Tag: 2014

Please write to your class secretary.

Mary Diaz | mcdiaz@wesleyan.edu 

Dear readers,

I hope you and your families find yourselves safe and healthy during these tough times. While these are challenging times, I find beauty in how we’ve found ways to come together as a community. Part of what I loved most about my Wesleyan experience was exactly that—the community. That community does not go away after graduation, so I hope you are remaining connected, are using the values Wesleyan cultivated in us as a call to action, and are keeping the innovative and fierce Wesleyan spirit alive. I am an email or phone call away if you ever want to reach out.

Speaking of community, here is what the Class of 2014 has been up to:

Emily Mullaney is enrolled at Parsons in their industrial design program, and one of her studio partners is also a Wesleyan graduate. They recently won a grant from the Design for Aging Research Fund. Congrats, Emily!

Ellen Alexander received her PhD in geology from UCLA in March. She has since moved to Boulder, Colo., to begin a postdoctoral research fellowship at CU Boulder in order to work on the geology and petrology of the lower crust under the Colorado Plateau.

Joshua Krugman works for Bread and Puppet Theater, the 57-year-old political theater company based in Glover, Vt. He encourages fellow alumni to come up (post-COVID) to the beautiful Northeast Kingdom of Vermont to catch a summer show, and look out for B&P touring dates near you in the U.S., Europe, or Latin America. Contact Josh about bringing B&P to your school, synagogue, theater, or town square.

Jake Barack is wrapping up his doctorate in clinical psychology at The Chicago School and is heading towards his internship at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. He also was commissioned as a captain in the Army and would prefer if his friend, Will Dubbs, would please stop saluting him.

In March, Ella Dawson joined the founding team of Meet Cute, a new entertainment startup, to run marketing, brand, and social media strategy. She is revising her first romance novel.

After six years in Brooklyn, Maureen Gorman and her husband, Aurélien, have moved to Paris, France. Maureen will attend INSEAD’s MBA program starting in the fall.

Jeremy Edelberg writes: “After 3.5 years, I’m still living and working in Hong Kong.  I just hit my two-year anniversary working for Myriad Asset Management, a Hong Kong-based, multi-strategy hedge fund. I hope that everyone is staying well, and I still welcome anyone coming through Asia to reach out once this virus subsides.”

Leah Khambata (who earned an MBA from Cornell in 2018) moved back to Mumbai in December from LA where she was acting in films and singing at concert venues such as the esteemed Hotel Cafe. She released seven original songs on Spotify/Apple Music last year, including an EP, and two music videos for her originals “Higher At Last” and “Something Still Here” (both directed by Wes graduates!) premiered on VH1India on Feb. 27. She recently performed an online concert for the Indian edition of one of the world’s greatest music/pop culture magazine, Rolling Stone, and is set to star in an Amazon Prime series. Instagram @Leahkhambata.

As for me, I graduated from Fordham University School of Law in May and look forward to this new chapter of life as an attorney! I always enjoy connecting with alumni and invite other Wesleyan attorneys to reach out to me and chat. Congrats to those who have graduated during these unexpected times! In other news, I’ve been taking advantage of this new downtime with plenty of Zoom video calls and book club sessions with Lauren Seo, Nicole Okai, Esthefany Castillo, Reina Barnswell, Lizzy Steiner, and Juliana McLain on top of the Netflix, wine, and cooking.

Be well and take care of each other.

Your Class Secretary,

Mary Diaz | mcdiaz@wesleyan.edu 

Some great class news coming your way:

Julian Theseira started a new job with Deloitte Consulting Southeast Asia and is based out of the Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, office. Outside of work, Julian volunteers actively with the Malaysian Youth (Climate) Delegation, with whom he co-organized the only Local Conference of Youth (LCOY) in Southeast Asia in 2019, part of a global network of LCOYs that gathered youth input about climate change governance in the leadup to COP 25 in Madrid. Julian has also been catching up with other Wesleyan Freeman Asian Scholar alumni in Malaysia and Singapore. He is active with the Taizé ecumenical movement and attended the 42nd annual Taizé European Meeting in Wroclaw, Poland, alongside 15,000 other pilgrims. His testimonial about the spiritual impact of the philosopher Edith Stein (St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross) was translated into Polish and featured by the Edith Stein House Foundation in Wroclaw.

