Class Notes

Lucia Pier lives in Los Angeles. Last fall she was organizing with local groups to advocate for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. She signed the alumni letter calling on Wesleyan to divest from companies that profit off Israel and its ongoing war in Gaza. Other classmates have also signed this petition, including Jessie Spector.

Lauren Goldman writes: “I am finishing law school on December 15, 2023, at City University of New York School of Law.

            “I have enjoyed spending time with Aleya Brahmachary, Rashida Richardson, and Adit Shah in New York last fall. Last summer, I studied in London at Queen Mary University of London, where I was lucky to see Caroline Janin, Armando de Moura Palha Filho, and Tara Moore.”

Hello, ’07 classmates! Megan here with a few updates. First of all, I need to give a little shout-out to my co-secretary, Victoria Belyavsky Pinsky. In October, she ran her debut 26.2-mile race at the Wineglass Marathon. Congratulations, Victoria!

In other news, Laura Catana reports that she recently joined the marketing team at Symphonic Distribution where she manages marketing teams across the U.S. and Colombia. She was also invited to join an artist management collective as the artist relations lead and works closely with musicians to develop their musical careers. Although she is always planning her next international adventure, Laura is back stateside and currently based in Brooklyn, New York.

Sarah Elmaleh also has some exciting career updates. She says, “2023 was big for games I’d worked on for years finally releasing: as a voice actor, Hi-Fi Rush, [and] as a voice director, The Lamplighter’s League, Goodbye Volcano High, and more Fortnite. But the biggest project by far has been chairing the Interactive Negotiating Committee at SAG-AFTRA. At the time of writing, we’ve been negotiating with the major game publishers over issues like wages, safety, and AI for over a year—with luck by the time of publishing, we’ll have a deal that protects performers in our space. Best wishes to all my fellow ’07s!”

Nicholas Nauman said, “I have disengaged with Wesleyan in recent years: at our 10-year reunion, I watched President Roth deflect students who were incredulously angry at the University’s decision to override student and staff organizing for divestment from apartheid Israel. This is why I’ve reengaged: the organizing has persisted and we can all take part.”

As always, we are eager for your updates! If you have news (big or small!), please send it to your class secretaries, Megan and Victoria, at the email addresses below. Wishing you all a peaceful and prosperous 2024.

Mel McCrea received an MA in counseling psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies. She is in clinical practice with Sessions Psychotherapy and is accepting new clients in California.

Lorraine Umwiza Githiora says, “I’m expecting my first child in June 2024! That’s the biggest news I can think of. 🙂 . . . . I am in New York, working as a program manager for CUNY. The granny hobbies I picked up as a child continue to bring me solace—jigsaw puzzles, fiber arts, and baking.”

Elena (Won) Kermah says, “I am currently living in Pennsylvania. I have six kids, who are all being homeschooled. My husband is working on his PhD in Hebrew bible. We returned from living in Israel a few years ago and are planning to do international Christian missions in West Africa as our long-term goal.”

Alex Pfeiffer Reynolds “spent a great four days lounging on the beach and eating tacos with Adam Maxwell and his family, [who were] visiting from Steamboat Springs, down in Las Gaviotas, Rosarito, Baja Mexico. We had a great time catching up and shared some laughs about how we first met, living next door to each other on Clark 1 freshman year!” 

Psyche Cassandra Dunkhase shares, “I continue my work as a professional cellist and teaching artist in the greater Boulder, Colorado, area, where I stayed after receiving a master’s of music degree in cello performance from the University of Colorado. Three years ago I founded Cellists for Change, a nonprofit that aspires to build a more equitable, inclusive, and connected world by investing in young people while making sustained progress toward paradigm shifts within the classical music sphere. Check us out at www.cellistsforchange.org! I travel to Huehuetenango, Guatemala, on a regular basis to work with Escuela de Cuerdas, a school of music partnered with Cellists for Change, and volunteer with a cleft lip/palate medical mission through Rotary International. When not teaching or performing, I enjoy foraging with my herbalist nurse wife out the backdoor of our high-altitude permaculture home, reading in front of a cozy fire with our two orange kittens, and dreaming up Cellists for Change’s next big project!”

