Julia Sykes is an International Program Specialist with the Commercial Law Development Program (CLDP) in the Office of the General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Commerce, working on the Cyber and Telecommunications Team.

Prior to working with CLDP, Ms. Sykes worked for UNESCO on anti-racism and anti-discrimination initiatives globally. Her previous work experience spans project management, crisis response and advocacy initiatives, and includes managing a coalition of refugee-serving organizations across the state of Illinois, leading a refugee response program in Krakòw, case management for immigrants accessing social services in Chicago, and managing large-scale COVID vaccine and testing sites across Chicago. Ms. Sykes completed a Boren Fellowship in Brazil and was a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Dominican Republic.

Ms. Sykes holds a Master of Public Policy and a Master of Social Work from the University of Chicago. She received B.A.’s in Latin American Studies, Global Studies, and Spanish from Penn State’s Schreyer Honors College. She speaks Spanish and Portuguese.