Remi Ojurongbe happily reports: “Alexander Mehner and I got married last month and were lucky enough to celebrate with lots of Wes Folks!” Congratulations to you both! #gowes

Jason Shatz writes: “In August, I finished up my master’s degree at the University of Chicago for software engineering while working for a consulting firm called Cognizant. I have been relocated to the Raleigh area for a Big Data project. I hope to return to the NYC area soon, but I will let you know of my whereabouts whenever they change.”

Adele Bubnys received her PhD in biomedical sciences from Rockefeller University last spring. After traveling around Europe over the summer and stopping by Wesleyan for our five-year Reunion, she started a postdoctoral position at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT. There, she is using novel 3D cell culture techniques and self-assembling “mini-brains” to model neurodegeneration in a dish.

I always look forward to hearing updates from our awesome class. Keep them coming.

Your Class Secretary,

Mary Diaz | mcdiaz@wesleyan.edu 

Randy Linder writes: “After getting YTT [200-hour yoga teacher training certification] certified in Rishikesh, India, I traveled for eight months all around India and Southeast Asia. I returned to Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth at the UCSC site to teach my favorite course, Paradoxes and Infinites. After that, I joined Facebook as a data scientist. I can’t wait to see all of you this summer at Reunion.”

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 

The Class of 2014 still continues to shine. Take a look at their updates: Sarah Burkett has acted in multiple short films with a handful of other projects. Her most recent role was the lead in the feature film, Phaedra. Phaedra was one of five projects selected for Robert Rodriguez’s show, Rebel Without A Crew: The Series, based on his book of the same name documenting his experience creating his first film, El Mariachi. Phaedra had its world premiere screening at a special press event during SXSW. The project has been submitted to film festivals and will be featured on the El Rey Network later this year. She and her two crazy cats will be moving from Houston to Los Angeles this fall to continue acting.

A little blurb on the series: “The series coincides with the 25th anniversary of Rodriguez’s groundbreaking film, El Mariachi, which he made for just $7,000 without a crew, across just 14 days of filming. In the show, Rodriguez gives five independent directors the same amount of time, and the same amount of money, with a few advantages of having the legendary director involved (gear, costumes etc.), to make a brand-new feature film.”

When not at her day job at Ballet Hispánico, Cynthia Tong is a producer for two Wesleyan-related projects: If Sand Were Stone, a new musical created by Carly Feinman ’16 and Cassie Willson ’17, and choreographed by Nora Thompson ’15, which is making its off Broadway premiere at the New York Musical Festival in July; and Reflux, a new play written by Carly Feinman ’16 and directed by Miranda Haymon ’16, which is premiering at the Broadway Bound Theatre Festival in August.

Simon Riker’s NYC premiere of Me Prometheus: Caveman Love Story was a success. The three-night run at the New York Theatre Festival was extended to four based on strong ticket sales; ultimately every performance sold out. The festival nominated it for Best Musical Score, and leading lady, Korra O’Neill, for Best Singer. Simon is a product manager at Axial and is always happy to connect and talk tech and startups. This summer, he will be traveling to England as a staff singer with the Christ’s Church Choir of Rye, N.Y., where he sings weekly with Nathan Repasz ’14.

Josh Krugman performs year-round with the Bread and Puppet Theater (B&P), touring nationally and internationally, and spending summers in residence at B&P’s farm in Glover, Vt. He encourages Wes alumni to come up to enjoy a weekend of performances in the summer, and to look out for B&P performances in a city near them. Josh is also B&P’s booking manager, so if you’d like to bring this radical theater company to a venue or institution near you, reach out to him.

Jeremy Edelberg is living in Hong Kong and working at Myriad Asset Management, a Hong Kong-based multi-strategy hedge fund. “I welcome all to drop me a line if they ever find their way out to HK!”

