CLASS OF 2006 | 2024 | SUMMER ISSUE
Saad Handoo hit six years of residence in Atlanta with his wife, Mariam Qureshi, and two kids, Lena and Kareem. He spends most of his family time corralling kids between baseball diamonds and soccer pitches.
Maggie Starr says, “I live in Portland, Oregon, near the Columbia River with my wife and two daughters (one- and three-years-old) and our dog. I raise money for an environmental nonprofit, do some fundraising consulting on the side, and try to find as much time as possible for open-water swimming, biking, and getaways around the Northwest. Still a history nerd. Hit me up if you’re ever in the area or looking for Pacific Northwest travel tips!”
Philip Cortes says, “Out in San Francisco, where I am lucky enough to have my Wesleyan BFFLs live nearby (Casey Wilson and Lukas Snelling ’05). Doing the suburban picket-fence deal with my amazing wife, two kids, a four-year-old and a one-year-old. Working on a new company called OMNI, leveraging AI to help patients navigate their care and get better outcomes. Life is pretty good! Turning 40 in a few months. We’re getting old!”
Omair Sarwar says, “I recently decamped from NYC to Austin to launch my firm, GearBox (www.gearboxcap.com), where I spend my days investing in and supporting entrepreneurs and bootstrappers in building their businesses. As a former Wes squash guy, trying to get my head (and racquet) around the local pickleball craze. Would love to meet other Wes folks in the Austin area.”
Libertad Gills, also known as Libby, is currently living in Lugano, Switzerland, where she works as a postdoctoral researcher for the Future of Cinema & the Audiovisual Arts at the Università della Svizzera italiana, in co-partnership with Locarno Film Festival. Her films, writings on film, and video essays are available on her website (libertadgills.com) and Instagram (@libertadgills). She attended the Orphan Film Symposium in April in New York City to participate in a panel on amateur cinema in Latin America. Get in touch if you find yourself in Switzerland or Milan!
Josh Saffer says, “Jeremy Hunt, Reinhardt Schuhmann, Matt Mulqueen, and I have been living and dying by the coin since October, and recently completed year one of the Rainbow Road Record Exchange.”
Emily Frost, Nick Bullard, Gianna Sobol, and Shaine Truscott celebrated their 40th birthdays. They add, “Well, it was really Gianna’s actual birthday, but we’re all turning 40 this year, so we were all celebrating (!) with a trip to Palm Springs and a sound bath at the Integretron in March 🙂 . . . . We all live in different parts of the country (Massachusetts, Seattle, LA), three of us have kids, so it was a lot of childcare and travel/work schedules to coordinate to make it happen!”
Ronald Lim remains in Singapore where he recently curated a major retrospective exhibition for the Singapore Architecture Collection that opened in November 2023. In December 2023, he reunited with ex-housemate, Tu Chi Nguyen, in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, where she is now based in her work for the World Bank. Together in Abidjan, they met up for dinner with Linda Dempah ’05 whose “slow cosmetics” start-up, Adeba Nature, is gaining traction in West Africa and beyond. Earlier that year, he visited Takahiro Haneda and Erika Ikeda in Tokyo and also caught up with Wilson Co and Louis Caditz-Peck passing through Singapore. He notes that they’re all thriving and growing purposefully! Tu Chi notes that her recent move to Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, included her two kids, Philip and Vivien. When Ronald Lim came to visit, he shared the Singaporean urban planning experience with fellow Ivorian architects. She is working on energy issues with the World Bank and looks forward to connecting with other Wes alums in the region.
Brianna (Zinser) Farrand is a registered dietitian overseeing the bariatric surgery programs at two Northwell Health hospitals: Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan and Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco. She lives in Connecticut with her two sons, Henry (seven-years-old) and Blake (four-years-old), and her husband, Dan. She keeps in touch with Carolyn Thai, Adina Bricklin, and Emily Privot, though not as often as she’d like!
Rachel Wertheimer says, “I’m living near my hometown of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, with my wife and five-year-old daughter. We live in a co-housing community where we share gardens, social spaces, and mutual aid collectively with our neighbors. I’m a clinical social worker and am starting my 10th year as a middle school counselor at a small independent school. I happily see nearby Wesleyan friends, Rachel Kiel ’07 (who lives down the street!), Katey Rich, and Kate Mitchell ’05 pretty regularly, and there [are] so many others I miss and wish I saw more!”