PHOTO ABOVE: January 2020 Keynote Speaker Torrey Maldonado ’96, Linking the Chapters of Life
2022 Program
Student Schedule | Virtual
Students can access their customized schedule on Handshake.
Saturday, January 29
1:00–2:15 p.m. ET
Career Cluster, Round I - Panel Discussion
The first of two industry-based sessions featuring mentor discussion focused on answering student questions about the industry.
2:15–2:45 p.m. ET
30-Minute Break
2:45–4:00 p.m. ET
Career Cluster, Round II - Panel Discussion
The second of two industry-based sessions featuring mentor discussion focused on answering student questions about the industry.
4:00–4:30 p.m. ET
30-Minute Break
4:30–6:30 p.m. ET
Networking Reception
Keep the connections and conversations going in our virtual networking platform! Students will have the opportunity to engage in one-on-one text and/or video conversations with mentors.
6:30 p.m. ET
Program Concludes
Mentor Schedule | Virtual
Thursday, January 27
7:30–9:00 p.m. ET
Mentor Orientation and Welcome from President Bradley
Welcome from President Elizabeth Bradley, Carol Ostrow ’77, P ’09, ’15, and Anne Green ’93. Mentor orientation facilitated by Jannette Swanson and Willa Vincitore ’92. Mentor attendance is strongly encouraged, but a recording of this session will also be shared with all mentors on Friday, January 28.
Saturday, January 29
1:00–2:15 p.m. ET
Career Cluster, Round I - Panel Discussion
The first of two industry-based sessions featuring mentor discussion focused on answering student questions about the industry.
2:15–2:45 p.m. ET
30-Minute Break
2:45–4:00 p.m. ET
Career Cluster, Round II - Panel Discussion
The second of two industry-based sessions featuring mentor discussion focused on answering student questions about the industry.
4:00–4:30 p.m. ET
30-Minute Break
4:30–6:30 p.m. ET
Networking Reception
Keep the connections and conversations going in our virtual networking platform! Mentors will have the opportunity to engage in one-on-one text and/or video conversations with students from the classes of 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025.
6:30 p.m. ET
Program Concludes
Interactive Mentor Directory
Select an industry or major of interest and then scroll down to see the mentors who participated in the 2022 program.
Acacia ’19
Intimacy Coordinator, Freelance
- BA, International Studies, Vassar College
- Assigned Career Cluster: Entertainment/Media/Performing Arts
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Education, Nonprofit/Social Justice, Writing/Publishing
- LinkedIn Profile
Acacia (They/Fae) is a leading expert in the field of intimacy coordination, working with the next generation of filmmakers to develop what fae predict will become the Golden Age of Screen Intimacy. Acacia has intimacy-coordinated several films, including Perfectly Good Moment, Apophenia, and As the Winter Turns to Fall (winner, Best Indie Short, Best Acting Duo, and Best LGBTQ Short at the Independent Short Awards). Beyond faer work as an intimacy professional, they have freelanced in multiple areas of film production. In addition to their work on-set, Acacia has lectured on intimacy for screen and stage at multiple universities and colleges. Fae also provide free educational resources on their blog acacia.gay and Instagram @intimacycoordinating. Currently, fae are developing several projects to make work safer and more accessible for intimacy professionals including designing intimacy barriers, writing on topics related to intimacy coordinating, and leading the movement for unionization.
Advice to Students:
Whatever career you are going into, you can develop important skills for your résumé by taking online classes and certifications, even if you are still in school. Generally, they just take a few hours, and you don’t have any homework after! I also recommend developing your online presence by creating a website and social media pages. This is especially important if you want to go into a creative field or freelance.
Aidan Aciukewicz ’20
Garden State Good Food Network Program Coordinator, City Green, Inc.
- BA, Geography, Vassar College
- Assigned Career Cluster: Nonprofit/Social Justice
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Education, Environment/Sustainability
- LinkedIn Profile
Aidan Aciukewicz graduated from Vassar in 2019 with a BA in geography. Aidan has always held a deep interest in addressing issues of social justice. This passion was built over his four years working off-campus at R.E.A.L. Skills Network, a nonprofit after-school program in Poughkeepsie. After graduation, he began doing development work for a nonprofit in Lowell, MA, that offers alternatives to traditional educational paths and works to reduce gun violence. After a year he moved to City Green in Clifton, NJ, a nonprofit urban farm where he currently coordinates the Garden State Good Food Network.
