Class Notes | 2010s

Last year Zach Schonfeld became the first writer in the 86-year history of Newsweek to submit an expense report for an ASMR therapy session. This year he got laid off by Newsweek and spent the past five months working as a full-time freelance writer. He is working on his first book, which will be published by 33 1/3 Series in about two years.

Ben Smith shoots courtroom documentaries to assist juries that assess monetary damages for plaintiffs with life-changing afflictions. On a lighter note, he is completing his project, Bump in the Night, a horror film with a musical twist. He writes and directs as many projects as he can in Chicago.

Sydney Lowe is associate producer on the A24 and Plan B feature film The Last Black Man in San Francisco that debuted at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. The film is winner of both the 2019 Sundance Special Grand Jury prizes for Best Director and Creative Collaboration. She is also a 2019 Film Independent Project Involve Fellow and a fellow for the inaugural Times Up Who’s In The Room mentorship program. Sydney lives in Los Angeles, but is forever a New Yorker at heart.

After years of moving around, Gabriela De Golia is headed to NYC late August to pursue a master of divinity at Columbia University’s Union Theological Seminary. Hit her up if you live there!

Anna Swartz lives in Brooklyn with her wife, Netta, and their tiny, very spirited dog Laney. She started a new role as an insurance editor on the content team at Policygenius. Any Wes grads interested in writing for an insurance tech startup should get in touch.

Laura Yim | Lyim@wesleyan.edu 

AhDream Smith wrote, “I was accepted into the Class of 2022 for the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill’s MFA acting program in conjunction with the Playmaker’s Theater Company. I will be heading there in the fall and am excited about this next chapter.”

Gemma Doll-Grossman completed her MFA in cinematography from the American Film Institute Conservatory. She lives in Los Angeles, working as a cinematographer.

Harry James Hanson is producing, directing, and styling photo/video shoots in Brooklyn. This spring, his photo series Legends of San Francisco, featuring drag elders, was published on Vogue.com.

Tasmiha Khan wrote, “I just completed my master’s in social impact and looking forward to next steps as a coach in the nonprofit sector and corporate world while taking on a new interest in writing.”

Han Hsien Liew received his PhD in history and Middle Eastern studies from Harvard University. He will be joining the Minerva Schools at Keck Graduate Institute as an assistant professor of arts and humanities this fall.

Nate Mondschein is doing production and recording work with artists Spencer  Hattendorf and Josh Smith. He produced the debut album Young and In Debt for his band Old Flame, released in May. He recorded the album with Andrew Oedel at Ghost Hit Recording and in his own studio, Echo Base. It was mastered by Andy Casella of Shape Recording. This fall, he’s releasing his debut self-produced solo album . . . And The Sky under the artist name Best Mann, also recorded at Echo Base and Ghost Hit and mixed by Andrew.

Matthew Figueroa is pursuing a poetry and spoken word career more seriously. He’s been featured at different NYC events and artist showcases. He piloted a creative writing poetry workshop which highlighted the therapeutic benefits of artistic expression as mental health. It was done at a couple middle schools and he’d like to get more on board this fall.

He also published his first poetry book Adolescence. His book “focuses on the anxiety and depression I struggled with in high school,” he explained. “I wanted people to know that they aren’t alone in the problems they face; that none of us need to strive for ‘perfection.’ And, most importantly, that healing becomes possible once you accept and talk about your demons. It’s a domino impact that empowers others, while silence only feeds self-destructive beliefs.”

2019 marked the tenth anniversary of David Wei, Noah Feingold, Peter Frank, Julian Silver, Phil Hall-Partyka, Kevin Walters, Jeremy Koegel, and Adam Ilowite’s first Warfish games, with Kevin introducing much of the eight to the website freshman year at Wesleyan. The group has played 300-plus games of Warfish almost nonstop and has met for tournaments in places like New York City and Cape Cod. As the eight have spread out around the country, Warfish has evolved to become an important way for the group to stay connected and acts as a welcome respite during the day-to-day.

Daisey Perez | deperez@wesleyan.edu

Class of 2011, in very sad news, Sam Silver ’08 writes, “I am deeply saddened to share with you the news of Zachary Rosen’s passing on May 18. Zack suffered in his last several years from schizophrenia, which ultimately took his life. He will be remembered by many as a brilliant musician (playing bass in seemingly every campus band), a powerful thinker, and a singularly generous friend. A memorial for Zack will be held on Sunday, Sept. 8 at 2:30 p.m. at Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn; members of the Wesleyan community who wish to stay informed may contact Zack’s father, Bob Rosen at brosen@kqandr.com, with the subject ‘Zachary Rosen Memorial.’”