Since graduation, Leo Liu has been living in D.C. and working in the progressive election movement. He’s the lead scientist at Analyst Institute, where he runs randomized experiments with progressive groups to learn about how the movement can win more elections. He lives with Emma Golub ’16 in a group house called The Burrow, after the Weasley family home. Although 2018’s going be hectic, when you stop by D.C. you should visit him anyway! He misses his Wes peeps a lot and is eager to plot and strategize around next year’s five-year Reunion.

Your Class Secretary,

Mary Diaz | mcdiaz@wesleyan.edu 

The class of 2014 still continues to demonstrate talent. Take a look at some of the diverse and interesting things the members of the class are doing:

Ella Dawson has had two essays about sexuality and relationships published on ELLE.com, both as part of the larger conversation about #MeToo and consent.

Josh Krugman continues to perform nationally and internationally with Bread and Puppet Theater. On Josh’s recent travels with the company he has met Susan Katz ’88 in St. Petersburg, Zoë Toulouse ’16 in Paris, Sophie Becker ’16 in New York, Dan Schniedewind ’12 in Santa Cruz, Eppchez in Philadelphia, and Evan Weber in D.C. Contact Josh to bring the company to your city or school.

Andrew Cohen co-founded Impact24 PR to promote behind-the-camera talent. In his free time, he is searching for the best taco truck in LA.

Gigi Breland writes: “I purchased my first home in New Jersey and became engaged to my boyfriend in January. I am working in the very difficult field of social work and looking to branch out into a more creative field.”

Miche Aaron reports: “I just got accepted into Johns Hopkins University Earth and Planetary Sciences PhD program. I also started a position at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory as a researcher studying ways to transform acquired CRISM data sets into scientifically compelling derived data products by geometric data processing, radiative transfer, graph theory, numerical optimization, GIS, controlled and uncontrolled image mosaicking, and spectral/mineralogical analysis.

“My research I did while at NASA Langley Research Center was accepted for submission to be presented at the Planetary Science Informatics and Data Analytics international conference in St. Louis. I will present this research in April.”

On Jan. 8, Patrick Ortiz was sworn in as a career firefighter in his home town of Lakewood, N.J. He had previously been a volunteer there for over three years.

Nathaniel Elmer is living in Helsinki, Finland, designing and building a 70-seat theater using only Finnish wood construction techniques. He spends his free time in the sauna with a bottle of vodka.

Amy Lindland was promoted to director of sales at Indeed.com (“One of the youngest directors ever”). If anyone is interested in working there, reach out to her at alindland@indeed.com.

Mary Diaz | mcdiaz@wesleyan.edu

Jalen Alexander has returned to NYC to work as a data specialist with College Board’s Access to Opportunity team which focuses on creating new pathways for student academic preparedness and college readiness. Jalen chairs the Wesleyan Center for African American Studies Advisory Board, and coordinates outreach for the Invisible Men Summer Experience Grant Program, which annually grants two Wesleyan students $5,000 each to pursue professional summer opportunities that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford.

Let’s take a moment to congratulate lovebirds Mary Foster and Jeffrey Legunn ’13 who recently got married at the Tradition Golf Club in Wallingford, Conn. They started dating while at Wesleyan, and have been together ever since. Leah Rosen ’13, Ross Berger, and Adam Watson were in the wedding party. Mary works at PepsiCo in their supply chain department, and Jeff works in the private equity division at LGT Capital. They live together in NYC.

Tennessee Mowrey left the Bay Area in October. “I will go east without using a plane until I get to the Bay Area again, collecting all the sounds I can find—city sounds, linguistic sounds, travel sounds, musical sounds, environmental sounds. When I return to the Bay Area I will make a soundscape that will bring the listener east around the world in 24 hours. Check it out! Follow my journey on my website at headedeast.art or on Instagram @headed.east.”

Jennelle Herrick celebrated her one-year anniversary on Maui working for the leading high-end developer in the real estate industry, Discovery Land Company, at the Makena Golf and Beach Club. She obtained her Hawaii real estate license and is a member of Realtors Association of Maui. Jennelle’s night activities include poetry, occult studies, and launching a tarot card business for those seeking spiritual development guidance. Her Instagram is @bluewolfeoracle.