Advice to Students:
Beginning my career during the pandemic was difficult because I had to learn my responsibilities in a completely remote capacity. As a result, I quickly learned the importance of establishing clear boundaries between my work life and personal life. I burnt myself out and had to learn to make time for self-care and to do the things that bring me joy. I also realized I needed to follow my passion, and I am happy knowing that I changed career paths to do just that.
Zoe Adams ’15
MD Student, Yale School of Medicine
- BA, Greek and Roman Studies, Vassar College
- MA, History of Science and Medicine, Yale University
- Pending MD, Yale School of Medicine
- Assigned Career Cluster: Health/Medicine
- LinkedIn Profile
Zoe is a fourth-year medical student at Yale School of Medicine. She received her MA in the History of Science and Medicine from the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in 2021. Her graduate work focused on the landscape of methadone treatment across the U.S. in the 1970s, specifically community and government responses to methadone clinics and the physicians who risked their careers to prescribe the medication. During her time in medical school, she has been involved in student activism and medical humanities initiatives, including facilitating an art tour for medical students that uses visual art to explore issues related to institutional power and racism in medicine. She has written about topics in the history of addiction and social justice in medicine for both general and academic audiences. Zoe will be pursuing a residency in internal medicine next year.
Advice to Students:
Lean into educational/extracurricular experiences at Vassar that are interdisciplinary! I thought I would be a psychology or neuroscience major, but ended up majoring in Greek and Roman studies. While seemingly random for a pre-med person, this decision was the best route I could have taken at the time. Don’t feel pressured to go by the book: So much beauty and growth can come from taking a risk and pursuing an unanticipated path!
Miranda Alquist ’14
Assistant Director of Legislative Affairs, NYC Department of Transportation
- BA, Political Science, Vassar College
- MPA, Environmental Science and Policy, Columbia University
- Assigned Career Cluster: Government/Public Service
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Environment/Sustainability
- LinkedIn Profile
Miranda is a sustainability professional working to make New York City more sustainable, equitable, and accessible. As the Assistant Director of Legislative Affairs at the NYC Department of Transportation, Miranda oversees City Council legislation that implicates the agency, tracking and negotiating bills, and furthering the agency’s legislative priorities. She prepares for City Council hearings: writing testimony, developing Q&A, and providing direct support to the Commissioner and other senior leadership. Some notable bills she’s negotiated include creating the transformative Open Streets and Open Restaurants programs during the pandemic, requiring trucks used in City contracts to be equipped with sideguards to enhance pedestrian and cyclist safety, and expanding the number of loading zones to accommodate the growing number of deliveries in the city.
Miranda received an MPA in environmental science and policy from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. While at Vassar, she majored in political science with a correlate in women’s studies, was a student fellow in Davison House, and sang in choir and a cappella.
Advice to Students:
Ask yourself how you can leverage your strengths to have a positive impact. Knowing that your work is benefiting someone or something will give you drive and much-needed motivation at times when working is hard and you feel bogged down. Find the issue(s) you care about and devote your time to trying to make it better.
Also: keep an open mind and be patient. Careers are long, so don’t let rejection defeat you. With hard work and persistence, you can achieve your dreams!
Tamiko Amaker ’90
Criminal Court Judge, Office of Court Administration - New York City Criminal Court
- BA, Hispanic Studies, Vassar College
- JD, Fordham Law School
- Assigned Career Cluster: Law/Legal Services
Judge Tamiko Amaker was appointed as a Criminal Court Judge in January 2010. She has served as the Administrative Judge of New York City Criminal Court since 2018. In 2021 she also served as interim Administrative Judge for Bronx Supreme Court–Criminal Term. Previously she served as Supervising Judge of New York County Criminal Court and Richmond Criminal Court. She received her undergraduate degree from Vassar College and her law degree from Fordham Law School. Judge Amaker spent her legal career in the Bronx County District Attorney’s Office, where she last served as Deputy Chief of the Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Bureau.
Advice to Students:
It is a cliché, but follow your dreams. Even if they appear to be unattainable, keep striving to reach your goals and find ways to sidestep the obstacles that life may throw in your path.
