Tag: 2005

It has been an eventful couple of years for Liz Andrews. She moved to Atlanta, Georgia, in the summer of 2021 to become the director of the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art. This fall, two exhibitions that she co-curated are on national tours: Black American Portraits, at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, and Silver Linings: Celebrating the Spelman Art Collection, beginning at the Vassar College Loeb Art Center. She also edited and wrote for Black American Portraits: https://delmonicobooks.com/book/black-american-portraits/.  In the fall of 2022, she eloped with her honey, Brian J. Brown, and they welcomed baby Polaris in March 2023.

Katie Walsh lives in Highland Park, Los Angeles, where she works as a film critic for the Tribune News Service and LA Times, hosts a podcast about Miami Vice, and moderates Q&As around town.

Wesleyan lacrosse repressed in the 35-plus division at the Lake Placid Summit Classic with Matt Wheeler, Chris Mele ’04, Brian Adams ’04, Glenn Adams ’06, Dan Ackil ’04, Connor Wilson ’04, Gabe Kelly ’11, Chris Jasinski ’08, Trevor Adams ’09, Jeff McLaren ’06, Zach Stanton ’98, and Mike Vitulano ’06 in attendance.

Jake Orlowitz is living happily in the Santa Cruz Mountains with his 13-year-old, unschooled botanist-daughter and 3-year-old maniac toddler. He runs WikiBlueprint, a Wikipedia open knowledge consulting company working with nonprofits, publishers, and museums on public education and outreach strategy. He Kickstarted his mental health book, Welcome to the Circle, and is slowly working on a sequel.

Lodro Rinzler and his wife, Adreanna, welcomed baby Ruby Alex Rinzler on June 8 of this year. The middle name is in memory of our classmate and beloved friend Alex Okrent who passed in 2012.

This year Delilah Lora became the head of Upper School at The Cathedral School of St. John the Divine in New York City. Additionally, she and her partner, Luis, got engaged this summer in Curaçao on her 40th birthday.

Natalia Ortiz accepted a new position at the NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development in the Teaching and Learning Department as a clinical assistant professor and the director of the Office of School and Community Partnership. She will be working side by side with Heather Homonoff Woodley ’02.

Heather Olins is starting her seventh year as faculty in the Biology Department at Boston College. She dedicates much of her energy to finding ways to teach about climate change that are empowering and hopeful for her students. She also co-leads her seven-year-old’s Girl Scout troop, and has been doing a lot of art when not teaching or parenting.

Miriam Gottfried and her husband, Trevor Williams, welcomed their first child, a daughter, on July 22. They named the baby Emily after Miriam’s mom who died 10 years ago. Miriam, Trevor, and Emily live in South Slope, Brooklyn, around the corner from fellow 2005er Blake Maybeck, who they often run into on the street.

This year, in recognition of Tony Alleyne’s work with his college-access nonprofit, Delaware College Scholars, he was selected as a 2023 Doritos/PepsiCo Foundation Black Changemaker. The program officially expanded to Charlotte, North Carolina, as well, and now has served over 500 scholars. His family is also growing and they will be welcoming their fifth child in September. Also he had a great time reunited with Fabrice Coles and Quincy Francis ’06 in D.C. this past spring.

Please write your class secretary.

Please write your class secretary.

Rahwa Yebio has published two books of poetry under her pen name, Amaya Sunn, and has recently completed her first young adult novel. She is also a digital content creator specifically producing visual poetry pieces. Over the period of a decade, Rahwa has created arts programming and spearheaded enrichment curriculums for youth in New York City. She is also the mother of a brilliant and beautiful 11-year-old boy!

Misa Dayson gave birth to her and her husband’s, Jules Hollander, son, Isaiah, in July 2020. He is the cutest baby-toddler in the world, and at least once every day she feels like she experiences a bit of magic being in his presence. At the same time, becoming a mother for the first time in the middle of a global pandemic was challenging, and she decided to document the experience with her friend, Veena Hampapur, through their podcast, Memos from Motherhood (Or, I Gave Birth During a Pandemic?!). Memos unpacks the personal and political nuances of navigating the early years of parenting amidst both a global pandemic, and seismic political, cultural, and environmental change. Trained as anthropologists, Misa and Veena process pandemic parenthood holistically and intersectionality through intimate conversations and voice memos. Misa has really enjoyed hearing about how her and Veena’s shared stories are resonating with a range of people, both parents and child-free alike! When not producing the podcast, she continues her work in film producing and screenwriting. She lives in Harlem, and this past summer enjoyed traveling internationally for the first time in three years visiting family in France. She would appreciate any tips people have to offer on how to make future vacations run smoother with a toddler in tow!

Xiomara Lorenzo and Cara Herbitter ’03, despite nearly convincing themselves in 2013 that they would return to New York City once Cara completed their clinical PhD program in 2020, have truly made a home in Boston; so much so that they are closing on a house this fall! This year they celebrated 17 years together and 10 years married. Xiomara co-leads digital product management at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, while Cara completes their postdoctoral fellowship at the Boston VA.

Ada Pinkston is an artist and lecturer who currently works at Towson University and Maryland Institute College of Art. Her work was recently acquired by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). You can view an iteration of this augmented-reality monument on LACMA’s Snapchat profile.

Maya Lake is a stylist and designer in Los Angeles. You can find her on a film or television set where she is celebrating the wrapping of a show. You can also find her on a volleyball court.

