CLASS OF 1999 | 2023 | SPRING ISSUE
After working and living in NYC for 22 years, Li Yu recently took a slight detour to work in D.C. for Senator Jon Ossoff as part of the majority (Democratic) staff for the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations from July 2021 to October 2022. Commuting between D.C. and NYC was challenging, but living in Silver Spring, Maryland, gave Li the chance to catch up with Morgan Whitlatch ’99. Li is now back in NYC and returning to work as an enforcement lawyer.
Jared Kaplan is helping people buck the trend of COVID weight gain. “I am excited to announce I opened a new, expanded 8K-square-foot fitness and wellness space, Arrive, in NYC (29th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues for locals!). Arrive is changing the way wellness works, with designed spaces plus a business incubator platform, and we’re super excited to settle into our new home for fitness and wellness pros. We’re grateful to have survived the pandemic as a brick-and-mortar facility (thanks dance major for teaching me some grant-writing skills!), and are excited to continue our growth in ’23. Also glad to see a handful of Wes alum come through our doors as clients/patients. And . . . random: ran into Lauryn Siegel ’00 at the Wolfgang Tillmans exhibit opening party at MoMa recently, cuz, go Wes!”
Moving to exercise for the brain: Billy Brown wrote a book about connecting with nature in Philadelphia called Exploring Philly Nature: A Guide for All Four Seasons. Erin Morris taught an undergraduate consumer behavior course at Fairfield University as an adjunct faculty member in the marketing department this semester.
Julenne Farrar Mounts checks in from Maui: “Feeling grateful that we’ve finally protected our 18-acre farm from the invasive axis deer population and our fruit trees are back to producing— we harvested over 100 pounds of organic figs last month and enjoyed giving them to friends and the community. My daughter, who I brought as a toddler to our 10-year reunion, will now be considering Wes in her college search next year. Time flies! Not too many Wes alums out here in the middle of the ocean, but we’ve shared the Steiner education journey of our children with the amazing filmmaker Stefan Schaefer ’94, ran into Jess Sanders on a hiking trail in August, and I recently did publicity for a community festival only to learn the chair was an alum too—Lin (Zhong) ter Horst ’94 who has the delicious Maui Fruit Jewels business. Look us up if you come visit—we still have a landline in the white pages!”
Lauren Kesner O’Brien started working at Empire Clean Cities (ECC), an environmental nonprofit in NYC and the Lower Hudson Valley, in early 2022. “What a year it’s been! While I was out of the paid workforce raising my children, I spent time lobbying for legislation that is now funding a lot of the decarbonization projects I’m working on, specifically in the transportation sector. It feels great to see that impact, and to support clean transportation infrastructure and the move away from burning fossil fuels. Finally. I’m also lucky to spend time with fabulous Wesleyan ladies in Brooklyn including Steffie Kinglake, Rachel Ostrow, Virginia Gray, Margo Simon, and Diana Glanternik.”
Also in the environmental space: Laura Zaks works with the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, an alliance of more than 130 organizations that advocates for federal policy reform supporting the social, economic, and environmental sustainability of agriculture, natural resources, and rural communities. “About a third of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions are linked to food. Farmers and food systems workers feel the impacts of economic and environmental shifts the earliest and the hardest, but they are also the best equipped to offer tangible solutions to the issues they face. We just launched our 2023 Farm Bill Platform and are gearing up for a mass mobilization, Farmers for Climate: Rally for Resilience. If any Wes climate and food activists want to join us in D.C. in March 2023, reach out!”
Avi Spivack and Nataly Kogan ’98 became legacy parents this year, as their awesome daughter, Mia Kogan-Spivack, joined the Wesleyan class of 2026! Mia is loving her Wes time so far, living in Butterfield and taking a heavy dose of science classes while also learning Spanish.
Grace Kim, Rebecca Slotnick, Chris Brody, and Ed Hong gathered in Manhattan and Boston for the bar/bat mitzvah celebrations of Ezra, son of Richard Kruger and Janice (née Gabucan) ’98, and Allegra, daughter of Jesse Feldman and Georgia. The kids offered expert recitations of the Torah and wise reflections on living a good life. Ed adds: “The parties were a rocking good time and fortunately, for this aging body, on the earlier side!”
Your class secretaries look forward to hearing more about what you all are up to in 2023!