something really worthwhile with your time!”

Picaflor House Staff

Norma Mamani Sumari, Kindergarten Teacher - Cusco, Peru
Norma
Vilma Auccapuro Miranda, Mathematics & Chess Teacher - Cusco, Peru
Teacher with the kids
Miltward Ruelas Mamani, Homework Teacher - Cusco, Peru
Miltward
Julia Taipe Vilca, Communication, Reading & Writing Teacher -  Cusco, Peru
Julia
Maria Aique Lazarte, Lead Cook -  Cusco, Peru
Maria
Beatriz Segundo Diaz, Assistant Cook - Cusco, Peru
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Nando, English Teacher-  Cusco, Peru
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Crisma, Homework Teacher - Cusco, Peru
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Helping Hands Cambodia Staff

Sopheap Kong, Project Coordinator and English Teacher
Sopheap Helping Hands staff

Kong Sopheap grew up Prasat Char village with his  family including two sisters and five brothers.  He began working part-time with Helping Hands in 2007 when he was still in high school and continued throughout his college years. After graduating from university in 2015, he began working full-time as an English teacher. Due to his continued dedication and hard work, Sopheap became the school director in 2018. Sopheap now has a family of his own including his wife and two sons. Sopheap is a valuable asset not just to Globalteer but to the entire community. His leadership and passion set a great example for Helping Hands students to learn from. Sopheap's love for teaching and helping students in the village is immeasurable and we're so thankful to have him on our team.

Kong Voeun, Khmer Teacher and Community Worker
Cambodian teacher helping the kids

“I am a resident in this village. I work for Helping Hands Cambodia because I want to help develop my community, and want all children to have a chance to receive the English and Khmer kindergarten education. On top of that, I want to help solving the problems happening to all my students, especially family problem which is connected to education.”

 
Neang Khen, Helping Hands English Teacher
Globalteer Team Cambodia Neang

Khen Neang was born in Chom Bork Village, about half-way between Siem Reap and Phnom Penh. He graduated in 2014 with a degree in Teaching English as a Foreigner Language. He has also completed additional training on using creative art techniques within the classroom. Prior to joining the Helping Hands team in 2017, Neang gained valuable experience teaching children at Bayon Primary School as well as young adults at Bayon Pastry School. Neang maintains good classroom management while facilitating fun and engaging lessons. In his free time, he enjoys reading, listening to music and playing volleyball.

Sovanna Sao, Helping Hands Kindergarten Teacher
Sovanna Helping Hands staff

Known as Sovanna, our kindergarten teacher loves to hug people, and her natural warmth makes her the perfect person to run one of our kindergarten classes at Iqbal School. Though she has no formal teacher training, she succeeds in helping our juniors with the demands of learning the Khmer language.

As she comes from the local village and is an active role in community work, Sovanna is well known and much loved by her young students.

 
Un Sokhim, Sports Coach- Siem Reap, Cambodia

Sokkim is originally from far off Preah Vihear province but now calls Siem Reap home. She has played sports all her life, especially soccer, in which she competed in provincial level competitions. She loves the experience of teaching her students and hopes to be able to do it for the rest of her life. When she isn't teaching, she is doing homework for her university law classes or, of course, playing soccer.

Soriya, Sports Coach- Siem Reap, Cambodia
Globalteer Sports coach Cambodia

Soriya is 23 years old and comes from Siem Reap province not far from our Helping Hands school. She loves teaching sports because of the independence she feels on a sports field and the joy of being outside. She loves the skills she's gained working with Globalteer and is excited to take them into future teaching opportunities. When she's not teaching she's selling food at her family's shop or selling clothes online.

Daly Kong, English Teacher
Dalie Kog Helping Hands Staff

A local resident of Prasat Char village, Daly is also a former student of Helping Hands. Since 2018 she has been teaching English while simultaneously completing her university degree. Her dedication and positive attitude make Daly a great role model for our students. Eventually, she hopes to work in a bank and build her own home.

Yoeum Yoeuy, English Teacher
Youey

A local community member, Youey began as a student at Helpings Hands. He then became a scholarship recipient of Globalteer allowing him to study Teaching. In 2018, he returned to Helping Hands to teach English. One day, he hopes to operate his own business.

Thuou Puou, Gardener and Cook
Helping Hands Cambodia

Colombia Staff

Elena Korchevska, Country Manager, Colombia - Medellin, Colombia.

Elena, our Country Manager in Medellin, Colombia is originally from St Petersburg in Russia but at heart is a bit of a nomad. She lived in London for 15 years where she studied International Business and Marketing and worked for the Financial Times no less! While living in London she made a lot of Colombian friends which is where her interest in this beautiful and underrated country first started. Whilst Elena has visited many countries on her travels, she liked Colombia best of all so decided to make it her home.

If you volunteer with our children’s project in Medellin Elena will be your number one contact. She will get in touch with you, usually by Skype, before you set off and will be there to show you the ropes and make sure your placement lives up to expectations during your time in Colombia. She also knows all the best places to hang out in your spare time in and around Medellin: “I love going out into countryside during the week-ends - Oriente Antioqueno - and in Medellin I love going with my friends. I’d recommend  Mu - the best BBQ ribs and local beers place in the city, Romero – a local Italian style bar and restaurant and Pergamino, the best coffee place in the El Poblado district,” which, rather conveniently, is also where our Medellin volunteer hostel is located!