Tag: 2004

Hey, Class of 2004! You continue to share some great updates and we’re happy to share them…

Vincent Balsamo was named assistant principal at Crosby High School, in Waterbury, Conn., in March, his son Joey just turned 1, and he and his wife purchased a home in Prospect.

Nearby, Lelah Baker-Rabe ’04 says: “My family and I recently returned to Connecticut after 10 years in Los Angeles. My husband, Dylan Osborn ’05, and our two sons, Truman (3) and Holden (1), just moved to Norwalk and are preparing ourselves for our first real winter in a decade. We’re looking forward to reconnecting with our east coast family and Wes friends.”

Shanta Cortez-Greig tells us she got her LCSW—she’s a social worker and has been working as a forensic clinician at the county jail. “But I am currently working on my music career. My debut album came out in 2013 and a new EP entitled “7” is being released in the next month. Also, (and I’m super excited about this!!), I am embarking on a national tour—The Guerrilla Gigs Tour Across the USA! I will be brazenly busking every major city and national landmark in the country as a maverick musician.” Her tour launches in Boston on Oct. 4th, where I will be playing The Burren. I will then be making my way northwest, then down California and then back to New England, making 27 scheduled stops…” More information can be found on my website: ShantaPaloma.com. (P.S. People can sponsor me at Gofundme.com/ShantaPaloma2015.)

Ashley Elia Weller tells us she’s expecting! “My husband and I are looking forward to having our first child, due in January 2016. That’s about it for now.”

Peter Thilly says he received his PhD in history from Northwestern University in September 2015, and is currently working as a faculty fellow in East Asian Studies and History at Colby College in Waterville, Maine.

Mike and Kate Patterson Gilles are thrilled to announce the birth of their daughter, Natalie Caroline, on July 17th. With newly minted big brother Sebastian, they still live on Capitol Hill in DC, where they’ve received much-appreciated Wesleyan village support, including from Anna Christensen ’03, Liz King ’03, and Suzy Sacher ’03.

Gina Zorzi Klein tells us: “I’m proud to announce that, starting Oct. 4th, my publishing house, ARC Press, will have an entire bookcase in Barnes & Noble stores. We are partnering with B&N to fill the gap between listening to books and reading independently. Wes alums with small children, please go to your local B&N to Learn to Read with our Training Wheels Series or check us out on the Web at trainingwheelsseries.com.”

And from Rebecca Hall: “Twelve years after meeting, due to an auspicious Wesleyan housing pick that landed us both in a lovely 10-person low-rise apartment, Sam Fletcher and I got married last fall in Charleston. Several Wes alums were there to celebrate with us, including Anna Teeter ’04, James Panczykowski ’04, and Kingsley Choi ’05. Since then, we haven’t wasted any time and are excited to have purchased our first home in Old Greenwich, Conn., and to welcome our first child in fall 2015. Sam works as a copywriter in Westport, and I am a dermatologist practicing in Stamford.”

Jenina NuÑez | jenina.nunez@gmail.com

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

Hi, Class of 2004! As usual, you’re keeping busy and have some wonderful milestones to celebrate!

Liana Heitin is living in D.C. and working as a reporter for Education Week newspaper. In September, she married her best friend and running buddy, Jonathan Loewus-Deitch, in an outdoor wedding in the mountains of West Virginia. The two honeymooned in Thailand this winter.

Nick Blondin tells us: “I’ve been quite busy in my practice as a neuro-oncologist in Fairfield, Conn., at Associated Neurologists of Southern Connecticut (ANSC). I’ve recently opened two clinical trials for patients with glioblastoma, the most aggressive form of brain cancer. I have also started a clinical research project with medical marijuana for patients with brain cancer. I’m on twitter @NeuroOncNews if you want to follow!”

Plus, he was up at Wes on Jan. 31 for the swim team meet against Coast Guard Academy, visiting with Tom Cleveland ’05. “I think Coach Solomon is doing an awesome job!” We agree!

Brian Hennessey graduated from his MBA program and got a spot in a rotational program with a telecom company that works in Latin America and Africa. “I spent some of the fall in Miami at our Latam Headquarters and I’m spending the first half of 2015 in Paraguay working on a few fun projects. I haven’t seen many other Wesers but am planning to be in NYC for Will Kendall’s wedding, so I hope to reconnect with a few folks then.”

Laurel Kemper tells us she had a baby, Leonhard Kemper Kennedy, on July 13, 2014. Plus, she’s in Vienna, Austria, through 2018 with her family and would love to have Wesleyan visitors.

Kristin Small got married Aug. 9, 2014, to Jonathan Holz and lives happily in Rochester, N.Y. She’s also enjoying her job as a civil rights lawyer at Empire Justice Center.