Larissa Archondo ’20
Paralegal, Federal Defenders of New York
- BA, Political Science, Vassar College
- Assigned Career Cluster: Law/Legal Services
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Nonprofit/Social Justice
- LinkedIn Profile
As a paralegal at the Federal Defenders of New York in the Southern District of New York, Larissa works with teams of attorneys, social workers, and investigators to defend clients charged in federal criminal cases who are unable to afford legal representation. Larissa assists attorneys to secure bail packages, interview clients and their families, draft mitigation submissions, and preparare for trials and hearings. They have worked on multiple trial teams, conducting evidence review, preparing exhibits, helping attorneys draft cross-examinations and closing statements, and assisting at counsel table throughout trial. Prior to the Federal Defenders, Larissa interned with an immigration legal services provider, the Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez 2018 primary campaign, and various education-based orgs. While at Vassar, Larissa studied abroad in Santiago de Chile, served as head consultant at the Writing Center, and spent their time editing literary magazines, singing a capella, and stage managing shows. After Federal Defenders, Larissa plans to live abroad and eventually return to the U.S. for law school.
Advice to Students:
Whether it’s internships or extracurriculars, do what you love. Even if your interests seem incompatible or you don’t immediately see a clear career path forward, the skills you pick up will be transferable for the right job. It’s just as important to learn what you don’t want to do, so don’t stop yourself from trying something new. Finally, go to office hours! Your relationships with professors are the best guiding forces.
Molly Barth ’16
Senior Cultural Strategist, sparks & honey
- BA, International Studies, Vassar College
- Assigned Career Cluster: Management Consulting
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Advertising/Marketing/Public Relations
- LinkedIn Profile
Molly is a Senior Cultural Strategist at sparks & honey, a cultural consultancy based in NYC. In her job she is responsible for tracking trends and quantifying culture, distilling her research into actionable insights for Fortune 500 companies. She writes thought pieces for the agency newsletter and participates regularly on panels and agency “culture briefings.” Previously, Molly worked in advertising at a shopper marketing agency, developing omnichannel retail strategies for top CPG clients.
In her free time, Molly enjoys writing about personal finance and helping other young people navigate managing their money.
Advice to Students:
No matter your industry, it’s important to understand and develop your personal brand. You don’t work for a company, as much as you work for yourself. Personal brands have infinite ROI.
Dylan Bolduc ’15
Litigation Associate, Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP
- BA, Psychology, Vassar College
- JD, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
- Assigned Career Cluster: Law/Legal Services
- LinkedIn Profile
Dylan is a Litigation Associate at Fried Frank, a large law firm based in New York City. Dylan’s practice primarily focuses on white-collar defense and government investigation work. Dylan is passionate about her pro bono work representing criminal defendants in federal court. Dylan is a 2020 graduate of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. While in law school, Dylan spent a year at the Innocence Project, where she worked to exonerate clients wrongfully convicted of crimes using DNA science. Prior to law school, Dylan was a paralegal at Spears & Imes LLP, a boutique litigation firm in NYC. While at Vassar, Dylan was a tour guide, a Noyes Student Fellow, and a board member of the Future Waitstaff of America (FWA). In NYC, Dylan spent three years serving on the board of the Vassar Club of New York.
Advice to Students:
Never underestimate the power of a good attitude and asking thoughtful questions. Everyone is more willing to train the person who is eager to learn and be part of the team, even if that person has no prior experience in a particular field.
Graham Campbell ’99
Managing Director, Data Driven Strategies Division, Baltimore Police Department
- BA, Urban Studies, Vassar College
- MPA, Suffolk University
- Assigned Career Cluster: Government/Public Service
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Technology
- LinkedIn Profile
Graham Campbell currently serves as the Managing Director of Data Driven Strategies for the Baltimore Police Department. In this capacity, he oversees criminal analysis and real-time intelligence gathering and dissemination for the department, as well as working to bring the department’s data usage into the 21st century. Before working for BPD, Graham worked at ShotSpotter, an acoustic gunshot detection company helping communities around the country with their gun violence problems. He has served as a project manager for consulting companies large and small, in addition to working in state govermment. Graham’s career in public safety began as an EMT for Vassar EMS, and then as a firefighter/EMT for the Arlington Fire District. Right after graduating, Graham joined the New York City Police Department and served in Harlem in patrol and plainclothes work for five years. Graham was a proud resident and House President of Jewett—which is the best dorm, as everyone knows.