After adventures in D.C. and Brussels, Andrew Gottlieb moved back to Connecticut. Getting involved in the local political scene, he met David Knapp ’49 and Matt Hoey ’78, on whose campaign Andy is volunteering to defeat Ken MacKenzie ’82 in the race for Guilford first selectman.

Jeremy Edelberg moved to Hong Kong to continue his career with Citigroup, after working for the company in New York since graduation. He’s hooked up with the Wesleyan alumni community, and enjoys the travel opportunity around Asia, having been to 10 different new countries.

I am very proud of you all. Hold each other close and become beacons of light for each other. The Wesleyan way is one of compassion and kindness. Let us share this with the world, especially in these times.

Mary Diaz | mcdiaz@wesleyan.edu 

The beloved class of 2014 has taken 2017 by storm. Read below for the latest on what they’ve been doing!

Will Dubbs spent the last two years working for Hillary’s presidential campaign, but has now moved to Prague.

After a few years of doing nonprofit and startup work, Alex Cantrell is happily employed as a UX design consultant in Watertown, Mass. He regularly draws upon his liberal arts background during client calls, using authoritative, fluffy language to justify why the website header should not have a lime green drop shadow. He lives in Brighton with his gecko, running shoes, and beer fridge. He accepts one freelance design gig each quarter—feel free to reach out!

Rob Roth, a third-year ENL/ESL K-12 public school teacher in the NYC Department of Education, as well as a recent NYC teaching fellow and Hunter College MA TESOL program graduate, looks forward to embarking on a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant grant to Bogotá, Colombia, where he will support Universidad Nacional students in acquiring English proficiency.

Grace Smith writes, “I just started law school at the University of Michigan and want to do international environmental law right now, but what, exactly, you want to do changes during the course of school. I was a ski instructor in Colorado for two years before this.”

Ellen Alexander just completed her master’s in geology at UCLA, and is continuing in her PhD program.

Maddy Oswald just finished her first year of a PhD program in developmental psychology at The University of Chicago.

Nick Petrillo, Keegan Duffy, Sky McGilligan, Ben Kafoglis, Remy Lieberman, and Casey Lasda ’13 have “completed a feature length, shot-for-shot, low-budget, high-passion remake of Dirty Dancing, which premiered at Nitehawk Cinema in Brooklyn on May 23. Emily Nussbaum (New Yorker) described it as ‘sexy, funny, and lovable.’ Barstool Sports described it as ‘an outrageous idea.’ Nick’s mom said, ‘Don’t show Dad.’ The New York Times had no comment. You can find the film on Youtube under ‘Boiz Club Fancy Pants Presents Dirty Dancing’.”

Richie Starzec has been traveling around Bhutan for the last few months. He connected with a selective training society, where he is learning the arts of ninjutsu, jujitsu, and mixed kung fu.

Henry Cheung writes, “After three years of teaching high school mathematics through Teach For America, I am transitioning to a management consultant position at Oliver Wyman. I will miss teaching, but am looking forward to the travel and the change of pace. If anyone is interested in pursuing teaching through Teach For America (or not) or consulting, feel free to reach out!”

Jason Shatz is moving to Chicago to earn a master’s in computer science at the University of Chicago. He writes, “Yes, there is a summer ‘immersion’ program for liberal arts students and others without the proper background. In other words, I’m making up for the computer science studying that I should have done at Wesleyan (at least if I wanted a decent job afterwards)! I still plan to write on the side.”

Maggie Feldman-Piltch is getting a master’s from Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service in the security studies program and started her own national security consulting company called Unicorn Strategies. In March, she led a trip of retired U.S. admirals and generals to Havana, Cuba, to meet with members of the Cuban government on issues of security cooperation. She writes, “On a perhaps less serious note, I recently won the mojito-making contest at the Cuban Embassy here in D.C., and have been declared Best Mojito Maker. Anything else I do in my life will pale in comparison.” She adds, “All other things are normal. Still having my life over run by two obnoxious pit bulls. Still seeing too much of Julian Purkiss. Still seeing just the perfect amount of Izzy Rode.”