Andrea Cortes-Juarbe is based in San Francisco where she offers workshops to young people in nature and practices somatic healing sessions at various locations throughout the Bay Area.

Liz Andrews is an artist, curator, and scholar. She recently co-curated The Obama Portraits Tour and Black American Portraits at LACMA. Last fall, she moved to Atlanta, Georgia, to become executive director of the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, the only museum in the nation dedicated to art by and about women of the African diaspora. In May 2022, she got engaged to artist Brian J. Brown.

Natalia Ortiz is a term assistant professor in the Education Department at Barnard College in her hometown of New York City. Every now and then she also does some independent racial-equity consulting. When she is not meeting with students, curriculum planning, teaching, or facilitating, she is keeping busy as a soccer mom to her two children, Amaya Lolita (10) and Maceo Felix (7). As of this year, Natalia became a titi to niece Naia Rae Ortiz Rothwell, the daughter of Nicholas Ortiz. We are thrilled to welcome a new baby to the family.

Justin F. Kennedy is still a Berlin-based community dance artist, teacher, and DJ. Justin’s work has evolved since Wes, from a durational dance and singing practice, and further translates into workshops, science fiction operas, installations, happenings, and films. Notable works of late include: Cannibalizing the Conductor, an experimental dance film and A(un) Necessary World, a sci-fi opera in parts, at the Hammer Museum in LA. His recent work, performing and body doubling in Ligia Lewis’s A Plot/A Scandal, has been fruitful. Justin plans to teach at the School for New Dance Development in Amsterdam in winter ’22 and is trying his hand at the technical side of music production and hopes to attend a sound engineering course in Lagos in 2023.

Sam Leitner and his partner bid farewell to D.C. friends and moved to Boulder, Colorado. He’s loving easy access to outdoor climbing and will continue his work as a (remote) data scientist at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, where he leads a program that evaluates credit models for discrimination.

Katie Walsh lives in Highland Park, Los Angeles, and works as a film critic for the Tribune News Service, The Los Angeles Times, and The Wrap. She’s also a frequent contributor of film reviews to KCRW’s Press Play with Madeleine Brand. She often meets neighbor Che Landon for afternoon swims in the pool in their complex.

After many years in many cities, Hallie Dalsimer has been making home in the Sierra Foothills of California since 2015. They love living in a place where people are greatly outnumbered by trees. In 2021, Hallie launched Humaning: in Conversation, a podcast exploring what it means to human well—in our bodies, in relationship, in present time, on planet Earth—with three friends who share an orientation toward embodied practice, social justice, and an animist worldview.

After nearly a decade with NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey and following a four-year stint as an at-home parent, Janice Eisenberg is heading back to graduate school (second time is the charm?) to pursue her MSW at the University of Maryland. She still lives in Silver Spring, Maryland, with her husband and three kids.

Doro Globus will be publishing her first children’s book Making a Great
Exhibition this fall. Illustrated by the amazing Rose Blake, the book
introduces the journey of an artwork from an artist’s mind to an
exhibition. Doro really wanted to open up the visual art world to children
so they can visualize how a museum works, what it means to be an artist,
and what kind of creative careers are out there. The book is published by
David Zwirner Books where Doro serves as the managing director.

It can be viewed here.

Shannon McIntyre Hooper is making a few major career pivots already in 2021. After completing her executive MBA and graduating in the top 10 percent of the class at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business in 2020, she added the role of interim chief financial officer to her remit at ReviveHealth, a healthcare marketing and strategy agency where she’s served as chief growth officer for several years. In August, she’ll be leaving ReviveHealth and joining BehaVR, a behavioral health-focused technology company, as chief strategy and product officer. The new role will combine her passions for mental health, new media and technology environments, and high-growth entrepreneurialism.

Chris Lake welcomed his third son. The crew consists of Theodore, age 6; Wolfie, age 3; and now Fritz, age 0. They are moving from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles in September, and feel a bit nervous about it.

Jenny Mariaschin-Rudin and her husband welcomed a baby, Eloïse Chaviva Chloé, in September 2020, while Jenny also spent the pandemic at work as a clinical social worker at a Federally Qualified Health Center in New York City.  Jenny would be happy to hear from anyone in the area and wishes everyone well!

Kate Mitchell is still in Durham, North Carolina teaching high school history, where she welcomed baby Ivy in November 2020. She waited until the election results were finalized to arrive. Happy to connect with other single parents out there.

Molly Greenberg and her wife Nat Wood welcomed twins James and June in October 2020. Being pregnant during the first eight months of COVID certainly helped make quarantine more exciting, and since the babies arrived, they have definitely had their hands full in a wonderful way. The best part is that they are already close friends with other Wesleyan babies and kids, including the children of Cathy Pyenson and Jon McKinney ’04, Ann (Rush) Oliner, Ellie (Terry) Vierling, Eliza Butler and Jake Hudson, Jeremiah Friedman, and Becca Seely ’06. And of course they have a loving and doting aunt in Lucy Greenberg ’07!

Stonecutter Spirits was acquired in the fall of 2020, and Sivan Cotel is taking his first long breath in a very long time. He is currently enjoying a self-imposed sabbatical, while continuing to serve on six nonprofit and government boards. Most recently, Vermont’s state treasurer appointed Sivan to the Vermont Cannabis Control Board Advisory Committee, which is tasked by the state legislature with developing a detailed regulatory framework for Vermont’s upcoming legal cannabis marketplace.