Jesse Young married Michele Viterise at a ceremony near their home in Washington, D.C., on September 23, 2023, where they were joined by their dear Wes friends Katey Rich, Nat Webb, Nicole Weiskopf, Rachel Wertheimer, Hayley Stokar, Dana Raviv, Paul McElfresh, Rae Kaplan ’07, Jessica Chayes ’07, Margaret Dickson ’07, Lauren Smith ’07, as well as Jesse’s brothers, Zach Young ’08 and Ethan Young ’13! And, yes, they all sang the Wes fight song, as well as MGMT’s Kids (the unofficial Wes fight song).

Nina Eichacker and Johann Patlak and their “two daughters (now eight and six!) are keeping on keeping on in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, where we are all loving life in the Ocean State. If you find yourself in those parts, please reach out!” Nina is working as an assistant professor at the University of Rhode Island; Johann is an anesthesiologist working at Rhode Island Hospital. 

Sam Han says, “After living in Perth, Australia, I moved to London with my partner, Ruth, in 2022. I continue to teach sociology and media studies, now at Brunel University. My latest book, The Concept of Tragedy: Its Importance for the Social Sciences in Unsettled Times, was published in April by Routledge. When not reading, writing, and teaching, I’ve been walking around the city with Ruth and making photographs in earnest and have been posting quite a bit on my Instagram (@dolo.graphs).”

Naomi Goldenson contributed, “I’ve moved to Montreal to start a job as the director of the World Climate Research Program (WCRP) Regional Information for Society (RIFS) International Project Office. Quite a mouthful, so you start to understand why there are so many acronyms. I’ll miss seeing Sarah Weigle and family around Seattle, but excited to explore and try to catalyze research to inform regional decision-making.”

Ché Landon, who lives in Los Angeles with their wife, Kiki, has been working at Amazon MGM Studios for the past two years as the lead DEIA creative executive for Prime Video U.S. Movies and Sports Original Series. Their purview recently expanded to include EU Local Original Series and Movies. They traveled to London on assignment in January to implement country specific diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives across EU content and production slates. 

Delilah Lora wrote, “I was promoted to head of Upper School at New York City independent school The Cathedral School of St. John the Divine.”

Lodro Rinzler and his wife, Adreanna, welcomed their daughter, Ruby, into their lives in June 2023. Lodro continues to write books and teach Buddhism from their home in upstate New York. 

David Rood-Ojalvo lives in Rockaway Beach, Queens, where he and his partner, Alice Buttrick, were expecting the birth of their first child in January 2024.

Hi, ’04—sincerely appreciate you taking the time to send me some updates for this round of notes.

Stephanie Mandell tells us: “Work and family life in Burbank, California, are going well. I continue to play a ton of ultimate and got to compete in nationals in the grandmaster (e.g., old person) division last summer. This was after a lovely visit out East where I saw Josh Kaye, Megan Ridley-Kaye ’05, and Jon Lashley. Looking forward to our 20th Reunion!”

Adam Hodge says: “I just wrapped up my time serving in the Biden administration as spokesperson for the National Security Council and assistant United States trade representative for Public Affairs. Enjoying a nice break with family before figuring out what’s next!”

Raven Maldonado has been settling into her new home in Yonkers, New York, with husband Charlie Goodman, nine-year-old son, Wesley (Wes for short), and two-year-old daughter, Gabriela. She recently started a new position as global people engagement director at Heifer International and is building a consulting practice in diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, and organizational development. She recently became an ambassador for her upcoming 20-year Wesleyan reunion and is excited to reconnect with classmates in May. Where has the time gone?!

Additionally, Amy Todd moved recently to Portland, Maine, with her husband and two young kids. She mostly parents, works from home for an environmental research organization, and finds some time for other hobbies like beekeeping and biking. She’d love to connect with other Wes alum in the area. 

Nick Vincent is approaching his second anniversary as executive director of the undergraduate career center at Columbia University and is loving life in higher ed. Nick’s son, Leo, is in kindergarten and flourishing in the NYC public school system; validation that taxes are inherently good.

Ashley (Elia) Weller reports she “started a small animal mobile veterinary acupuncture practice two years ago that continues to grow and, she says, has been so rewarding! Also, we are due with our (surprise!) third baby this spring!”

Mark Schindler launched OtterBear Enterprises, an advisory service to help companies navigate the complex landscape of SaaS. Mark offers strategic guidance, organizational design, product development support, as well as innovation and communication improvement strategies. Mark’s goal with OtterBear is to demystify the tech world for successful business leaders stepping into SaaS for the first time, offering them a guiding hand through the complexities of the industry.