Hannah Tennant-Moore is newly, happily married to Wyatt Mason. Her first novel will be published by Hogarth/Random House next year.

Nick Vincent got married last May at the Winterthur Museum in Delaware, where he met his wife, Eliza, in grad school. Wes alums at the wedding included soccer teammates Chris Feige, Rick Ferri, Nick Katzenbach, and Rich Valentino ’03. On the professional front, Nick was promoted to a senior management position in the director’s office at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Stephanie Mandell got married in October in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Josh Kaye, Megan Ridley Kaye ’05, Nora Hanagan, Jon Lashley, Becca Solow, and Camille Zahniser attended. She’s lived in LA for three years now, and is a managing consultant at IBM, focusing on energy and utilities.

Tatiana McDougall, (officially Dr. Tatiana McDougall) writes: “I received my PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, in Dec, 2014. My dissertation research examined the influence of stress and attachment on intimacy, using dyadic data-analyses to model complex interdependent processes. I am continuing to work with individuals and couples as I complete my post-doctoral fellowship at the Long Beach VA Hospital, where I am also involved in research examining the influence of attachment style on therapeutic processes in veterans with PTSD. I live with my husband, Masai, and our dog, Melody, in Long Beach. It’s been great to be closer to West Coast family and friends; we even get to see Chet Devaskar and Shivani Siroya, when we are not all busy with our crazy lives.”

In more Wes alum marriage news, Bonnie Oliva and Tim Porter said “I do” on campus in January over Martin Luther King Day weekend. Wes was in full effect, with many alums in attendance, such as Bernadette Doykos, Biz Ghormely, Dawn Papacena ’02, Anthony Rosario ’02, Andres Villalon, Ahkai Franklin, Tivon Sidorsky, Josh Goldstein, Brian McKenna, Melissa DeCew, Rebecca Kirchheimer, wedding coordinator Delilah Lora ’05 and Bonnie’s 9 Vine roommates—Judivelly Torres, Monica Gonzalez, Cassandra (James) Dixon and Jenina Nuñez.

And that’s it for now. Until next time!

Jenina NuÑez | meeghan.w.ward@gmail.com

Meeghan Whooley Ward | jenina.nunez@gmail.com

Adam Barton spent much of 2014 working on a new science/comedy series for National Geographic called Going Deep with David Rees. It’s a “how-to show for things you think you already know how to do.” For example, one segment is called how to light a match. Media from Vice.com to Rolling Stone have been raving about the series, but ultimately real people need to watch this show, not just magazine editors, so please check out Adam’s show on cable or hulu.com. His production company also partners with Tantra World Wide on a music and travel series called Music Voyager which airs on PBS. Incredible work by our classmate!

Sara Sadownik moved to Boston over the summer and is loving her new job with the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission, working for the state on issues of sustainable health care cost growth. She hangs out with Rebecca Brigham ’05 and other fine Wes alums. She also bummed around Santa Fe with Tantri Wija ’03 for two weeks before the big move!

Greg Heller got married in May to Diana Lind. Celebrating the wedding with them were Mike Gilles, Kate Patterson Gilles, Liz King ’03, and Annika Brink ’05. In September Greg was named CEO of American Communities Trust, a national community development organization, dedicated to “building social impact” in urban and low-income communities across the U.S.

Raven Maldonado-Brown and Rasheed Brown had their baby boy on Aug. 8, 2014, and he’s just the cutest thing ever! His name is Wesley Alexander Brown and contrary to what most may think, he is not named after Wesleyan. It is pretty cool that his nickname will be Wes, and whenever Raven says his name, a little memory of her alma mater shines through!

Lauren Pearlman received her doctorate in American Studies and African American Studies from Yale University and is now a visiting assistant professor at the United States Military Academy, which is a lot like Wesleyan (but with more guns). When she’s not teaching up there, she spends time with her husband, Fletcher Durant ’03, son Felix who is now 2.5 year old, and all the other Wes parents in Brooklyn.

Jenina NuÑez | meeghan.w.ward@gmail.com

Meeghan Whooley Ward | jenina.nunez@gmail.com

Class of 2004: While there are many great updates to share, we’d like to start this set of class notes by remembering one of our classmates—Jocelyn Sweet Moore—who passed away in April after a long battle with cancer. We want to pay our most sincere respects to Jocelyn’s family. And if there are any favorite memories you’d like to share, please send them along and we’ll be sure to fold it into the next set of notes.