Cheryl Tan, in Singapore, is acting, teaching voice, and striving to be slightly less confused about adulthood. She’s procrastinating on some grant applications right now. She just finished a play called Displaced Persons’ Welcome Dinner for the Singapore International Festival of the Arts. It was about humanitarian aid workers and it was a serious wringer. She’s booked up for the rest of the year, which is pretty great, and has gotten into plants. She scored an Australian agent and wants to get more training, maybe in France. She had a dream about Wesleyan yesterday and it made her sad upon waking. Insta @cherylchittytan.

Corinne Duffy and husband Daniel Levine and Shipra Panicker, Jamie Thabault, Juliet Nebolon, and Chris Michael gathered to celebrate the wedding of Amanda Baker in New Orleans. They enjoyed a second line dance, creole barbecue, New Orleans culture, and 90-degree temperatures. They look forward to celebrating the marriage of Juliet and Chris later this summer!

Maryann Platt reports, “I got my PhD in neuroscience from Columbia in May!” Jared Gimbel writes, “I’m living in Brooklyn and presented at the Polyglot Gathering in Bratislava about the Kiribati and Niuean languages.”

Congratulations to Julia Heffelfinger and Rick Maynard who are getting married next month in Rhode Island. Julia reports, “There will be a big Wes crew at our wedding!”

Matthew Narkaus writes, “James He, Tommie Lark ’12, and I started a sustainable hemp clothing brand back at Wesleyan. Since graduation, we’ve made leaps and bounds in the hemp space and consider ourselves a frontrunner in hemp apparel today. Our vision has come to fruition in the past year with the passing of the Farm Bill, making it legal to grow hemp in all 50 states. In addition, we were able to secure a strategic investment from former NFL legend and cannabis activist Ricky Williams. Check out our website, superegoworld.com.”

Last but not least, make sure to check out Wesleyan Journey (wesleyan.edu/wesleyanjourney) for a great update on Jessica Chukwu.

As always, thanks for the updates. I always enjoy hearing from everyone. Keep them coming!

Allie Southam | asoutham@wesleyan.edu

Greetings, Class of 2010! Here are a few updates from our classmates around the world:

First, tons of marriage news! Last August, Sean Foley married Liz Collins and received a master’s degree from St. John’s College in Annapolis.

Ben Smolen married Carolyn Cohen ’12 on April 27 in a ceremony at Cielo Farms in Malibu, Calif. Siddhartha Aneja served as Ben’s best man and delivered an outstanding speech. Simon Reinhardt also took part in the ceremony as an usher.

Elizabeth Larner married Bryan Leonard in a beautiful outdoor ceremony in Lancaster, S.C., on May 18. Liz’s former “Haus”-mate Gwynne Hunter was a bridesmaid, and Elizabeth’s brother, Aaron Larner ’08, was a groomsman.

Sam Schilit ’10, MA’11 graduated from Harvard Medical School with a PhD in genetics and genomics in March. Three weeks later, she married Jeremy Rosenweig and celebrated with David Baranger, Franni Paley, Emily Hoffman, Emily Sheehan, Chris Ceccolini ’11, Jordan Gratch ’13, Bill Kaplan ’09, Annina DeLeo ’09, Joshua Parks ’09, Becky Eidelman ’11, Todd Rosenthal, Kelsey Tyssowski ’11, and Ian Coss ’11.

Jiun Kimm is marrying her soulmate in this summer. She met her soon-to-be husband randomly at a bar in Koreatown three years ago. Emily Johnston, Eric Daniels, and Simone Jennings will be walking down the aisle with her as part of her bridal party. Jiun started a new job as Squarespace’s diversity and inclusion lead. She is working on designing and leading the company’s first retreat for Employee Resource Group (ERG) Co-Chairs. She will be joined at the retreat by Squarespace colleagues Julian Applebaum ’13 and Maimouna Siby ’16.

Lucas Hidalgo contributes: “I moved from NYC last summer and am now living in Austin with my fiancé.” Lucas is working in operations for a charter school and progressing towards a career as a school administrator.

Melina Aguilar is back in Ponce, Puerto Rico, and has founded her own social enterprise on cultural tourism named Isla Caribe. Their goal is to create jobs in the southern part of the island and expose the rich culture and history of Puerto Rico. Melina has gotten many visits from classmates, and suggests that if you want a break, visit the south of Puerto Rico.

