Immigrant to diplomat: East Central grad's global journey

(ST. LEON, Ind.) – An East Central graduate has already lived a unique life that very few Americans will ever experience, and her journey is far from finished. 

Nykarlis Santos Nunez (Nyki) is a native of the Dominican Republic and she was 4-years-old when her mother married a Dearborn County man.

While her mom was able to immigrate to the United States, Nyki faced visa issues and wasn’t able to join her mother until the age of 12. 

Nyki arrived in the U.S. and walked into East Central as a seventh grader. She immediately faced a major hurdle: She didn’t speak English. 

“School was very hard because it was a different education system than what I had been used to and it was also hard to make friends due to the language barriers,” Nyki said. 

Nyki devoted herself to learning English and became completely fluent by the time she was a freshman in high school.

She also thrived in the classroom and graduated with honors from East Central in 2014. 

But then, the real work began. 

She first attended Ivy Tech Community College and then went to Northern Kentucky University, double-majoring in French and International Business. 

Nyki’s college experience also included working 2-3 jobs at a time and she graduated completely debt-free with two degrees, and was also fluent in French.  

World Travels

Her first taste of international travel came when she was still attending Northern Kentucky University.

She had earned scholarships to study abroad in France and the Netherlands. 

After graduating with no debt, she decided to take a solo backpacking trip for six months to Africa, Europe and South America. 

She returned to the states and had two stints working in Congress, one time for a New York Congresswoman and another time for a Florida Congresswoman. 

“Congress wasn’t really my thing,” Nyki admitted. 

Nyki decided to quit the congressional job in 2021 to go backpacking again. 

She traveled solo to Asia and Australia for six months which marked her 6th continent by the age of 26. 

Those international trips started to fulfill a passion of being able to connect with people around the globe. 

Becoming a U.S. Diplomat 

Nyki eventually got a unique opportunity through the U.S. government's Payne Fellowship Program. 

It’s a highly-competitive program for young adults who are either low-income or from historically underrepresented backgrounds that want to work in international development as a Foreign Service Officer.

The program provides significant financial assistance to earn a master’s degree and in exchange, the graduates commit to working 5 years with the U.S. Agency of International Development (USAID). 

Nyki was one of only a dozen people accepted for the fellowship and attended the prestigious Columbia University. 

Her schooling took her to Egypt where she studied Arabic and then to French Polynesia where she worked with that nation’s president on an economic environment project. 

In 2024, Nyki graduated from Columbia University with a Masters Degree in Economic and Political Development and also Social and Urban Policy.

She then began training for the 5-year assignment of being a USAID Foreign Service Officer, to represent the U.S. overseas through various programs and projects.

“I was really hoping to get placed in the Middle East or Africa because those were parts of the world I had visited least,” she recalled. 

She was expecting to be sent to either Palestine or an East African country such as Rwanda or Tanzania. 

Nyki was waiting to hear what country she would be sent to when President Donald Trump assumed office in January 2025. 

“It was getting pretty close to them telling me where I would go and what language I would need to learn,” she said. 

However, her 5-year contract came to an abrupt end when the Trump administration dismantled USAID due to what the White House described as “wasteful spending."

She was one of approximately 16,000 USAID employees worldwide whose position was eliminated. 

Doing what she does best 

Remember how Nyki came to the United States without knowing English?

Just a decade after high school, she had also become fully fluent in French, Portuguese and Italian, in addition to Spanish and English.

The possibility of moving to the Middle East through USAID allowed her to focus on learning Arabic as well. 

“My 5-year plan was ruined when my job got cut so I did what I do best,” she laughed. 

She put on her backpack and decided to go traveling again.

Since she was planning on going to Africa or the Middle East with USAID, she figured why not start there?

Nyki traveled through Rwanda, Uganda and Ethiopia before visiting Lebanon. She fell in love with the war-torn Middle East country and decided to make it her permanent home.

Life In Lebanon

The United States Department of State issues Travel Advisories for every country on earth. 

Those reports describe the risks and recommended precautions that U.S. citizens should take while traveling abroad or living in a foreign nation. 

There's just a few countries on earth that currently have the highest level warning: Do Not Travel (RED). 

Nyki’s current residence of Lebanon is among those listed in RED due to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, an Iran-backed terrorist organization that is headquartered in Lebanon. 

In February, the United States ordered non-emergency U.S. government personnel and their families to evacuate the country.

“Do not travel to Lebanon for any reason due to the risk of crime, terrorism, unrest, kidnapping, landmines and armed conflict," the U.S. Department of State currently has on their website.