In additional updates, it seems that members of our class are still doing well! In great couple news, it looks like Michelle Paul and Dael Norwood got engaged! To each other! Hallmates and then housemates at Wes, and partners since, it can’t be said that anyone was at all surprised by this turn of events. For the moment, they are continuing to enjoy Brooklyn but they’ll soon be moving to scenic Binghamton, N.Y., where Dael will be starting as an assistant professor of history at Binghamton University. Michelle will continue on as director of product development at Patron Technology, where she’s worked since 2005.

Meanwhile, Sita Singhal attended medical school from 2006–2010 and finished a residency at UConn in 2013. Now, she is working as a hospitalist at Manchester and Rockville general hospitals. However, she also managed to travel the world, too. In Oct.–Nov. 2013, she took a trip to Australia and New Zealand, and earlier this year was in India, Dubai, and South Africa.

Meanwhile, back East, Ari Pliskin tells us: “I’ve been building a pay-what-you-can community café in Western Mass., teaching meditation and yoga and promoting dignity-based methods of reducing hunger around the world.”

Also nearby is Nick Blondin: “I joined Associated Neurologists of Southern Connecticut, located in Fairfield, last July. I’m the practice neuro-oncologist, and one of only four neuro-oncologists in the state of Conn. I’m still married to Rebecca Gordon ’06, and our baby Alice is turning 2 in August!”

Out on the west side of the country is Sohana Punithakumar, who is loving Seattle even more now that Marc Berger and Jess Richman Berger have moved here. They’re gearing up for their first local WEServe event in May.

And former New York native, Jenina Nuñez, continues to call Chicago home, where she lives with her little Chihuahua mix, age 4, and looks forward to summer weather that makes the city a blast after the rough winters!

Lena Eson Roe and Matthew Roe ’05 are living in Mexico City this year with their toddler, Gabriel. Matthew is lending a hand with pedestrian and traffic safety planning. Lena is taking Spanish-language intensive classes at UNAM while Gabriel learns Spanish at his amazing escuelita. And they’re all exploring lots of Mexico together. It’s mango season!

Jenina NuÑez meeghan.w.ward@gmail.com

Meeghan Whooley Ward
jenina.nunez@gmail.com

It’s a Reunion year, ’04, so please give early and often to those Wesleyan fundraisers who call you in the evenings (not an easy job!), and also mark the weekend of May 23–25 on your calendars for our 10 Year Reunion! Live socializing to come; in the meantime here’s what our classmates are up to:

Jhanelle C. Allen is now living in southern Florida and very thankful for snowless winters, as she begins her new work as a fully independent emergency physician.

Eliza Wentworth is a digital producer for Weber Shandwick in Boston.

Jenna Flateman Posner and her wife, Saburah, just celebrated the arrival of their twin boys! Jenna is currently the VP of brand strategy for Curalate, a visual marketing company in Philly.

KJ Iribe is living and working in Old Town Alexandria and engaged to marry Jim Woodsome ‘06 on July 5th.

Lelah Baker-Rabe had her first romance novel, Love Unlocked, published under the name Libby Waterford, by Decadent Publishing in December 2013. Check out this romantic suspense story set in the world of art theft.

Shanta Cortez-Greig finished her master’s in social work, is a professional musician, and has an advice column radio show called ‘Help Me, Shanta!’. Soon she will get a “real” job…

Dave Stone has spent the last two years training to qualify for the Boston Marathon and accomplished that goal last year at the LA Marathon. This April, he will be running in honor of his friend, Jamen Amato, who passed away from Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in 2009 at the age of 24. They grew up together, and although he was his younger brother Evan’s best friend, and three years Dave’s junior, Dave learned more from Jamen than he realized. Jamen was talented, determined and one of the fiercest competitor’s Dave’s ever known. A star on Dave’s hometown soccer team, Jamen eventually captained the Boston College team. He was bright, energetic, and passionate about life. Dave says that playing with Jamen and knowing him was an honor, and so his inaugural Boston Marathon will be to return the favor to this great friend, brother and person. Online donations to support Dave as he runs in Jamen’s memory for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society can be made at pages.teamintraining.org/ma/boston14/dstonel4l8.

Mark Hatch-Miller finished his clerkship for a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and started working as an associate at the New York office of Susman Godfrey LLP, a Houston-based law firm that specializes in commercial litigation. In October, he got married to Emily Ross in Beacon, N.Y. Lots of alums from various years were present, including ’04 classmates Aaron Schoonhoven, Andrea Garcia, Carl Cervone, Emma Alpert, Kathryn Schoendorf, Krishna Andavolu, Noah Nattell, Peter Thilly, and Steve Gravatt.