Luke Pang reports: “Some of us in Asia are unable to attend the Wes Reunion next May so we are planning to organize a reunion in Tokyo at the end of May 2020. Any alumni who are interested in joining the fun, please contact me (lukepkf@gmail.com), Keisuke Yamashita (yamasubmarine@gmail.com), or Ginger Tangpianpant (patana.tangpianpant@gmail.com).

Eugenie Carabatsos and Nick Miller ’09 welcomed future Cardinal Josephine Carabatsos Miller (’37) on March 21.

Finally, yours truly will be moving to D.C. this summer for a third tour with the Navy JAG Corps, this time in their appellate review division. Here’s hoping there are still some 2010 Cardinals floating around the District. I would like to find some happy hour company.

Thank you to everyone who submitted inputs for this column (even you, Tim Archibald, though your poem did not make the cut due to some dicey copyright concerns). As always, feel free to pass along your life updates anytime to me.

David Layne | dlayne@wesleyan.edu

Parents Class of 2018 Wesleyan Scholarship
Caroline Pitton ’22, Seattle, WA
Owen Shin ’22, New Canaan, CT

Hello, Class of 2018! How has it already been eight months since graduation?! I don’t know about you, but I would kill for a pail right about now. Anyway, time for some updates!

Steven Kidder is in New Hampshire working with the ACLU. He will be working on their 2020 campaign focused around the idea of getting people to vote like their civil rights depend on it. One goal is getting presidential hopefuls and local politicians to address where they stand on civil liberties.

Meanwhile, in D.C., Matt Renetzky and Hannah Skopicki are finishing their first year of law school at the American University Washington College of Law. When the government is not shut down, they enjoy visiting the National Mall, watching Supreme Court arguments, and “learning how to get away with murder.”

Steven Chen works for Smitten Ice Cream in San Francisco as the innovation and new product manager. Smitten is a Californian ice cream brand known for churning fresh ice cream using their patented Brrr machines. He manages ingredient sourcing, supply chain, and new product launches for eight locations. He works with local farms, family-owned businesses, and craft food purveyors to find exceptional and ethically-sourced new ingredients to feature and amazing stories to tell when new products launch.

That’s it for now, but make sure to write in next time for a feature!

Najwa Anasse | nanasse@wesleyan.edu
Garett Larivee | glarivee@wesleyan.edu

Micaela Kaye was chosen by the Knowles Teacher Initiative as a member of its 2018 Cohort of Teaching Fellows. The Knowles Teaching Fellowship is an intensive and cohesive five-year program that supports early-career, high school mathematics and science teachers in their efforts to develop teaching expertise and lead from the classroom.

Ellen Paik left her job in investment banking and joined New Story, a San Francisco nonprofit that aims to pioneer solutions to address global homelessness. New Story helped develop a 3D printer that can print homes in less than 24 hours and will hopefully be putting this technology to use soon!

Tim Israel lives in Portland, Ore., and started exploring a newfound passion for karaoke. Reach out to Tim with any great go-to karaoke songs.

Chris “Gla” Glabicky is alive and well. Gla is working with Pierre Plantevin, Dara Mysliwiec, Theodore Eugene Sullivan, G. Foley, and Nicole Roman-Johnston on another full-length album. Stay in touch through pdgworld.net.

Abby Gruppuso is opening a liquor distillery in Patchogue, N.Y., The Better Man Distilling Co., with Peter Cornillie ’15. Doors open this summer!

Mike Greenwald is starting another year at the Westminster School in Simsbury, Conn., teaching math (calculus and algebra) and coaching lacrosse and basketball, and is planning to attend a graduate program at the Bread Loaf School of English up at Middlebury this summer. Mike is still running marathons and did a trail running vacation to New Zealand. Mike’s next big race will be the Burlington Vermont City Marathon in May, and the weekend after that he will be running the Covered Bridges Half Marathon with Liz Weinstein, Jordan Sapnar, and Greg Goldstone.

Tabitha Gillombardo is in Cleveland and totally stoked about the Browns. She is the John Lewis Fellow and paralegal at The Chandra Law Firm—a civil rights and constitutional rights law firm. She is learning every day from the firm’s high-stakes litigators, who—with co-counsel—secured the largest settlement in Cleveland history on behalf of Tamir Rice’s family.

Ellen Paik | epaik@wesleyan.edu

Peter George has been living in Sydney, Australia, for the past two years and can confirm people do not ride kangaroos to work.

Jimmy Nguyen and Marianna Ilagan moved back to San Francisco last August. They are happy to have finally escaped the snow. Marianna regularly grabs lunch with Marie Valdez and coffee with Erik Islo.

