Tressa Thomas, an undergraduate English major from Santa Rosa, California, has been selected as a 2017 Bonderman Fellow.
The Bonderman Travel Fellowship program was created in 1995 through a gift from David Bonderman, who earned his undergraduate degree in Russian from the University of Washington in 1963. These prestigious fellowships fund eight months of solo travel to two regions of the world.
As a female comedian, Thomas has spent her college career exploring the intersections of feminism and comedy. She looks to the Bonderman Fellowship as a chance to connect with an international community of female comedians as well as explore her identity as an American woman. She will be traveling to Argentina, Ecuador, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, The Philippines, and Tahiti.