Author: Randi Alexandra Plake

Natalia Ortiz has successfully defended her PhD in urban education from the CUNY Graduate Center. She is thrilled to have that seven-year chapter closed and is excited to continue her work as the training director at the Center for Racial Justice in Education. She is the proud mother of a 7-year-old girl and a 4-year-old boy. Natalia sees her twin brother Nicholas Ortiz regularly. Not only is he a pretty cool uncle, he is training to run the NYC Marathon for the third time and is the director of HR at i-Mentor, where he has been for the last 12 years. That is all from the Ortiz twins.

Dylan Meconis wrote, “My debut middle grade graphic novel, Queen of the Sea, is being published by Candlewick/Walker. I both wrote and illustrated, and the Tudor historical setting is heavily influenced by my classwork in the College of Letters. It’s gotten starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews, School Library Journal, Publisher’s Weekly, and Booklist, which is pretty dang exciting for my first time publishing in the children’s book industry. I also co-wrote The Long Con, a two-volume graphic novel from Oni Press. The first half debuted this spring and the second half is out this summer. It’s a sci-fi comedy set in the world of comic book conventions; since I started working professionally in the comics industry while still at Wes, I have lots of material to draw on!”

Che Landon, an actor and producer in LA, shot a pilot for Fox directed by two-time Emmy nominee, Jon Massey, entitled Frank James, where she plays Coroner Casey McGrath. She is also on the Hulu series Work in Progress. She’s producing two projects, a feature film, Girl Clown, and Inside, being directed by Sundance Award-winning female filmmaker, Elise Salomon.

Katie Walsh is a film critic in Los Angeles writing primarily for the Tribune News Service and the LA Times. This spring she taught a class about the practice of writing about film at Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, and moved to the Highland Park neighborhood of LA, where Che Landon is her new neighbor.

Miriam Gottfried married Trevor Williams on Aug. 4 in New York City. Sarah Hexter was a bridesmaid and Miriam’s cousin Annie Shepard ’08 held the chuppah. Also in attendance were Carolyn Wachnicki, who did the engagement photo shoot, Jonathan Hecht ’04, Catie Lazarus ’99, and Dan Goldstein ’96.

David Rood-Ojalvo lives in Rockaway Beach, Queens, and works for Catholic Charities of Brooklyn and Queens. The short film he made, which stars Ari Brand ’06, Jon Leland, and Diego Ortiz ’06, premiered at the New York Shorts International Film Festival in June.

Jessica Phillippi will be performing her latest play, Illegal, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August ahead of a U.K. tour. Illegal is a drama that intertwines two immigration stories: one inspired by Jessica’s struggle to remain in the U.K. and the other by a Guatemalan woman’s attempt to cross the U.S.-Mexico border.

Stephen Lazer published State Formation in Early Modern Alsace, 1648-1789, a richly documented study of early modern state formation, sovereignty, legitimacy, and comparative political culture in Alsace between the Peace of Westphalia and the French Revolution.

Marcella Winearls | marcellawinearls@gmail.com

Wes ’04 continues to share some great life events and activities. Check out what your classmates have been up to.

On the West Coast, Michael Aylward tells us: “Been a few years here, and thought I’d say hello! I’m still living in San Francisco, on a bit of a detour from my energy and climate work for the past couple years (working at a tech company with some lovely people)—still involved in energy and politics and still enjoy sharing guidance, information, and support to young Wes alumni interested in climate and politics.”

Close by, Mark Schindler is a product manager at Fountain, leading the development of a brand new app within the company. Mark loves the interdisciplinary and strategic aspects of being a PM, and always looks forward to visits to the Bay area. Earlier this year he ran into former lacrosse teammate Jason Scott at a Warriors game, and he enjoyed watching the men’s lacrosse team beat Middlebury when Coach Raba and the boys visited Baltimore.

Meanwhile, Jennifer Colker Hammond says, “I will be working as a college counselor at Berkeley High School in California. If anyone wants to make the Wesleyan connection, let me know!”

From Southern California, Stephanie Mandell says, “I moved to Burbank and welcomed a second daughter in January. I work as a business advisory consultant in Slalom’s Strategy & Operations group.”