Last summer, Scarlett Perry made a career switch and attended Flatiron School’s software engineering immersive program. She will be starting her first role as a software engineer at an NYC AdTech company in January. She looks forward to connecting with other Wes grads in the field!

Sarah Gerton’s second young adult novel under the pen name Sara Holland, Evermore (the sequel to last year’s Everless), was released on Dec. 31 and appeared at number eight on the New York Times bestsellers list.

Andrew Hove has been in Los Angeles working in music as an artist manager and with a music/tech company. On his down time, he’s either seeing local music or helping Brett Keating get a date with Demi Lovato.

Eva Frieden is enjoying life in San Francisco where she works at Airbnb and trains for triathlons in her spare time; outside of that she keeps busy either getting together with local Wes alumni or convincing far away Wes friends to come visit!

Jon Coombs and Dana Louie live together in Boston. They plan to move across the Charles River to Cambridge when Dana starts at Harvard Business School later this year.

John Pacheco and Tawni Stoop will be getting married this May! She’s on her second year of a clinical psychology PhD program at Penn State University in State College, Pa., and he’s in his first year of medical school at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine in Scranton, Pa. They’re working hard, living apart when they have to, and still missing their classmates and fun times at Wes every day.

Rebecca Wyzan lives in Brooklyn. She works in talent management at Untitled Entertainment, which represents actors, writers, musicians, artists, and directors. She also produces film and VR projects on the side.

Ming Zhu has been working at San Mateo, Calif.-based Crop One Holdings, Inc.—one of the world’s largest vertical farming companies in the world—and will be moving to Dubai. He’ll be there representing his U.S. parent company as their regional development manager, working with Emirates Airlines with whom they are building the world’s largest vertical farm. Ming would love to connect with any alumni there. If anyone knows any interesting endeavors (both companies and investors) in areas such as sustainability, indoor farming, vertical farming, digital agriculture, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and big data and sensor application in food/ag, please let him know and he’d love to learn more about them and explore together.

Scattered all over the world since graduation, the 146 Cross Street crew, Adin Vaewsorn, Dylan Awalt-Conley, Matt Burgunder, Dat Tien Vu, Erin Chase, Pierre Gerard ’16, and Michael Leung managed to navigate through time zone differences and reunited over video during Christmas.

Jenna Starr | jstarr@wesleyan.edu

Amy Lindland reports: “I’ll hit my five-year anniversary with Indeed.com in June and am a director of sales on our national franchise accounts team. I am also getting married in September. So much to look forward to this year!”

Leah Khambata graduated from Cornell University with an MBA in May and is now in the post-production phase of her short film, (t)here, which she wrote, produced, and acted in while in NYC. She is in LA now working at

ShortsTV while also acting, with hopes to eventually have her own production company that bridges the gap between Hollywood and Bollywood.

Leslie Lai is finishing up her PhD. in psychology at Brown University this spring. Meanwhile, she and her husband are expecting their first child!

Remi Ojurongbe is graduating from Harvard Law School in May and Alexander Mehner is graduating from American Law School in May, too. They are getting married (to each other) in November. Mazel tov!

Andrew Cohen launched a small animation company, Confidential Cartoons, in Los Angeles, alongside his work as a publicist for composers, cinematographers, and production designers in TV and film.

Russell Madison has been applying his analytical skills as a data scientist for Foundation Medicine in Cambridge but will be moving to San Diego this summer to pursue his lifelong dream of having unfettered access to fish tacos and learning to surf. He eagerly anticipates telling people in his new home that if the weather isn’t nice, they just need to wait five minutes.

Alex Nunez has been working for EA Games in NYC, maximizing brand value by slinging partnership deals and playing FIFA at his desk.

After stints in banking in Cleveland and Denver, Troy Sampson migrated west to Los Angeles, where he’s been running the West Coast operations of a customs broker and supply chain shop. He “singlehandedly keeps Bottega Louie in business.”

Dylan Keegan will graduate in May from Vanderbilt with a JD and master’s in finance. He will join the firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison as an associate after graduation, where the demands of being a corporate lawyer will be challenged by his commitment as the commissioner of one of the “most active fantasy football leagues in North America.”

Patrick Newman is working at Mosaic Media Group in Los Angeles, representing and managing talent.

After working at IBM Watson alongside faithful henchman and close friend, Blair Corbin ’15, Chase Hochman left for greener pastures at Hoboken-based AI startup Innoplexus. When he’s not slinging SaaS or playing squash with Alex Nunez, he “spends his days debating which CAVA server gives the most generous portion sizes with roommate Jackson Ulrich.”