Advice to Students:
Be humble. Be of service. Be kind to administrative assistants and people in the service industry. Always listen more than you talk. The five years after college graduation is the time to take chances you won’t be able to later in life. Mistakes are good; we learn from mistakes. Ask questions. Always go to funerals. Remember to laugh.
Rebecca (Rebby) Carey ’92
Vice President and Associate Director of U.S. Division, Education Development Center, Inc.
- BA, History, Vassar College
- MEd, Technology in Education, Harvard University
- Assigned Career Cluster: Education
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Nonprofit/Social Justice
- LinkedIn Profile
Rebecca Carey is an EDC Vice President, the Associate Director of the U.S. Division, and a skilled project director who manages complex federal R&D centers and large-scale technical assistance initiatives. She has expertise in educational innovation and improvement, collaborative research, nonprofit operations, knowledge management, and organization development.
In her current job, Carey spends time on strategic planning, fostering innovation, and systems change. In addition, for the REL Northeast & Islands at EDC, Carey builds and sustains collaborative relationships between educators and researchers to improve educational outcomes for all students. To this work, she applies her experience in research design, technical assistance, and knowledge use to answer educators’ questions and advance their goals to enhance students’ learning.
Before joining EDC, Carey worked at IBM as a change management consultant and online professional development designer, as a history teacher, and a temp at many, many businesses.
Advice to Students:
I have four pieces of advice from my own career: 1) Never be afraid to ask questions and offer ideas—I love working with curious, creative, and careful people. 2) Look for mentors everywhere, and when you find them, nurture the relationships and stay in touch, even if you have left the job, school, or community. 3) Say yes, even if you think it might be a reach for your skills. Corollary to this: Make sure you know what supports you have to succeed and what success looks like. 4) Always, always take your vacation time.
Kyle Chea ’10
Head of Business Development & Private Investments, Wincrest Capital
- BA, Chinese and History, Vassar College
- MBA, Duke University The Fuqua School of Business
- Assigned Career Cluster: Management Consulting
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Financial Services
- LinkedIn Profile
Kyle is Head of Business Development & Private Investments at Wincrest Capital, a Bahamas-based boutique asset manager.
He began his career as a Foreign Service Officer for the Bahamas, then joined Cornèr Bank, working between the Bahamas and Switzerland. At Baha Mar, he led market entry, airlift, and China strategies. At Deltec Bank & Trust he managed due diligence to acquire Société Générale’s private banking business. He worked with Secha Capital, a private equity fund in South Africa. Prior to Wincrest, he supported strategic initiatives for BNP Paribas.
He founded the Nassau Rowing Club, the largest rowing club in the Caribbean.
Advice to Students:
Never stop reading, learning, or asking questions. Asking ‘why not?’ is your most valuable tool.
Never travel without a notebook and pen to write down your best ideas when they come to you.
Whenever you have an idea, learn to express it in less than one page of writing. The more clearly a thought can be explained in writing, the more vividly it can be articulated in person.
Find mentors and build your personal board of directors early—do not shy away from their feedback, and ask for them to challenge your thinking and decision-making process.
Drink plenty of water!
Lily Choi ’15
Associate Editor, Hachette Book Group, NY
- BA, Sociology, Vassar College
- MFA, Writing, Vermont College-Fine Arts
- Assigned Career Cluster: Writing/Publishing
- LinkedIn Profile
Lily Choi is an Associate Desk Editor at Little, Brown Young Readers. Previously, Lily was a freelance editor and prior to that, an Assistant Editor at Penguin Random House. She graduated with her MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults in 2020, where she was co-chair of the Diversity and Inclusion Coalition.
Advice to Students:
Don’t be discouraged if your career path takes many twists and turns. Once I graduated from Vassar, I was sure I had it all figured out; but the truth is, you aren’t supposed to, and you aren’t alone if it takes several tries to find the right career fit!
Nicholas Corrado ’16
Vice President - Finance, Veris Residential, