CLASS OF 2014 | 2021 | ISSUE 1
Tyler Holzschuh graduated with an electrical engineering Master’s degree from UCLA in 2016. He became a licensed engineer in the State of California in 2019 and is now working at the California Public Utilities Commission on wildfire issues.
At the end of 2020, Ella Dawson left the social media industry to write full-time. She signed with Jamie Carr, a literary agent at the Book Group, and is supported directly by her readers on Patreon, where she publishes exclusive essays about intimacy and relationships.
Jay Benedith reports that she is an EdD candidate in Educational Sustainability at the University of Wisconsin—Stevens Point, and started her own business called J. Benedith Coaching Services (www.jbenedith.com).
Julian Theseira is deepening his engagement with climate policy research and advocacy in Southeast Asia. He worked on a climate adaptation policy proposal together with Justin Liew ’18 and others which made it to the finals of an international Youth Adaptation Policy Case Competition organized by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. They have since submitted elements of their policy proposal to the Ministry of Environment and Water Malaysia as a civil society contribution to the process of the updating of Malaysia’s Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement. Julian has also been elected to serve on the board of the Climate Action Network Southeast Asia, a coalition of climate NGOs and the regional Southeast Asian node of the global Climate Action Network.
Will Dubbs has just settled in DC after 7+ years on the campaign trail—most recently working for Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign in Iowa. While waiting for his next gig, he spends his days losing at board games to his friend Cpt. Dr. Jake Barack.
Jeremy Judelson is living in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, and just began a new job as a Creative Strategist at TikTok’s Creative Lab.
Jennelle Herrick is celebrating her fifth year in Maui working for the high end luxury developer, Discovery Land Company. Jennelle is a licensed realtor and notary for the State of Hawaii. In 2020, Jennelle launched her company Maui Apothecary Magic, LLC where she makes organic soy candles with essential oils and healing crystals.
After returning from his travels in Bhutan a few years ago, Richie Starzec has since taken over his father’s former business and is in the middle of shifting the focus of the company from open capital to defense technologies.
Andrew Cohen recently started a second job alongside his work in entertainment PR, co-founding small animation studio, Confidential Creative, where he recently worked to animate music videos for musicians including Journey, Kesha, P. Diddy and Maroon 5. He has also been spending his quarantine playing Mafia over zoom with new friends.
Tess Keller reports: “My life since Wes has led me from a double major in French and Anthropology to a career as a bilingual digital marketer. After graduation, I moved to Burlington, Vermont and started learning digital marketing at Dealer.com, one of the companies that led to our being able to purchase a car completely online today. From there, I moved on to a marketing agency, where over the years I rose from an account manager to running the digital marketing division of the company, really making my mark in adopting and implementing Agile methodologies to turn a new page on the company’s capacity. Most recently, I moved to the Boston area, and now work as a strategic digital marketing architect, helping connect a rich but outdated database with the modern practices and software available to harness automation to grow sales and marketing reach exponentially. I’m able to also employ my language skills in this role, and am managing the website launches in five more languages. I miss my Wesbesties all the time, but it’s been great when I can connect with fellow Cardinals, especially during the pandemic. It has meant a lot to rekindle conversations and friendships during such a trying time. It was awesome when the West Coast members of Notably Sharp resurrected the old group thread just to check in to say hey. I still don’t know if we ever got everyone on the same thread (will Androids and iPhones ever play nice?) but it helped to feel connected to some of the people that are part of who I am as a person today. I’m looking forward to when we can again visit each other in our cities across the world. And of course, I can’t wait until Reunion can be the real deal again.”
Jason Shatz just moved back to the New York City area to work as a software engineer for Barclays.
After six years in New York, Maureen Gorman is currently pursuing an MBA at INSEAD. Upon graduating in July 2021, she and her husband Aurélien will be settling in Paris.
Joshua Krugman continues to work for the 57-year-old political theater company, Bread & Puppet Theater, based in Glover, Vermont. He invites Wesleyan folks to come up to see a show Friday to Sunday this summer—socially distanced and outdoors in the beautiful North East Kingdom landscape—and to get in touch if you’d like to bring a touring show to your city.
Mia Rossi is continuing to produce music both solo and with other artists. She has also started her own life and mindset coaching practice based in Los Angeles where she meets online with clients as far as New Zealand! You can find her on IG as @mia.c.rossi.
Nikolai Muth and Rehan Mehta were honored to be groomsmen at Ismet Jooma’s wedding. Congratulations!
Jackson Ulrich shares: “Russell Madison is living in sunny Encinitas, California, having recently completed his masters degree in bioinformatics this spring. His graduate studies are especially impressive considering he’s already balancing a full-time career in data science with an intense surfing habit and an ambitious pursuit of the perfect homebrewed kombucha.”
Alex Nunez is pioneering the burgeoning field of in-game esports advertising as the lead ad rep for Madden at EA Sports. He is proud to have brought on some of his favorite snacks as official Madden partners, including Snickers and Pizza Hut. He kindly asks his classmates not to bother asking for a Madden code.
After a stint at AI startup Innoplexus that had him traveling the globe like a software-slinging Carmen Sandiego, Chase Hochman has settled down in Brooklyn and is now working at Kenshoo, an ad-tech shop. When he’s not playing squash with Alex Nunez or basketball with housemate Jackson Ulrich, Chase spends his free time acquiring new kitchen gadgets to be used once.
Amber Bruckner graduated from Stony Brook University School of Dental Medicine with a DDS in 2019 and will finish her residency as a pediatric dentist this summer. She claims to have single-handedly caused a jigsaw puzzle shortage in the Tri-State area last spring.
Troy Sampson is still importing and exporting allegedly-legal goods in Los Angeles, where he lives in Marina Del Rey. Give him a ring if you’re ever in town and have a couple of hours to spend learning about cryptocurrencies.
Just across town from Troy is Patrick Newman, who is still managing and representing a variety of creative talent at Mosaic Media Group. He specializes in comics, illustrators, and fielding multiple intraday FaceTime calls from Gustav Gregor.
Gus Gregor obtained a masters degree in business communications from Northwestern University and completed a tour of duty for the Danish Trade Council in Chicago in 2018. Since finishing up at the Trade Council, Gus has been working in Spark Foundry’s pharmaceutical division. An avid rider over the past year, he boasts over 400 Peloton badges.
And finally, as for me, I am living the first year attorney life as a Law Clerk at Walden, Macht, and Haran LLP in New York City where I mostly focus on white collar matters, after graduating from Fordham University School of Law last spring. Suits ain’t got nothing on me! In my spare time I’ve been getting creative in the kitchen and with my cocktail shaker and am constantly on the quest for the latest and greatest HIIT workout. It’s been great connecting with Wesleyan friends (even if just via Zoom) who have kept me sane during the pandemic. Looking forward to connecting with more of you once things go back to normal.
Much love to the Class of 2014 from your class secretary.