Back on the East Coast, Brennan Carney says, “I’m living in Colchester, Vt., happily married for eight years. We have three children: Cooper, 6, Boden, 4, and Quinn, 2. I just retired as a varsity football coach in my 15th year, and will spend my time with children. I am a teacher at Burlington High School and my wife is a fourth-grade teacher in Colchester.”

Also in the Northeast, Ariel Pliskin is completing a master of social work at Westfield State University and teaching sex education to adolescents in western Massachusetts.

Alden Ferro had a very eventful fall. He started a new job in the Office of Public Affairs at Yale Law School. Two weeks later, he married Richard Luedeman in a ceremony at Edgerton Park in New Haven officiated by Judge Susan L. Carney. Joshua Kaye and Jonathan Lashley served as best men. Other WesGuests included Megan Ridley-Kaye ’05, Susan Manikas, Rebecca Solow, Dael Norwood, Michelle Paul, Liz Thaler ’05, David Haan ’06, and Nora Hanagan, who was there in spirit, and consulted on the playlist. Wes faculty Claudia Nascimento and Ron Ebrecht were also in attendance. Alden and Richard spent two weeks in Italy on their honeymoon before returning to the real world.

Rebecca Gundle shares some wonderful family news. “I gave birth to baby boy, Ezra Sigmund Porter, on March 22 with my partner Eric Porter. We now have two little ones under 2 as we became foster parents, and by the time you’re reading this, permanent guardians to my nephew, Tristan, who is 15 months old now. Our hands and hearts are very full!”

To keep the up with the great family updates: K.J. Iribe shares that she and husband Jim Woodsome ’06 had a baby in January, Madeleine Woodsome! “She’s pretty great. Jim and I think we’ll keep her.”

Also, with growing family updates, Rebecca Hall and Sam Fletcher have had an exciting few years. They had a daughter, Cora Hall Fletcher, in November 2015 and had a son, Wesley Hall Fletcher, on Thanksgiving Day. They couldn’t be more grateful for the life they have built in Old Greenwich, Conn. They both work in Stamford, Rebecca as a dermatologist and Sam as a copywriter. They enjoyed seeing classmates at the 15th Reunion.

Thanks for the great updates, ’04. Keep them coming! You can always submit, even between calls for entries.

Jenina Nuñez | jenina.nunez@outlook.com

Meeghan Whooley Ward | meeghan.w.ward@gmail.com

After 12 years in Vancouver, Canada, Steve Chasey relocated with his wife, Sarah, and two little ones Dorian, 6, and Naomi, 2, to Berkeley, Calif., to be closer to family and friends. Steve is practicing construction law with Varela, Lee, Metz, and Guarino, LLP in San Francisco, while not digging in the garden, playing with LEGOs, and generally having fun in the California sunshine.

Ben Rhatigan is switching to a creative agency called Brand Culture, after several years working in strategy consulting post-MBA. He’ll stay in Barcelona but will spend a few months at the company’s headquarters in Los Angeles, where he plans to reconnect with old Wes friends and where, coincidentally, he’ll be working with Columbine Goldsmith’s delightful younger sister Alice ’10.

Becky Ticotsky Roihl and her husband Dan Roihl are overjoyed to welcome their first child Gabriella May Roihl, born April 27. The Roihls live in a suburb of Boston, and Becky works as a college counselor at a private school.

Sarah Erlinder is an assistant federal public defender in Flagstaff, Ariz. She lives there with husband Charlie and sons Caleb, 4, and Zeke, 1.

Matt Kushner and Lauren Edgar Kushner (Brown ’04) are busy juggling careers and two children. Matt is freelancing around NYC as a 3D generalist, TD, and pipeline developer. You can catch his work on TV In Fear of the Walking Dead, Blindspot, and Power. Lauren helped create the VR experience in AMNH’s new T. rex: The Ultimate Predator exhibit. Daughters Mimi and Tessa are now 4 and 1.5, respectively, and are doing a great job of keeping their parents on their toes.

Laura Stein is living in New Orleans with her husband Chris Kaminstein ’04. She cofounded and directs a nonprofit arts organization, Dancing Grounds, and he cofounded and directs a nonprofit theater organization, Goat in the Road Productions, with artistic director, Shannon Flaherty ’06. Laura’s sister, Rachel Stein, and her husband, Matt Schwarzfeld ’03, moved to New Orleans with their daughter, Joni. Rachel is a research librarian at the Latin American Studies Library and Matt is a high school social studies teacher. It’s a Wesleyan family affair in New Orleans!