Tim Ridout joined the U.S. Navy in January 2022 as an officer. He is currently stationed at the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and lives in northern Virginia.

That’s about it for now! As always, if you’ve got class notes, please share them with me at wes04classnotes@gmail.com.

Roberta Pereira was recently appointed the Barbara G. and Lawrence A. Fleischman Executive Director of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, located at Lincoln Center. The library holds one of the world’s most extensive research collections in theater, film, dance, music, and recorded sound, as well as a wide array of circulating and reference materials. Roberta lives in New York City with her six-year-old daughter, Bianca, who also loves going to The New York Public Library and using her Spider-Man library card.

John Graham lives with his wife and three children in Tbilisi, Georgia, where he runs a cultural and hiking travel business. When traveling to Vermont this past summer, he saw Ari Wolfe, Adam Tuck ’05, and Josh Dankoff ’02.

Matt Kushner is currently working on installing Illuminarium Experience’s fourth venue, this time in the Wynn Hotel in Macau, China, after a successful opening of the first international venue in Toronto, Canada, in August. Lauren Kushner (Brown ’04) continues to create interactive animations at the American Museum of Natural History and is preparing for the production of the next planetarium show. Kids, Mimi and Tessa, are doing great in third and first grade respectively. They are both performing in dance and winter showcases at school.  

 Please write to your class secretary. 

Great to hear from you as always.

Mattitiyahu Zimbler writes, “I recently accepted a faculty position in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Boston College. As part of my teaching, I had the absolute honor of having Kate McGrew, Megan Bartlett, and Eric Rueter ’99 provide incredible guest lectures for my classes. Their relevant expertise has made my classes all the better for it!”

From Matt Earp: “I’ve been pursuing immersive experiences ever since I moved back from Berlin in 2016 and returned to Oakland. For the last five years, I’ve been in Reality Labs at Meta working on immersive experiences for the Quest Virtual Reality headsets. I’m a content designer on the Metaverse team, which means I focus on defining new concepts and then working with [the] team to figure out how to build them. It’s been a wild ride, with a highlight being creating concerts and events in Horizon Worlds, including for Post Malone. I’ve also continued to DJ professionally since college, and now have a duo act called sw00se with my wife, Sara (also a DJ herself). Or maybe now it’s a trio since we welcomed our daughter, Rhye, into the world a year ago. Her favorite toy is a Fischer Price record player and she adores music of all kinds. I still trade tunes with Tim Jones ’02 who also lives in Oakland—we’ve kept our blend of hip-hop and electronic music alive since our WESU radio show days and he still inspires me.”

Nora Friedman writes, “My news is that in May I became the director of the Suzuki Program at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music in Park Slope, where I’ve been on violin faculty for the last 12 years. I would be thrilled to hear from any Wesleyan alums thinking of enrolling their children in bass, flute, violin, guitar, cello, or piano lessons in our program! My email is nora.friedman@bkcm.org.”

Congratulations to Emily Barth Isler for her second book for middle school-aged readers coming out this March, called The Color of Sound. Focusing on a neurodivergent character, the book “explores intergenerational relationships through time travel, and depicts Jewish identity and traditions in an accessible, thought-provoking way.” I see praise already piling up, with best-selling author John Cho writing, “The Color of Sound is a valentine to families everywhere. Isler explores multiple intergenerational relationships lovingly and honestly, while keeping a gifted and vulnerable girl firmly at the center. It’s hard to imagine a book that I would want both my parents and my children to read, and yet, here is one.”

Best,

Mara

Dear Classmates,

Thank you for sharing your submissions. We hope that this finds you and yours well, even as world events continue to be challenging. Please enjoy hearing from our class below.

From Demian Szyld: “We are enjoying the school-age phase: Lila is in third and Riki is in kindergarten this year here in Cambridge. One of our new family traditions is apple picking at Lyman Orchards since that is halfway to New York, and I must say that I do enjoy the nostalgia that comes with driving near Middletown.”  

From Luke Davenport: “I got married and moved to Peekskill, New York, in 2020, and now have a wonderful two-year-old daughter. I’m still running a small company, analyzing data for NYC public schools.”

