34 NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2026 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Between Movement and Meaning: What Two Decades of Travel and Service Taught Me About the World—and Where I Belong in It Alexandre Cottin, independently published, 2026, $14.99/paperback, e-book available, 210 pages. Between Movement and Meaning spans Alexandre Cottin’s experience on five continents over two decades—from Haitian cholera wards to remote clinics in South Sudan, from the Andes to the Himalayas, from a lost passport in Istanbul to an earthquake in Mandalay. Part memoir, part a reflection on service, identity, and belonging, the book follows a life shaped by diplomacy, humanitarian work, crisis response, and constant movement across borders and cultures. Beneath the missions and travel lies a deeper question: What does all this movement mean, and where does one ultimately belong? At its core, this story is about transition, family, loss, purpose, and learning when to move, when to stay, and how to trust a path that is still unfolding. Alexandre Cottin is a Foreign Service officer with the State Department. His postings include Belgium, Madagascar, Morocco, and Burma, where he most recently served as the embassy’s spokesperson. Cottin also taught public diplomacy courses at the Foreign Service Institute. He is currently on leave without pay (LWOP) while he works for the World Central Kitchen as director of strategic relations. I Said My Piece with Peace: Inside USAID’s Final Days: A Testament of Leadership When Everything Falls Apart Keisha L. Effiom, independently published, 2026, $16.99/paperback, e-book available, 102 pages. I Said My Piece with Peace is Keisha Effiom’s story of leadership written from inside the U.S. Agency for International Development during its final days, when she bore witness to the dismantling of a 64-year-old institution and the effects on those who served it. The book is her attempt to record what she saw, what she refused to surrender, and what she learned about leading with grace when the ground beneath gives way. This faith-grounded memoir asks the question: How do you serve, lead, and remain whole when the institution you have built your life around begins to fall apart? Former USAID Foreign Service Officer Keisha Effiom spent 18 years with USAID, including 15 in the Foreign Service, before the agency was dismantled in 2025. She was posted in Nigeria, Liberia, Washington, D.C., Tanzania, Ghana, and Rwanda/Burundi. She most recently served as mission director for Rwanda and Burundi, one of eight Black American women serving as USAID mission directors at the same time—the most ever to hold the title concurrently. Based in Johannesburg, Effiom travels regularly to the United States and across Africa for speaking engagements. The World in My Bones: The Diplomat Queens Made Jennifer Erie, independently published, 2026, $19.99/paperback, e-book available, 260 pages. This memoir by Jennifer Erie covers her life in international development, where she served on the front lines for USAID, working across Africa and Southeast Asia to advance HIV and AIDS advocacy and public health resilience. For years, she writes, her vision for the future was coming together, but when she finally reached the bridge to the life she had spent decades building, the bridge collapsed. The author, who was born and raised in Queens, New York, by a Haitian single mother, also shares her education in how grief, responsibility, and leadership coexist and examines what happens when leadership demands certainty while life offers none. Jennifer Erie spent 15 years with USAID, serving in the Philippines, Tanzania, South Africa, South Sudan, and Thailand. Real Stories from Real Diplomat Moms: Experiences of Mothers Serving at U.S. Embassies Around the World Alicia Ford, ed., independently published, 2026, $19.99/paperback, e-book available, 143 pages. Here, 15 women of the U.S. Foreign Service pull back the curtain on one of diplomacy’s least visible roles: motherhood. Through stories of birth, adoption, international relocations, career sacrifices, and family
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