Amy Tannenbaum Gottlieb | atannenbaum@wesleyan.edu

Hello, Class of 2002! Not many updates came through this month so please feel free to e-mail me anytime of the year, not just when we solicit them through the class e-mail list. I would love to hear from more of you to include in the next issue! Onto the updates:

Caitlin Hardy lives in the New Jersey suburbs of Philadelphia with her husband, Jeff Raynor, and daughter Savannah. She finished her radiology fellowship in women’s imaging in June and joined a private practice in July.

Eric Donelan is leaving the U.S. Embassy in Budapest, Hungary, after three years, with the newest addition to his family—his daughter Freya. Eric and his wife, Danielle, along with their children Grant, Wyatt, and Freya—will be heading back to the U.S. for language training before traveling to La Paz, Bolivia, next June for a two-year assignment at an altitude over 11,000 feet.

Jesse Lava was named to the national 40 Under 40 in Public Health list, sponsored by the de Beaumont Foundation.

Julio and Mariela Rosario Pabón celebrated the first birthday of their second child Francesca Solar. Mariela is the editor-in-chief of HipLatina.com, the largest site for Latina Millennials in the U.S. Julio is the supervising creative producer for global cultures for Spotify.

Will Gardner and son Miles made a pit stop at the Usdan Center on their way to see Nat Katin-Borland, Amy Strekas ’03, Evan Katin-Borland ’06, and Pete Mongillo.

Domenick Acquista is a physician with International and Executive Medicine at Lenox Hill Hospital Northwell Health. He opened his own medical spa,  Behodi Aesthetics and Wellness, in Long Island City.

Kasia Newman Deuel made a quick visit to campus and enjoyed seeing the major landmarks of her youth with her family, including her son Emmett, 5, who enjoyed riding his scooter around “Mommy’s college.” She says that the “campus is looking great.” She is happily doing public policy work on marine conservation with The Pew Charitable Trusts, coming up on 10 years with the organization. She works from home in Beverly, Mass. She enjoys catching up with classmates when in D.C. or NYC and welcomes a chance to connect when folks come through Boston.

I’ve personally been enjoying the Netflix documentary series Remastered, created and produced by Michael Zimbalist. Each episode of the series is directed by a different filmmaker and “investigates high profile events affecting some of the most legendary names in music, presenting groundbreaking discoveries and insight.” My favorite episodes include one about the murder of Sam Cooke and another about the short, mysterious life of blues music pioneer Robert Johnson.

That’s it. Please send more updates my way. Thank you!

Justin Lacob | justinlacob@gmail.com

Hi, 2001. Thanks for sharing your updates. As always, it’s wonderful to hear what you’ve all got cookin’ in your post-Wes careers.

Ben Spatz lives in England with his two kids and is working on not one, but two more books.

Woody Fu’s web series, Asian American Studies, screened at the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. He’s also found time to play a lead part in the feature film, Lucky Grandma, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Louis Bronk shared that Bobby Nasson is getting married to his fiancée Anne this July. Bobby and Anne are living in Boston where Bobby works at More Than Words, a nonprofit social enterprise that empowers youth who are in the foster care system, court involved, homeless, or out of school, to take charge of their lives by taking charge of a business. Many fellow classmates are looking forward to the wedding this summer.

Lauren Bloom Hanover is living in Portland, Ore., with her husband and 4-year-old daughter Olivia. Lauren is working with a business consulting firm, moonlighting as an adjunct professor at Portland State in the theater department, and performing and producing when opportunities arise.

Ben Hurwitz and Manny Sharma escaped their bourgeois lives of Hollywooding and union lawyering and headed to the rugged, real world of Alaska over Memorial Day weekend to meet Reid Koch, newborn son of Josh Koch, the scientist. Dave Bihldorff was unfortunately not able to attend this annual reunion, as he was busy farming.

Lara Perez-Felkner lives on a farm in Tallahassee and works as a tenured associate professor in higher education and sociology at Florida State University. Laura researches college and career access for low-income students and underrepresented groups, including women in STEM fields. Laura adds that her older son is now obsessed with soccer, specifically Pelé, whom he now mostly believes truly spoke at our graduation. Laura rarely gets to see Wes folks, but welcomes visitors en route to Florida theme parks or beaches.