As for me, I am in my second year of law school at Fordham University School of Law (still reppin’ the red and black everywhere I go). I am hoping to become a litigator in the area of white collar/securities.

See you all in May. Let’s make our five-year a good one!

Mary Diaz | mcdiaz@wesleyan.edu 

Happy 2019 to the Class of 2012! Last year was an exciting one for many of our Hilltop friends.

Lizzie Simon is in her second year of study toward becoming a family nurse practitioner. She can usually be found playing Ultimate or doing acroyoga, thanks to Wesleyan. She is grateful to be enjoying Seattle with Jennelle Taylor ’15 and Bryce Fintel ’16.

Alyssa Lanz, in LA, a television literary agent at United Talent Agency where she has been since graduation, was featured on Forbes’ 30 Under 30.

Andrew Dominguez has been shuttling between LA and his hometown in the Philippines for the better part of two years. In LA, he is involved with the local alumni community and helps them support Wesleyan and NESCAC events in the city. In Manila, he organized a gathering for alumni of small liberal arts colleges; there were 20 attendees, half of whom hailed from Wesleyan, with a trio from Williams, and individuals from other peer schools. There is enthusiasm for similar events in the future. Andrew is aiming to build a network of support in LA for Raghu Appasani’s MINDS Foundation. Andrew is active in the alumni filmmaking community in LA, too.

Tess Minter graduated with her MBA from the University of San Francisco in May and started a job with Gartner as a management consultant in state and local government with a focus on homelessness response departments. Tess and her partner bought a condo in Oakland and are expecting to get engaged in the next few months.

Along to more wedding bell news: Hillary Biggs and Grant Covington were married in September, and their wedding had lots from the Wes crowd!

As for me, I am still at Bridgewater Associates and am planning my own wedding for May. Wishing the entire Class of 2012 continued success.

Daisey Perez | deperez@wesleyan.edu

Hi, Class of 2011. Always great to hear everyone’s updates!

Nick Luby, who double majored in music and philosophy, writes, “Over the last two years I founded and now codirect The Concert Truck, a mobile concert hall that delivers performances of classical music to diverse and unexpected locations. My partner and I have brought music to schools, parking lots, street corners, city squares, restaurants and bars, parks, zoos, homeless shelters, children’s homes, farmers markets, and scenic landscapes.

• Voice of America / NewsGram video 1
• Voice of America story and video 2

From Cheryl Tan, “Not broke, still in Singapore! Learning more about money, starting to work with an Australian agent, shortlisted for the Women of the Future Award (SEA). Won Best Libretto at a short musical festival in KL. The story was about sperms! Have visa in SG (whew). Web series, Derek, is out on Toggle.sg this Valentine’s Day and currently rehearsing a new play about humanitarian workers. It’s intense and really good. Also have regular singing students now and doing grant writing work. Thinking about getting more acting training, maybe in Europe.”

Bulaong Ramiz is a director of the multicultural resource center at Amherst College. She had her first baby this past August, Kimaya, who has already spent some time visiting mama’s alma mater.

Brendan “Shem” Sheehan was in Chicago for the annual Russian baths meetup where he tubbed, sauna’d, and kvassed it up with Charlie Lang, Matt Katz, and Justin Spring ’10.

Kim Prosise is living in Cambridge, Mass., near Davis Square. In 2018 she founded an entertainment company that provides circus and specialty performance art (@goldarrowllc), explored Costa Rica, Nebraska, and Bermuda, and made frequent trips to NYC to visit Gabriel Urbina ’13, Zach Valenti ’12, Ariella Axelbank ’14, and friends.

Timur Khanachet is a fellow at the American Film Institute and will be graduating in 2020.

Mat Larkin writes, “I majored in studio art, and I own a highest-end metal shop in Providence, R.I., called Nine and Two Thirds, specializing in fine art fabrication, architectural metalwork for homes, restaurants, and offices, and custom furniture. We were awarded the DESIGNXRI Design Catalyst Grant to purchase a large CNC milling machine, which is very exciting. We typically work with architects, interior designers, and our own design and engineering acumen to engineer and fabricate custom, large-scale pieces. We have two ongoing public art projects that will be seen on Boston’s Rose Kennedy Greenway this May, as well as myriad residential and commercial projects.”

McKinley Tennant is living in Bali and working and teaching yoga at a women’s retreat called Goddess Retreats in Semiyak. She is very happy to call this place home. She writes, “My partner opened up a matcha cafe and we have a Bali dog, Maya, who is the sweetest.”

Thanks to all those who contributed! Look forward to hearing continued contributions from our class in the next cycle.

Allie Southam | asoutham@wesleyan.edu