Tag: 2005

Marcus Bach Armas remains in Miami but has transitioned into public service after more than a decade as a senior executive with the Miami Dolphins and Hard Rock Stadium. After a successful election in 2022, Marcus now serves as a Miami-Dade County Court judge and is currently assigned to the criminal division. Despite this career change, Marcus continues to serve as founding board member of the Dolphins Cancer Challenge, which has raised more than $76 million for cancer research in South Florida since its inception in 2010 and is now the largest charitable fundraiser in the NFL. 

Kate Greathead says, “I dream I’m back at Wesleyan maybe once every two weeks, and I’m always a little sad when I wake up. My second novel, The Book of George, [published] on October 8. It’s about a guy who goes to a fictional Wesleyan and his life afterward. Maybe you’ll recognize yourself in it? Just kidding, it’s (almost) all made up.”

After spending a decade and a half in the South (New Orleans and North Carolina), Bay Love now lives back home in Maine with his partner, Chloe, and a half-time, shared-custody Chihuahua. Bay has been heavily invested in building an organization called The Groundwater Institute, devoted to combining the traditions of social and racial justice movements with power business and strategy consulting. Generally worried of the state of the larger world, but content with his immediate one, he’s loved (re)connecting with more and more amazing Wes colleagues through work and life—and is looking forward to more of it.

Jeremy May writes, “I’ve been living in Oakland, California, for the past seven years and am raising two boys, Magnus (nine) and Solomon (six). When I’m not working as an oral surgeon, I enjoy gardening, skateboarding, and spending time with family!”

Laura McMillan lives in New Haven, Connecticut, in walking distance of several alum friends and directs the communications and marketing team at an environmental nonprofit. She spends time on three small nieces, one grouchy cat, four dozen houseplants, and her podcast, $2 Creature Feature, in its third season of collaborative storytelling. She’s still riding the high of last year’s 40th-birthday trip to Arizona with Karen Courtheoux, Hillary Rubesin, Caitlin Swain-McSurely, and Cory Simon-Nobes, and seeing the eclipse with Matthew Montesano, plus Lauren Kirchner ’03, John Cusick, Adam Read-Brown, Daniella Schmidt, and Evan Simko-Bednarski!

Jeremy Paul and Faye Hargate (Bowdoin ’04) welcomed their first son, Elwyn Archimedes Hargate Paul, into the world in November 2023. The whole family is doing great in Cleveland. Professionally, Jeremy recently became the resident technical director with Dobama Theatre, in addition to still being the executive artistic director of Maelstrom Collaborative Arts and part-time faculty at the Cleveland Institute of Music, which is a long way to say he doesn’t have employer-provided health care. 

Adam “Smiley” Poswolsky recently caught up with Rich Gibbons ’87, president of SpeakInc, when Rich booked Smiley to keynote the Greater Public’s Public Media Development and Marketing Conference in San Diego. Adam is the author of Friendship in the Age of Loneliness and a top keynote speaker on workplace culture, belonging, and the future of work. Rich has been a speaking agent for over three decades and is the past president of the International Association of Speakers Bureaus (IASB). Despite graduating from Wesleyan just a few years apart, Rich and Smiley loved chatting about all things public speaking, NPR, and Foss Hill.  

Jesse Phillippi is now living in London, where she recently finished directing, dramaturging, and co-producing the musical comedy cabaret A Stan Is Born! The show previewed at Soho Theatre before a run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August and then to Camden People’s Theatre at the end of September 2024.

Leland Smith pandemic-moved to Denton, Texas, to be closer to in-laws. He has a 10-acre farm with horses, chickens, and sheep, and two boys to (eventually) help mow it. He is still working on USAID programs and moved to a new firm where he now gets to work with Nora Connor ’07.

News from several ’05ers:

Kate Mitchell shared,“I’m now working for Arabella Advisors doing fiscal sponsorship work. Still living in Durham with my three-and-a-half-year-old, Ivy, and our mischievous cat, Rue.” 

Tim Von Hollweg has been working as the director of operations of New York City’s appetizing legend Russ & Daughters alongside Emily Cintron ’04, who is the company’s director of communications. Tim also recently had a mini-Wesleyan reunion with Philip Marmon-Halm, Zach Hall, Jorge T. Torres ’04, Dave Sohn ’04, and Dan Timmeny ’04 in New York City. 

Katie Walsh lives in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, where she works as a film critic, podcast host, and moderator around town. She was recently elected vice president of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. 

Brielle Rey traveled to San Diego to spend a few sunny days with Sam White and Anna Talman. They next plan to get together this summer at Sam’s place in Montana with Ruth Chaffee, where their four eight-year-olds will unite to take over the world. Brielle also had a long-awaited reunion with roommate Katie Hodel in Charlotte—it has been 19 years, but Katie looked exactly the same! 