Tanya Ellman and wife Katherine Nickel welcomed the newest member to their family—Caya Nickellman born April 29. She joins big brother 3-year-old Emmett Nickellman to create what is now a family of four.

Thanks, everyone. Keep in touch!

Mara Voukydis | maravee@gmail.com

Aryn Sperando | arynsperandio@yahoo.com

Molly Bruce Barton highlights: “I raised $4.5 million in venture capital for my company, Serial Box. Announced a partnership with Marvel to release original stories based on Black Panther, Jessica Jones, Black Widow, and Thor. And my husband, Jack Turner, and I had a second child. My daughter, Sylvie Ray Violet Turner, was born Feb. 8.”

After completing another degree (in engineering), Shawn Green has entered the field of renewable energy, working as a solar energy consultant (representing Sunpower) for homeowners in Berkshire County, Mass.

Cindy Chen writes, “After spending most of my career in health care communications and STM publishing, I pivoted three years ago to work in technology and now I’m  a manager of the ITS project management office at Weill Cornell Medicine. In that role, I was first-author for two papers about clinical research informatics. Definitely not what I’d thought I’d publish back when I was an English major at Wes!”

Matthew Freeman says, “My wife Bethany Caruso ’03 and I welcomed our second child, Olin Wilder, last May. I’m a faculty member in the department of environmental health at Emory University in Atlanta, conducting research on water and sanitation access and enteric infection.”freemanreserachgroup.org

Anna Holland Edwards updates, “Erica Grossman and I just won a case in the 10th Circuit related to police brutality. We are law partners in Colorado and do civil rights litigation. We still have to go to trial and see what happens, and they could ask the Supreme Court to reverse, but this is such a hard area of law to get good law made in these days that I thought we’d share!”

Diana Chuke writes, “Miracle In The Green has finally launched a beauty line. These products change lives, as we strive to empower women across the globe. We offer grants that sustain women-owned businesses. We also give scholarships toward education for less priviledged children. Support us at miracleinthegreen.com.”

Susan Sakash writes, “I’m celebrating six years of living in New Orleans and five of being married to Casey Coleman. We are truly in the land of Wesleyan with friends who span the graduating classes of 1992-2012. Dana Hale and I celebrated our 40th birthdays last September with our families and a bunch of friends including Jason Schwartz, Melissa Stevens and Rob Debbane, Chloe Garcia Roberts, and Mara Voukydis ’01 on beautiful land and a swan-infested pond in Little Compton, R.I. In addition to being deep in the throes of raising 2.5-year-old Levon Alan Danger Kashman, I’m still playing brass music and am in three or four bands, depending on the season, here in New Orleans. I’m about to start The Next Economy MBA, a program designed to help entrepreneurs and consultants learn business fundamentals from a regenerative economy approach.”

Paley Dreier is the president of Type Network. Previously, he served as the general manager of Type Network for two years and of Webtype for six years. In his new role, he will manage all aspects of the business, focusing on content strategy, enterprise and multinational licenses, and custom design projects on behalf of the foundry partners.

A.J. De Ases Hernandez Anderson is living in Miami with her husband Mauricio. Daughter Sienna just finished kindergarten and son Ronin just turned 2. A.J. left her commercial litigation and employment law practice of nine years to join the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Immigrant Justice Project as a senior staff attorney. A.J. is working on impact litigation cases regarding immigration enforcement and immigrants’ rights in the south with a focus on Florida issues.

Scott Fairchild was named the executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. He will be leading the work to get Democrats a senate majority in the 2020 elections.

Stephanie Eddy Popescu writes from the Upper West Side, where she lives with her husband, Tudor, and two daughters. Clara is 7 and in second grade at PS 333. Natalie is 4, taking pre-K by storm. “I’m thrilled to have joined Glossier as director of programs last summer, and am immensely proud to be part of this innovative beauty company.”

Jenessa Joffe writes, “I’m living in Los Angeles directing films and video content. Last year I directed a comedy and social activism web series called Radical Cram School for comedian Kristina Wong. The series is on YouTube and distributed by women’s comedy platform, WhoHaHa. We successfully crowdfunded for a second season which we are making this year. I’m also collaborating with Amanda Palmer ’98 on a documentary that ties in with her current album. In December, I got married to a wonderful guy named Jim who happens to have grown up right near Wesleyan.”