As for me, I will be putting my love for the show Suits on the side, and will be starting at Fordham Law School in the fall where I will be focusing on litigation. Have a wonderful summer, and keep the notes and all of the wonderful things you are doing, coming.

Your Class Secretary,

Mary Diaz | mcdiaz@wesleyan.edu 

Two updates this time around. Ali Ozols writes, “For the past two years, I’ve been working as a speechwriter to NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio.”

Glenn Hartman-Mattson writes, “Right after Wes, I taught human ecology and sustainable design for a year at The Island School, a semester abroad program for high school students in Eleuthera, The Bahamas. The following year I diddled around backpacking, ski bumming, and teaching kids about rocks, and have now made my way back to The Island School. Moving to admin, I do admissions and alumni relations and call Boston home base (with a few cherished trips to the Bahamas).”

Simon Riker gave an update on his production, Me Prometheus: “The New York Theater Festival has accepted our show, and we have the honor to present three performances of it at the Hudson Guild Theatre, a 96-seat theatre in Chelsea. The shows will be July 11, 15, and 16. We are excited about the momentum that the festival is creating for our project and we are excited at the future opportunities it could unlock.”

Mary Diaz | mcdiaz@wesleyan.edu 

Greetings and happy fall, class of 2014! Here is what some of your classmates are up to:

Jessica Titlebaum is back in Michigan for her second year of veterinary school at Michigan State University. She is hoping to focus on small animal medicine upon graduation, and toys with the idea of specializing in neurology.

Lucy Finn moved back to San Francisco and is a business consultant for Kaiser Permanente. She is missing New York, but it’s been fun being back in the Bay.

Jennelle Herrick reports: “After working as a paralegal in trust and estates and at real estate law firms, I have taken a break from the legal setting and joined the private real estate developer, Discovery Land Company, on one of their newest projects on Maui, Hawaii, located at the Makena Golf and Beach Club. Although it was hard to say goodbye to Connecticut—the state in which I was born, raised, educated, and started my career—it’s safe to say I have fallen head over heels for paradise. I am in the final stages of completing my Hawaii real estate license and I am looking forward to witnessing our project grow from the beginning stages.”

Rachel Fox has been quite busy. She completed a master’s in narrative medicine at Columbia University in August 2015, spent the 2015-2016 academic year as an adjunct professor at Rutgers and Sarah Lawrence, and is now getting her PhD in communication and science studies at UC, San Diego. Rachel is living in La Jolla.

In other news: “Nick Petrillo, Keegan Dufty, Sky McGilligan, Ben Kafoglis, Remy Lieberman, and Casey Lasda all live in NYC where they are working on a scene-for-scene, shot-for-shot remake of Dirty Dancing. Most of them are single.”

After graduation, Simon Riker worked mainly as a freelance musician, most notably as associate music director for Summer Theatre of New Canaan, and as music director and marketing associate at PGT, a nonprofit children’s theater in White Plains, N.Y. He is an assistant choirmaster at Christ’s Church (Rye, N.Y.) and associate product manager at Axial, a fintech startup in Manhattan. Simon is stoked to share that his Wesleyan senior thesis, Me Prometheus: Caveman Love Story, had a second student production at William & Mary, and will be having its New York premiere as part of the New York Theater Festival in next summer.

Julian Theseira completed a master’s in international history at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland. Since he left Wesleyan, he has presented his research at the inaugural global history student conference at the Freie Universitäet Berlin, the inaugural world history student conference at King’s College London, the inaugural Yenching Global Symposium at Peking University, Beijing, China, and the British Postgraduate Chinese Studies network annual conference also at King’s College London. Outside of academia, Julian has interned with the Permanent Mission of the Sovereign Order of Malta to the United Nations in Geneva, during which time he managed external communications and reported on sessions of the UN Human Rights Council, UNHCR Standing Committee, the UN ECOSOC Humanitarian Affairs Segment, and other international meetings. He is interning with the International Organization for Standardization in Geneva, where he manages external communications on social media.

Keep the notes coming and enjoy your PSL’s. Much love,

Mary Diaz | mcdiaz@wesleyan.edu