Anay Shah wrote,“After spending the last decade working in financial inclusion across numerous emerging markets, I have returned to the climate crisis.” He and his co-founder have launched an early-stage venture capital fund called Stepchange, investing in entrepreneurs who aim to make a “step change” impact on the climate. Anay still lives in Los Angeles with his wife and young son.

Doro Globus has just published her second children’s book in the How Art Works series. I Am an Artist is structured around a tour of an artists’ studio complex, the book introduces readers to street artists, ceramicists, conceptual artists, textile artists, photographers, glassblowers, and more! The artists share their working spaces and their techniques while explaining why they make art. Doro’s first publication, Making a Great Exhibition, published in 2021, was acclaimed by The New York Times for “demystifying the art world and making it accessible to budding young artists.” 

Nora Bowman contributed,“My husband, Paul, and I welcomed a baby boy, named James, in October 2023. He made his first trip to Wesleyan in January for the Amy Posocco ’04 memorial/tribute basketball game and brought some joy to a very bittersweet day celebrating Amy’s life with the women’s basketball community.”

Finally, we received the news that Jesse Brenner passed away on April 24, 2024. Sivan Cotel wrote: “We sadly lost Jesse Brenner in April. Jesse had a brilliant mind and touched the lives of many. Eric Herman, Adam “Smiley” Poswolsky, Julia Lerman, Adam Tuck, Jenna St. Martin, Dave Ahl, Raquel Gutierrez, Greg Morril, Gabe Prager, Tacuma Bradley ’04, Andrew Aprile ’06, and I joined Jesse’s family to celebrate his life. A remembrance ceremony will be held during Wesleyan’s 2025 reunion.”

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.

It has been an eventful couple of years for Liz Andrews. She moved to Atlanta, Georgia, in the summer of 2021 to become the director of the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art. This fall, two exhibitions that she co-curated are on national tours: Black American Portraits, at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, and Silver Linings: Celebrating the Spelman Art Collection, beginning at the Vassar College Loeb Art Center. She also edited and wrote for Black American Portraits: https://delmonicobooks.com/book/black-american-portraits/.  In the fall of 2022, she eloped with her honey, Brian J. Brown, and they welcomed baby Polaris in March 2023.

Katie Walsh lives in Highland Park, Los Angeles, where she works as a film critic for the Tribune News Service and LA Times, hosts a podcast about Miami Vice, and moderates Q&As around town.

Wesleyan lacrosse repressed in the 35-plus division at the Lake Placid Summit Classic with Matt Wheeler, Chris Mele ’04, Brian Adams ’04, Glenn Adams ’06, Dan Ackil ’04, Connor Wilson ’04, Gabe Kelly ’11, Chris Jasinski ’08, Trevor Adams ’09, Jeff McLaren ’06, Zach Stanton ’98, and Mike Vitulano ’06 in attendance.

Jake Orlowitz is living happily in the Santa Cruz Mountains with his 13-year-old, unschooled botanist-daughter and 3-year-old maniac toddler. He runs WikiBlueprint, a Wikipedia open knowledge consulting company working with nonprofits, publishers, and museums on public education and outreach strategy. He Kickstarted his mental health book, Welcome to the Circle, and is slowly working on a sequel.

Lodro Rinzler and his wife, Adreanna, welcomed baby Ruby Alex Rinzler on June 8 of this year. The middle name is in memory of our classmate and beloved friend Alex Okrent who passed in 2012.

This year Delilah Lora became the head of Upper School at The Cathedral School of St. John the Divine in New York City. Additionally, she and her partner, Luis, got engaged this summer in Curaçao on her 40th birthday.

Natalia Ortiz accepted a new position at the NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development in the Teaching and Learning Department as a clinical assistant professor and the director of the Office of School and Community Partnership. She will be working side by side with Heather Homonoff Woodley ’02.

Heather Olins is starting her seventh year as faculty in the Biology Department at Boston College. She dedicates much of her energy to finding ways to teach about climate change that are empowering and hopeful for her students. She also co-leads her seven-year-old’s Girl Scout troop, and has been doing a lot of art when not teaching or parenting.

Miriam Gottfried and her husband, Trevor Williams, welcomed their first child, a daughter, on July 22. They named the baby Emily after Miriam’s mom who died 10 years ago. Miriam, Trevor, and Emily live in South Slope, Brooklyn, around the corner from fellow 2005er Blake Maybeck, who they often run into on the street.

This year, in recognition of Tony Alleyne’s work with his college-access nonprofit, Delaware College Scholars, he was selected as a 2023 Doritos/PepsiCo Foundation Black Changemaker. The program officially expanded to Charlotte, North Carolina, as well, and now has served over 500 scholars. His family is also growing and they will be welcoming their fifth child in September. Also he had a great time reunited with Fabrice Coles and Quincy Francis ’06 in D.C. this past spring.

Please write your class secretary.

Please write your class secretary.