Avery Esdaile | wesleyan2000@gmail.com

Huge thanks to Kate Whitman Annis, Morley Cleary, Shashi Kumarashekhara, Hong Qu, Bozoma Saint John, Ellen Sluder, Jose Stevenson, Lauren Tobias, and Frantz Williams for serving on the committee that organized our 20th Reunion! The committee reported that “it was a big weekend for our class. Not only did many of our classmates participate on WESeminar panels (including Jessica Sanders and Carl Robichaud) but two of our classmates, Tommy Kail and Bozoma Saint John, received Distinguished Alumni Awards recognizing stellar achievements in their professions. After a welcome reception for the class on Friday night in the former Davenport Campus Center—which is no longer permeated by the smell of Otis Spunkmeyer cookies—the celebration continued at Eclectic into the wee hours.

“Saturday brought gorgeous weather for relaxing on Foss Hill, where many of us caught up with each other and our families. Saturday night was our class dinner, held on the President’s lawn. Shashi Kumarashekhara and Monisha Nariani served as our emcees, with guest appearances by Frantz Williams, Barbara-Jan Wilson, President Michael Roth ’78, and a very drunk alumnus from the Class of 2014. Ellen Sluder received a Wesleyan Service Award and did her best to document the night for the class Facebook page, where you can see video and pics: facebook.com/groups/Wes99. After good food, great conversation, and excellent music curated by Bryan Skowera, those who still had energy headed to the big tent and danced until the party shut down at 1 a.m. (not bad for a bunch of 40-somethings!). Sunday offered recovery-brunch food and a chance to say final hellos and farewells, as we all promised to do it again in five years’ time.”

Leila Buck had a great time connecting with classmates at Reunion, and was proud of ’99 closing down the dance party! She is performing in America Dreams, an interactive theatrical event that invites audiences into a game show run by the U.S. government where you decide who will be our newest citizen. The show is booking its Red State/Swing State 2020 Tour, designed to engage communities around the country in exploring whom we trust, what we fear, and what we really believe it means to be(come) U.S. citizens. If you live in a red or swing state and want to bring them to your community, contact info@americandreamsplay.com.

Eli Beckerman has launched a cross-partisan organization to open up the political debates—and political system—of our nation to new ideas, fresh voices, and better choices. Open the Debates is working with the Mediators Foundation and the National Association of Nonpartisan Reformers to elevate and transform our political discourse. He would love to hear from others interested in political reform. He’s also the tired and proud papa of a rambunctious toddler, Maya.

In June, Jada Shapiro married her dear Wesleyan friend and next-door neighbor in Butt C, Dan Ryan. Dan and Jada have been blending their families for a few years and are now the parents and stepparents of four girls, ages 9-13. She just launched her second company, boober (getboober.com) where expectant and new parents can find all their #pregnancytopostpartum care (think lactation consultants, doulas, pelvic floor therapists, mental health therapists, pre/postnatal massage, and more). Boober grew out of Birth Day Presence, launched in 2002, which provides childbirth classes to expectant parents in NYC. They live in Brooklyn, where every day is a Wesleyan reunion (there are three Wes couples alone on their block).

Although Michael Hakim’s family of five-going-on-six and their nanny were forced to evacuate their home in Malibu, Calif., due to the Woolsey wildfire, they are so appreciative and reminded of what life is all about—health, friends, and family. Michael writes, “Life changes rapidly and we are thankful. We’re balancing creativity and investments and wearing multiple hats in an ever-changing world. We’re living life in the moment and never looking back!” Glad that you and your family are safe, Michael!

Chad Bartell loves steel drums and the musical Hamilton. He first heard steel drums at a party during our first-year orientation at Wes and it changed his life. During his time at Wes, he met Bill Sherman ’02 (producer of the original Broadway cast recording of Hamilton) and Tommy Kail. Check out the Wes alumni Facebook page to see a video of Chad’s band Panchromatic Steel performing his arrangement of “Wait for It” from Hamilton.

Finally, Jeffrey Blumenthal submitted the shortest update, “I got married, as promised.” He married Amelia Letvin, a geothermal geologist from Michigan. Congrats, Jeff!

Kevin and I were bummed that we weren’t able to attend Reunion, but we hope to see you at our 25th. In the meantime, be good, be safe, and be in touch!