Michael Aylward just moved to San Francisco to work on renewable energy strategy and policy for PG&E (Northern California’s electric utility). He is loving California life, enjoying the beautiful scenery and decadent food and drink. He got to see his buddy Tim Harrington ’03, with his fabulous wife and awesome little son. Before moving to the west coast Michael spent a weekend backpacking the Appalachian Trail with Justin Freiberg. Any Wes alums in the Bay Area up for an adventure can reach him at maylward@umich.edu.!

Greg Heller recently got engaged to Diana Lind, with a wedding planned for next May. He also recently began a new job as interim president and CEO of American Communities Trust, a nonprofit that focuses on social-impact real-estate to revitalize low-income communities across the U.S. His book Ed Bacon: Planning, Politics, and the Building of Modern Philadelphia, released in the spring, and has been getting good reviews. [Ed. note: See p. 16]

Carl Cervone recently returned to the United States with his wife, Kidist Zebene, after spending the last 10 years in East Africa. Carl worked with the international development organization TechnoServe and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to design a strategy, and then execute an eight-year initiative to help more than 200,000 coffee farming families double their income. Carl spent most of his time in Ethiopia, opening the program’s office there in 2008 and building a team of more than 200 local coffee professionals. He continues to work with TechnoServe, but now on a more global scale and based out of New York. If you are a coffee aficionado (and particularly if you seek out boutique, single origin Ethiopian coffees), you’ve probably tasted beans produced by farmers that Carl has worked with.

Alonzo Davis is no longer a private wealth advisor at Goldman Sachs after ending his 7+ year stint in finance to focus on entrepreneurship. He has created the first social network focused on sexual health, Just Been Tested (JBT)—think of it like sexual health meets Facebook. JBT encourages people, mainly those in the 18–24 year old demographic, to know their status through the use of rewards and incentives. It’s a new, creative approach to reducing the stigma associated with getting tested and preventing the spread of infection. STIs are on the rise, and he thought many of the ways to get people tested were depressing or just out dated. JBT aims to change that. They organize free HIV testing that includes a social event and creative incentive for people to know their status. JBT also verifies when someone was tested for an STI, and then this verified date is then added to the profile page of the JBT member. They have recently launched the nonprofit JBT Foundation, Inc. and will be busy next quarter raising funds to become self-sufficient.

After four years as an associate at the law firm Cleary Gottlieb, Rebecca Weinstein changed jobs and is now an in-house corporate counsel at Colgate-Palmolive in NYC.

Josh Garrett lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Robyn, and dog, Dylan. He earned an M.P.A. in environmental science and policy from Columbia University in 2012, and currently works at The Nature Conservancy as the marketing manager for its North America Energy Program.

Philippe Gosselin has been enjoying life in San Francisco, having rekindled his love of acting recently with roles this past year on stage, film and TV. He has a new website highlighting some of his work, at phillipegosselin.com. Philippe is very proud of his fellow Wes film majors, and their extraordinary work and achievements this past year! At the time this is published, he will be in the middle of a three-month trek through South America.

Mairead Ahern Salsich married Bob Viégas in November. The wedding was in Wayland, Mass., near where she grew up in Natick. From our class, Cora Peterson, Alyssa Kagel, Laurel KemperKennedy, Liza Harrison Ashbrook, Mary Livingston, and Sarah Pradka attended. Nina Romá-Agvanian ’06 and Deirdre Salsich ’07, her sister, also attended.

As I (Meeghan Ward) write these Class Notes, I’m enjoying some wine in our London flat while my husband, Daniel Creeden, works on a project for his MBA program at London School of Business and Finance, and dogs, Reggie and Mr. Sox, lounge adorably at our side. In August, we married under two old-growth willow trees facing the Boston skyline from Thompson Island in the harbor. TI is a nonprofit organization with an Outward Bound Education Center, and they also throw a mean clambake with proceeds going back to their wonderful programs for kids from the local community (thompsonisland.org) Linda Caparyan, Amy Posocco, Ashley Elia Weller, and Liz Walsh MacMillan were beautiful bridesmaids! Several other members of the Wes family were in attendance, staying at the camp for the weekend and bringing the festivities to a new level. This included: Nora Bowman ’05, Patrick Carroll ’03, Allyson Miller Coppola ’02, Whitney Ebbeson ’02, Kamica Lewis ’03 Joshua Pelletier ’04, Marielle Lesnevich Silk ’04, Shay Bernius Squeglia ’02, Shaleen Bowman Thody ’03, Jeremiah Tracy ’03, and Basketball Coach Kate Mullen. Our little family moved to London in the fall, as I began my new role as senior HR business partner for Advent Software Europe and Middle East. Feeling grateful; life is good!

Jenina NuÑez and Meeghan Whooley Ward
meeghan.w.ward@gmail.com
jenina.nunez@gmail.com