Diplomacy is people: on soft power, belonging, and building the next generation of global leaders
Katherine Ntiamoah, director for policy engagement and strategic partnerships at the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies, recently joined host Christopher Wurst on episode 34 of SoftPower/FulStories, a podcast that brings the human story of international affairs to the foreground — giving center stage to the encounters, relationships, and lived experiences behind U.S. global engagement. Recorded in December 2025, the conversation drew on nearly two decades of Ntiamoah's experience with the U.S. Department of State to explore the human dimensions of diplomacy, the power of cultural exchange, and her vision for preparing the next generation of global leaders.
Ntiamoah opened by reflecting on her upbringing as a first-generation Ghanaian American in northwest Indiana — a region she described as feeling more like the Chicago suburbs than the rest of the state. Raised in a household defined by music, travel, and a deeply rooted Ghanaian community, she experienced a jarring culture shift when her family relocated to an area with very few other African families. She recalled the moment vividly: boarding the school bus and realizing that the only people who looked like her were her siblings. It was, she said, the first time she had ever felt like the other. Her parents responded by being deliberate about maintaining connection — to Ghana, to Chicago's south side, to their diaspora community — ensuring that their children always had spaces where their language, food, and culture were the norm, not the exception.
That early sense of being shaped by multiple worlds pointed Ntiamoah toward international affairs. She arrived at Indiana University intending to study journalism and become a foreign correspondent, but a sophomore-year move into an international affairs residence hall set her on a different path. A semester working as an intern coordinator at the U.S. State Department in Washington, D.C. — where she had access to ambassadors, assistant secretaries, and even the secretary of state — sharpened her ambition. A summer placement in Kinshasa, Congo, sealed it. Handed responsibilities well beyond what an intern would typically take on, she came away certain: this was the job for her. This passion eventually led her to earn her master’s degree from the Josef Korbel School of Global and Public Affairs at the University of Denver.
Much of the conversation centered on soft power and what Ntiamoah called the real work of public diplomacy: building relationships rather than sending documents. She described a signature initiative from her posting in Benin, where she used the release of the film The Woman King — set among the legendary female warriors of the Dahomey kingdom — to advance U.S. foreign policy goals on women, peace, and security. She invited the film's director to Benin for a week of conversations with civil society, government officials, military leadership, and youth. The approach worked, she explained, because a film director could open doors that a government official could not. Civil servants who might have been guarded in a formal diplomatic setting were willing to discuss women's leadership in the military, youth entrepreneurship, and the future of Benin's film industry when the conversation came through a creative third party. "Sometimes soft power and diplomacy helps to actually move things forward in a more meaningful way rather than using traditional diplomacy," she said.
Ntiamoah also spoke about the experience that most transformed her understanding of why diplomacy matters. She was serving as deputy spokesperson at the U.S. Mission to the European Union in Brussels when the 2016 terrorist attacks struck the city. In the hours and days that followed, she worked to help American citizens locate family members in Belgian hospitals, replace lost passports, and navigate the immediate aftermath of the attacks. The experience left a permanent mark. "When you survive living through a terrorist attack, you no longer think that safety and security are given," she said. "You realize that in order for the United States — and I think more specifically just living in a country overseas — you have to be part of a community and you have to contribute to that community time and time again and you have to invest in it."
Since joining the Hamilton Lugar School in August 2025, Ntiamoah has brought that conviction directly to students. She holds regular office hours and described meeting with four students on the day of the recording alone — many of them wrestling with doubts about careers in international affairs at a difficult moment for U.S. foreign policy. Her message to them is consistent: the job is not for the faint of heart, but it is for those whose hearts are in public service. Serving under four presidents, six secretaries of state, and across eleven diplomatic assignments, she has seen the work endure through change. "America has been in existence for 249 years. And it will continue to exist and we need your voice," she told the podcast. "Keep your interest in international affairs and keep being interested in public service.”
Closing the episode, Ntiamoah addressed skeptics who question why the United States should invest in international engagement at all — offering a characteristically grounded response. The foreign affairs budget, she noted, hovers between 1 and 1.5 percent of the total federal budget. For that fraction, the United States maintains relationships that underpin the goods, markets, and ideas Americans rely on every day. "None of the things that we do are in a vacuum," she said. "If we want to continue to be successful and we want our countries to grow... we need to continue to interact with the rest of the world. That investment overseas is also an investment here in the United States."
Listen to the full episode with Katherine Ntiamoah on SoftPower/FulStories, episode 34.