CLASS OF 2007 | 2015 | ISSUE 1
The Wesleyan Class of 2007 has started planning for the Wesleyan class of 2025 by bringing in a number of new babies this year. I gave birth to baby boy, Joshua, this July. He has joined his sister, Becca, in our Manhattan apartment and I have returned to my job at Morgan Stanley. Amy Nebenhaus Egolf and her husband, Kevin Egolf ’05, welcomed their baby girl into the world on Jan. 23. Aurora Lux is settling into their home in Manhattan, and after maternity leave Amy will return to work completing her residency in psychiatry at Mount Sinai Hospital. Taylor Evans and Jordan Conn Evans welcomed a daughter, Sierra, this December. Aditi Surie and her husband, Pete, also welcomed a son in Nairobi this January.
We also have quite a few marriages to celebrate. Megan Kretz married Brian Harrington on Aug. 31 in upstate New York and a whole bunch of Wes friends were in attendance: Agnes Pak and Jessica Mack were bridesmaids; Anjali Carrasco and Hannah Hastings ’08 flew in from California, completing the 44 Home Avenue reunion! Bill Kellogg, Laura Solecki, Jonah Blumstein ’09, and Emma Zoloth ’10 also joined the celebrations.
In the space of six months, Sarah Sluis started a new job, got married, turned 30, moved to Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, and spent the New Year exploring Thailand and Vietnam on her honeymoon. Attending her Western Catskills wedding: Johanna Goetzel, Julia Kleinman ’06, Anna Rabinovitch, Jessica Torok, and Evelyn Wiese. She’s run into some Wes alums at her job, writing about data-driven advertising for AdExchanger, and hopes she’ll be flagged down by more, biking around Prospect Park. Jacqueline Rubinstein is getting married this summer to Alisha Babb. She’s also the proud new owner of the Studio of Movement Arts, SomaSpace in Portland, Ore., where she runs her private practice in the Feldenkrais Method, Move with Ease.
Jacqueline isn’t the only ’07er with an exciting career path in the arts. Z Behl is newly represented by Kai Matsumiya Gallery with her first solo show open Jan. 22 through March 8. Tess Amodeo-Vickery is living in Rome, a city she fell in love with when studying abroad from Wesleyan in 2005. She is preparing to release her first album of original music in April before embarking on a European/American Tour this spring/summer (Boston and NYC dates in June!). The first single off the album, “Take My Word,” is available on iTunes, Amazon, and Spotify, and people can stay updated on her launch activities at justtess.com.
After eight years of running her own landscape design business in NYC, Laura Catana begins 2015 in the most epic of ways: with a one-way ticket to travel the world! She’s begun in South America, and is writing from Montevideo, Uruguay. This trip has been a dream since graduating from Wes, and she is ecstatic at finally making it a reality.
The class of ’07 also has a number of new graduate students and graduates this spring. Anne Lodick is getting a master’s in public health. Jon Pierowicz will be graduating from UCLA School of Law this summer and then going to work as an attorney for the law firm of Morgan Lewis & Bockius in NYC. Mike James is in his first year of an MFA program in Juilliard’s drama division. Kimberly Greenberg will graduate in May with an MBA from the University of Notre Dame. Recently, she had the opportunity to study abroad in Santiago, Chile, learning about the global economy from a professor who serves on the Central Bank of Chile. She also visited Easter Island— connecting with her Moai spirit—and trekked the Paine Grande circuit in Patagonia. She plans to work in social enterprise, and her back-up plan is to become a full-time adventurer. Stephen Courage received his master’s of city planning from Rutgers, focusing on bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure. He lives in Brooklyn and works for Bike New York as an event manager, planning logistics for the Five Boro Bike Tour and developing Bike New York’s Ride Series.
Gabrielle Fondiller is in Kenya, running Hatua Likoni. This year they are sponsoring and mentoring 150 top students from low income families in high schools and 100 in universities.
Brian Dilks-Brotman and his wife live in Collingswood, N.J., under the dictatorial rule of their pet rabbit, Mazzie. Brian is making his living as a lawyer, representing victims of wage theft at a small worker-side labor and employment firm in Philadelphia.
Joe John Sanchez moved into his own home in Beverly, Mass., with his partner, Kurtlan, their two dogs, Vido and Stella, and their two cats, Truckstop and Charlie. Joe John has also taken on additional responsibilities at his company, including management of social media for Jack’d—one of the world’s largest gay social apps. Recently, Joe John traveled to LA to accept an award for his work, and this bit of positive affirmation has led him to focus more on his artistic endeavors and writing projects, including opening up his own shop of original designs on Society 6; refocusing energy on a music blog he started at Wesleyan, It’s The Money Shot; selling a piece of art, thanks to local community organization Creative Salem; and developing a campaign called #CELEBRATEWOMEN to honor great women in history and women whom history had forgotten. The project has more than 3,000 followers on Tumblr after just one month and includes submissions from Holly Wood ’08 and Janie Stolar ’08. yearofwomen.tumblr.com
Victoria Belyavsky | wesleyan2007@gmail.com