Episode 115: Jendayi Frazer

Jendayi Frazer was a top ranking African policy official in the Bush administration, serving both at the National Security Council and in the State Department. She was also the first female US ambassador to South Africa.

Frazer grew up in a military family, and we discuss how her father’s experience in the Vietnam war informed her own up bringing and understanding of the world at a young age.When Frazer was an undergraduate at Stanford, she struck up a friendship and mentorship with a young international relations professor there named Condoleezza Rice, who would eventually become her PHD advisor and boss at the National Security Council and State Department.

We kick off this episode discussing Frazer’s newest project, which is working to establish commodity markets in Africa. And we spend the first 15 minutes or so discussing the role of commodity markets in African agricultural development before pivoting to a longer conversation about her life and career. This is a longer episode. But I think you’ll find it pretty interesting and even entertaining. We have great digressions about African policy, Condi Rice, Nelson Mandela, AIDS relief, Donald Trump and more