C. Darryl Uy | darryl.uy@gmail.com

Kevin Kumler | kevinkumler@gmail.com

Arshad Chowdhury moved to Hong Kong last August after 20 years in Brooklyn. Asia, where travel is easy and the weather is balmy, has been great so far. He’s investing in early-stage companies throughout the region and, wow, there’s a lot going on. He’s not sure Asia is the best place to be to endure the eco-collapse, though, so they’ll probably return to the States within a few years.

Tom Cleary and his brother have started a new technology dental benefits company, Cirrus Dental, that allows dental offices to offer a subscription dental service at a fraction of the cost of traditional insurance. He and his wife, Morley Silver Cleary ’99, are working on bringing their three children to all 50 states before they apply to Wesleyan (34 down).

Patricia Selcke Grad finally caught up with her good friend Grace Wang Colman ’99 in Princeton, N.J. They hope to get together again in Pawling, N.Y. She reports no major changes since the 20th Reunion last year. She enjoys being a mom, lives on the Upper West Side, and works at Arsenal Capital Partners, a private equity fund. She is in her third year as chair of the board of AMIGOS (amigosinternational.org), a nonprofit organization providing summer immersion and gap programs in Latin America.

Josh Rosenblatt published a book, Why We Fight: One Man’s Search for Meaning Inside the Ring, a memoir about his transition from self-proclaimed pacifist to trained mixed-martial-arts fighter.

It is with deep sadness that we report the passing of James Kamm ’92, president of Alpha Delt and Wesleyan employee for 10 years. Jim was previously married to Ellen Struzziero. He leaves two beautiful daughters, Eliza, 13, and Scarlett, 11, residents of Farmington, Conn., and both alumni of the Neighborhood Preschool at Wesleyan. The girls have beautiful memories of the times they spent with their father at Wesleyan.

As for me (Abby), I’ve been following in my grandfather’s stellar tradition, traveling around Alaska in my 1983 VW Westfalia on weekends in between working as a nurse with Alaska Native moms and babies, and getting to have other amazing Alaskan adventures, such as five days helping at a checkpoint for the 2019 Iditarod. And hoping to hear from many more of you as we head into Reunion!

Jason Becton | jason@mariebette.com

Abby Elbow | aelbow@gmail.com

Hope 2019 has been good to you and your loved ones . . . we appreciate the updates! The class of ’97 has at least two books coming out, so be on the lookout for them.

Lauren Porosoff and her co-author husband have a new book coming out in August called Two-for-One Teaching: Connecting Instruction to Student Values. Their book is an approach to instructional design to incorporate social-emotional learning into every stage of an academic unit. Looking forward to reading it. Congratulations, Lauren!

Larisa Ortiz has been on a speaking tour promoting her book Ecology of Place. She shared the stage with Colorado governor, and now presidential candidate, John Hickenlooper ’74! They chatted backstage about their Wes connection, which is always fun. Larisa always tries to connect with Dara Katz in D.C. and really enjoys keeping up with everyone’s lives on Facebook. “Keep the good news flowing everyone! In this day and age, we all need it.” Larisa lives in Jackson Heights, Queens, with her 9-year-old son, Xavier. After 11 years as a small business owner, she just sold her consulting practice to a D.C. firm called Streetsense and will now co-lead their Research and Analytics Studio, as well as their New York office. Great news, Larisa!

Wendy Paget Henderson is the child welfare director for the State of Wisconsin. She lives in Madison with her husband and spunky daughter and spends all her free time outside and traveling. Keep up the good work—wow!

Aileen Nagle McDonough is busy running her company, 3am Writers, in Rhode Island, and often travels to NYC for business if any Wes friends would like to connect. She was excited to watch Wesleyan win the DIII national lacrosse championship at Gillette Stadium and visited Wes campus to take her son, Shane, to a lacrosse prospect day. (Now, if that doesn’t make us feel old!)We all got super teary-eyed at the idea of taking our kids to see Wesleyan as an amazing prospective college. Keep the updates coming! We love to hear from you.

Jessica Shea Lehmann | jessica.lehmann@gmail.com

Sasha Lewis Reisen | alewisreisen@gmail.com

Happy June to all the ’96ers out there. I am writing these notes from Buenos Aires, Argentina—it’s my fourth time—magical city. Salute to Jason Rosado for giving me the skinny on the city of Buenos Aires a few years ago as I traveled to Argentina for the first time. Gracias, maestro.