Josh Sohn reports that he is holding things down in Brooklyn, tutoring, writing, and playing as much ultimate as is humanly possible. He’s also proud to note he just notched 2,000 students tutored and has supported over 150 students through the college application process. Five of those students ended up at Wes. . . .  Just sayin’.

From Leora: A Mad Libs-inspired microshare:

“I have been ______________ and am listening to _______.”  

“I have been managing a persimmon tree harvest for the past month or so and am listening to a lot of PJ Harvey.”

Our best wishes,

Serena and Leora

Congratulations to Ross Stafford who was inducted into Wesleyan football’s  1990s All-Decade Team. Ross lives in northern New Jersey, has two daughters (ages four and seven), and works as a PMP-certified project manager. He is also a business owner and launched a digital marketing agency last spring.  

Eve Fox is the digital director at Beyond Plastics, where she works with Megan Wolff trying to halt the petrochemical industry’s build-out in the U.S. and reduce the negative environmental, health, climate, and environmental justice impacts of plastic pollution. Eve is also coming up on her sixth year serving on the board of the Woodstock Day School, where she is currently the president, and trying to roll with the punches of parenting both a teenager and a tween.

Michael Hakim lives in Los Angeles and has been working with his former quarterback, Scott Hevesy ’97, on some media opportunities. Michael launched a real estate property technology company by converting an office building into a mix-use residential hotel with a rooftop lounge. He is exploring opening an art gallery in some vacant available space, and he also opened a modern synagogue for young Jewish professionals in Los Angeles. Michael also collaborated with an art director to design the largest mural in Beverly Hills on South Beverly Drive in honor of his grandmother who passed away in 2022.

Chris Varmus married Mara Jebsen, a poet and professor, in 2021, under the crabapple tree in his backyard in Brooklyn. He is getting a second master’s degree (first one was in social work) in fine arts, specializing in large-scale ink and mixed media collage works. Check out his work on Instagram @christophervarmusart (available for sales and commissions) or visit his studio in Brooklyn.

Adam Birnbaum and his wife, Alem, live in East Flatbush, Brooklyn. Adam works as a commercial litigator in a Wall Street area firm. Alem is pregnant with their third child.

Robert Carrillo was the brainchild and an executive producer for the documentary Lucha: A Wrestling Tale, which had its world premiere at America’s largest documentary film festival, DOC NYC, on November 11, 2023. It won the festival’s coveted Metropolis Grand Jury Prize and was a runner-up for the Audience Award. Robert was also one of the wrestling coaches in the film.

Ari Gerzon-Kessler lives in Boulder, Colorado, with his wife, Sashi. They were thrilled to welcome their first baby, Selah Dove Gerzon-Rose, who turned one in October. Ari is in his seventh year leading the Family Partnerships Department for the Boulder Valley School District. A lover of books since his first job at age 11 in a bookstore, he is overjoyed to share the news of the publication of his book, On the Same Team: Bringing Educators and Underrepresented Families Together (Solution Tree, December 2023). Ari coaches the leaders of these families and educators together teams at 23 schools—a new model for school-family collaboration that is changing teachers and school leaders’ practices for partnering with diverse families and transforming the experiences of underrepresented families in our schools. 

Chris Hanssmann lives in the Bay Area, currently teaching at UC Davis. He published his first book, Care without Pathology, with University of Minnesota Press. In addition, he has been working as a member of Bay Area Jewish Voice for Peace to advocate for a ceasefire in Gaza. Chris signed the alumni petition demanding Wesleyan’s divestment from companies that profit from the Israeli occupation of Palestine and hopes other alums do the same!

Leila Buck and Adam Abel ’98 continue to ride the waves of exhaustion and joy as they learn how to parent their two-year-old daughter. They’ve been devastated by the Hamas atrocities of October 7 and the ongoing atrocities of the Israeli army and settlers since then. They are doing their best to support loved ones in Palestine, Lebanon, and Israel from their time living and working in all three places, and they are calling for an immediate permanent ceasefire and continuing to work for a just peace in our time. Leila is teaching, writing, and occasionally performing while caring for their daughter and supporting her mom in the wake of her dad’s death last year. She knows many of us can relate to the sandwiching of child and eldercare, and to the navigation of personal and collective grief in these times. Sending wishes for comfort, healing energy, and support to all. 

Kevin and I hope that the year ahead is full of promise and possibilities. We look forward to connecting with many of you at our 25th Reunion in May!