Maria Chepurina works for the UN system as External Relations Officer and is a Sciences Po alumna. This article is part of a series of portraits that aims to better illustrate the diversity of the Sciences Po Alumni community around the globe. It was written in collaboration with the Austrian section of Sciences Po Alumni.

By Matthias Wabl

When Maria Chepurina was a 7-year-old girl in Moscow, her friends had many answers to the question about their professional aspirations as grown-ups: “Cosmonaut, Doctor, Scientist.” Maria didn’t care. She had one – she wanted to be a diplomat, resolving international crises and dealing with the most burning issues internationally.

After adjusting to continuously moving between Russian and various countries, Maria finished high-school and started her studies at the top diplomatic academy in Russia, the MGIMO University. It was clear to her that she wanted to travel the world and change things for the better. During her studies, she heard about the possibility to have an exchange at Sciences Po. “In Moscow, we learned to understand the Russian position, and at Sciences Po, I realized there are other ways to look at global issues. There were different positions, but we all wanted to find common ground on what could be the best option. I liked that.”

She decided to also pursue a master’s degree in International Security at Sciences Po, and after her graduation in 2011, she started to work for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Denmark.

For the next 5 years, Maria spent most of her time between airports, meetings with members of parliament and simple hotels in the Balkans, in Central Asia and the Caucasus. Her mission: improve the lives of men, women and children in the region. Help them get better educated, help them get their voice heard in an election process and give them the means to lead a life worth living. “Many of these people had close to nothing, but lots of gratefulness for the work we did, and incredible hospitality, the best expression of gratitude,” she says. “Many of these countries – like Tajikistan or Kyrgyzstan – are beautiful countries with lots of wonderful people, and I felt at the OSCE we could make an impact even though there were setbacks time and again, but it’s worth it.”

In 2017, Maria joined the United Nations system at the Headquarters in Vienna where she works on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation issues. “The risk of nuclear warfare still exists, and every generation has to understand again that this is dangerous, so we need to make young people aware of this,” she says. She works with young people between the ages of 16 and 35 to make sure to keep the pressure up on banning nuclear tests. More than 1,200 young people around the world have her mobile number, making her messenger tools burst with their innovative ideas and messages every day. “We have to give the UN a face and a soul, we can’t hide behind the gates, we have to explain what we do,” she says.

The skills she learned at Sciences Po have proved useful during her entire career: languages, hard work, a network. Also, rigorous thinking, analyzing and presenting skills, and very importantly to her: “I learned that you can succeed far away from home. It’s not always easy but it’s possible.” Sciences Po also gave her the biggest gift in her life, her husband. 

Today, the 33-year-old says that Sciences Po trained her on what it means to be a UN diplomat: “You have to be fair and independent and diplomatic,” and your personal advantage should never get into the way of finding the best solution for the issues at stake. She refers to the so-called “Vienna Spirit,” an unwritten rule in diplomatic life that stipulates that even when you fundamentally disagree about something, everyone has to remain courteous enough to show respect to your counterpart during negotiations.

When she has time, she’s aiming to give back, she’s mentoring young UN staffers, trying to replicate what she learned from one of her own mentors, Melissa Fleming, one of the most publicly visible UN officials in the world. She would also like to teach at Sciences Po and always gladly gives career advice to Sciences Po students who are aiming for a career at the UN. Maria also does not forget about her home country, Russia, giving back through mentoring MGIMO students. In the end, Maria’s attitude to life, summarized in Theodore Roosevelt’s quote, is true in Moscow, Paris and Vienna: “You need to keep your feet on the ground and your eyes on the stars.”

Maria expresses her deep gratitude to a talented Austrian journalist and strategic communicator, Matthias Wabl, for his contribution to this portrait.