Rahwa Yebio has published two books of poetry under her pen name, Amaya Sunn, and has recently completed her first young adult novel. She is also a digital content creator specifically producing visual poetry pieces. Over the period of a decade, Rahwa has created arts programming and spearheaded enrichment curriculums for youth in New York City. She is also the mother of a brilliant and beautiful 11-year-old boy!

Misa Dayson gave birth to her and her husband’s, Jules Hollander, son, Isaiah, in July 2020. He is the cutest baby-toddler in the world, and at least once every day she feels like she experiences a bit of magic being in his presence. At the same time, becoming a mother for the first time in the middle of a global pandemic was challenging, and she decided to document the experience with her friend, Veena Hampapur, through their podcast, Memos from Motherhood (Or, I Gave Birth During a Pandemic?!). Memos unpacks the personal and political nuances of navigating the early years of parenting amidst both a global pandemic, and seismic political, cultural, and environmental change. Trained as anthropologists, Misa and Veena process pandemic parenthood holistically and intersectionality through intimate conversations and voice memos. Misa has really enjoyed hearing about how her and Veena’s shared stories are resonating with a range of people, both parents and child-free alike! When not producing the podcast, she continues her work in film producing and screenwriting. She lives in Harlem, and this past summer enjoyed traveling internationally for the first time in three years visiting family in France. She would appreciate any tips people have to offer on how to make future vacations run smoother with a toddler in tow!

Xiomara Lorenzo and Cara Herbitter ’03, despite nearly convincing themselves in 2013 that they would return to New York City once Cara completed their clinical PhD program in 2020, have truly made a home in Boston; so much so that they are closing on a house this fall! This year they celebrated 17 years together and 10 years married. Xiomara co-leads digital product management at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, while Cara completes their postdoctoral fellowship at the Boston VA.

Ada Pinkston is an artist and lecturer who currently works at Towson University and Maryland Institute College of Art. Her work was recently acquired by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). You can view an iteration of this augmented-reality monument on LACMA’s Snapchat profile.

Maya Lake is a stylist and designer in Los Angeles. You can find her on a film or television set where she is celebrating the wrapping of a show. You can also find her on a volleyball court.

Andrea Cortes-Juarbe is based in San Francisco where she offers workshops to young people in nature and practices somatic healing sessions at various locations throughout the Bay Area.

Liz Andrews is an artist, curator, and scholar. She recently co-curated The Obama Portraits Tour and Black American Portraits at LACMA. Last fall, she moved to Atlanta, Georgia, to become executive director of the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, the only museum in the nation dedicated to art by and about women of the African diaspora. In May 2022, she got engaged to artist Brian J. Brown.

Natalia Ortiz is a term assistant professor in the Education Department at Barnard College in her hometown of New York City. Every now and then she also does some independent racial-equity consulting. When she is not meeting with students, curriculum planning, teaching, or facilitating, she is keeping busy as a soccer mom to her two children, Amaya Lolita (10) and Maceo Felix (7). As of this year, Natalia became a titi to niece Naia Rae Ortiz Rothwell, the daughter of Nicholas Ortiz. We are thrilled to welcome a new baby to the family.

Justin F. Kennedy is still a Berlin-based community dance artist, teacher, and DJ. Justin’s work has evolved since Wes, from a durational dance and singing practice, and further translates into workshops, science fiction operas, installations, happenings, and films. Notable works of late include: Cannibalizing the Conductor, an experimental dance film and A(un) Necessary World, a sci-fi opera in parts, at the Hammer Museum in LA. His recent work, performing and body doubling in Ligia Lewis’s A Plot/A Scandal, has been fruitful. Justin plans to teach at the School for New Dance Development in Amsterdam in winter ’22 and is trying his hand at the technical side of music production and hopes to attend a sound engineering course in Lagos in 2023.

Sam Leitner and his partner bid farewell to D.C. friends and moved to Boulder, Colorado. He’s loving easy access to outdoor climbing and will continue his work as a (remote) data scientist at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, where he leads a program that evaluates credit models for discrimination.

Katie Walsh lives in Highland Park, Los Angeles, and works as a film critic for the Tribune News Service, The Los Angeles Times, and The Wrap. She’s also a frequent contributor of film reviews to KCRW’s Press Play with Madeleine Brand. She often meets neighbor Che Landon for afternoon swims in the pool in their complex.

After many years in many cities, Hallie Dalsimer has been making home in the Sierra Foothills of California since 2015. They love living in a place where people are greatly outnumbered by trees. In 2021, Hallie launched Humaning: in Conversation, a podcast exploring what it means to human well—in our bodies, in relationship, in present time, on planet Earth—with three friends who share an orientation toward embodied practice, social justice, and an animist worldview.

After nearly a decade with NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey and following a four-year stint as an at-home parent, Janice Eisenberg is heading back to graduate school (second time is the charm?) to pursue her MSW at the University of Maryland. She still lives in Silver Spring, Maryland, with her husband and three kids.