Despite the ongoing dangers and warnings, Nyki decided to stay in Lebanon.

She currently lives in Beirut and works in a school for refugees from Syria and Palestine.

The school is for children who flee those war-ravaged countries and the students receive a 12-year curriculum in six years.

Many of those kids are illiterate when they enter the school and Nyki mentors students before they graduate to prepare them for college.

Beirut is located in the central part of the country and the majority of the bombing and conflict occurs in southern Lebanon. However, bombing still occurs in Beirut from time to time. 

Nyki says Beirut is informally divided by religion, where the more affluent neighborhoods are Christian and typically don’t experience bombing. 

“There have been nights where one of my friends that live in a Christian neighborhood will invite me over to watch movies like everything is normal, meanwhile other friends that live in the Muslim neighborhoods are sending me pictures and videos of destroyed buildings. It’s really interesting to see how different reality is for people who live in the same city on the same night,” she said. 

There was a point earlier this year when Nyki, after getting calls from worried family members and a worried boyfriend, decided she would temporarily leave Lebanon due to the escalating conflict.

She recalls how the airport was empty and quiet and how she had a sense of guilt about leaving the country.

“It’s a really weird feeling being a foreigner in a country where you can just leave. So many Lebanese citizens don’t have the money or passports to escape like I did. It made me feel really guilty even though people I knew there were encouraging me to get out too,” she said. 

Nyki spent a few months in Egypt and at one point Israel dropped 100 bombs in 10 minutes in Lebanon, she said.

She returned to Lebanon and could sense the sadness and heaviness in the air. There were approximately 1 million people who were displaced by the conflict. 

While bombing still occurs in parts of the country, Nyki says things have mostly calmed down for now. 

However, she says it is still common to see and hear Israeli drones flying around. 

“Its really just to intimidate people but it can make things difficult. Even in school with the windows shut, you can hear them flying outside,” she added. 

Despite the conflict, Nyki has fallen in love with the country and the people who live there. 

Nyki mentioned that most Americans only know about the Middle East through a war context.

“We never get to see their culture in a positive way, right? Everything is shown from the standpoint of war,” she explained. 

She says Americans likely haven’t seen Lebanese people enjoying a day at the beach, having family meals or partying with friends. 

Nyki also mentioned that there are many more Christians who live in the Middle East than what most Americans would assume. 

She added that living in Lebanon reminds her of life back in her native country of the Dominican Republic, as the two cultures share several similarities.

“For example, if you go to someone’s house they always offer coffee, no matter the time of day. That aspect is very similar to the Dominican culture of giving something to guests who visit,” she said.

She also said the Lebanese are extremely family-oriented and spend a lot of time together on a regular basis, not just the holidays.

Long before moving to Lebanon, Nyki was told how that part of the world was no stranger to war. That's why she chose to explore it. 

“I just felt that we aren’t getting the full picture when it comes to the Middle East and I wanted to see it myself, and I am very happy to be here now,” she said.

Building Bridges

Nyki has already been to 60 countries before the age of 30. Her goal is to visit every country in the world.

World traveling is an opportunity for Nyki to fulfill her passion of connecting with people and learning about other ways of life, regardless of where anybody is from. 

“We might have different languages, different customs and different ways of living, but at the end of the day, we are all human. And most people just want to be happy,” Nyki said. 

Her goal is to build bridges between different cultures and she feels education and travel are the tools to make that possible. 

She had previously dreamt of serving as a U.S. ambassador and it may become a goal again. 

“While I’m currently not a diplomat, I do feel I represent America in a good light to people who don’t know many of us," she said.

She added, "Some of these countries have experienced a lot of damage or war from the United States and it’s an opportunity to show them that we aren’t all bad people."

Her world travels began in “easy” countries like those in Europe and the more experience she gained, the more comfortable she got visiting places that are deemed dangerous. 

Nyki encourages others to travel internationally and she says it has never been easier to do so. 

“I know language is a big barrier for people but English is spoken everywhere, and we’re in an age now where we have so much access to information including translation services on your phone if you need it. Hotels are cheap to book, airplanes are easy to book. It really isn't that hard” she said. 

One passion of Nyki’s is cooking and she's considering launching virtual classes where she teaches recipes she's learned from across the world.

The online classes would be donation-based and she plans to give the proceeds to nonprofits that are providing education to war refugees. 

We’ll provide an update when she launches those cooking classes for those who want to register.

We caught up with Nyki two weeks ago when she came back to Dearborn County to visit her family and friends. She also visited East Central High School for a tour before school began.

Nyki has since returned back to the Middle East and you can follow her on Instagram by clicking here.