Tom Constabile moved to New Rochelle and is vice president of business development, North American, for DAZN, a sports streaming service. He joined the BRC Leadership council with Miguel Guadalupe ’98. He still plays hoops and his 1-year-old son Tommy Jr. just graduated from preschool. Que cute!

Stacey Samuel is NPR’s supervising editor. She was nominated to participate in the U.S. Army War College’s National Security Seminar as one of the few civilians to attend, where she met with leading foreign policy thinkers, military commanders, and former U.S. top intelligence director James R. Clapper. Stacey is a longtime member of the National Association of the Black Journalists and she is the D.C. chapter leader for the German journalist exchange, Radio in the American Sector.

Christianne Renke, after completing culinary school, is opening a restaurant in Miami where she and her husband are developing a commercial waterfront property for boat enthusiasts and foodies.

Lauren Elmore earned a doctorate from Harvard Graduate School of Education. She is now the director of academic administration of the MFA theater program at Columbia University. She is resident of Inwood, a great neighborhood in Uptown Manhattan.

Angela Tucker is a filmmaker in New Orleans. Her latest short documentary, All Skinfolk Ain’t Kinfolk, got a lot of buzz.

Kristen Greenidge is a successful playwright living in Boston and teaching at Boston University.

Freddy Rolon is a vice president and general manager of ESPN Deportes overseeing all aspects of the ESPN Deportes business.

Shereem Brown will celebrate 20 years of marriage to his wife, Keri, in December. His son attends Georgetown Prep, where Dacque Tirado is a teacher and administrator.

Javaid Khan, whom I saw in December in Nashville at the NAIS/POCC conference is leaving his alma mater—the Bank Street School—and going to Horace Mann, where he will head the middle division. He is tapping into Wes talent base for his assembly speakers—Jose DeJesus ’97, the new head of Lake Forest Academy in Chicago, Stacey Samuel at NPR, and filmmaker Ben Selkow. He saw Shola Olatoye and Donaldine Temple ’95 at Alvin Ailey in New York and saw Kali Harrison ’97 out in California.

Daniela Bell ’96, MA’98 spent the last year living in Oaxaca de Juárez, Oaxaca, Mexico. She said it was an unbelievably amazing year. Her daughter, 10, has spent the school year at a local school, so now naturally she speaks Spanish better than her mother. They will head back to St. Paul, Minn., in July and will begin the work that goes into opening her husband Eric’s new restaurant.

Alissa Deitz sends greetings from Austin. She has been there for 10 years now. Although she does not know any Wes folks there, she still stays in touch with her roommates from frosh year: Jake Ward, Koyalee Chanda, Kate Baker, and Mara Kailin. They are hoping to rendezvous at the 25th Reunion. She is a tutor for children diagnosed with dyslexia. She read Ben Foss’s [’95] book, The Dyslexia Empowerment Plan, on the subject and it was immensely helpful.

Leigh Needleman and Andrew Frishman ’97 along with their two kids met up with Daniela Bell’s family in Oaxaca for a wonderful week of exploration and discovery. Steve Uydess and Leigh got to hang out for a few stinky days running a Ragnar relay in Oregon. Steve is a secondary school teacher at Highline School in Seattle where he lives with his wife, Gaby, and three kiddos. Leigh works at Harvard as a building designer. is now the sole scientist on the design team for a new building in Harvard’s new frontier in Allston.

Sara Kirchhoff Evans and Colby Evans are living in Edinburgh with their three children. They are having a great time exploring Scotland together and will return to Austin later this year.

Rallie Snowden adopted a baby boy last summer. Miguel will turn 1 in July and he is very loved by big sister Porter.

Big ups to Pritha Mittal’s election to Wesleyan’s Board of Trustees—so our class knows we have a voice. She is so excited to hear from anyone and everyone!

Michael Brotchner, Seattle resident, was hired by YouthBuild USA as its chief strategy officer, where he will be responsible for implementing the organization’s new five-year strategic plan and overseeing the nonprofit’s fundraising efforts.

Kem Poston ’97 is celebrating a productive second year as a LA transplant. He is enjoying his work producing unscripted docuseries and documentaries.

Dara Federman | darasf@yahoo.com 

Dacque Tirado | dacquetirado@yahoo.com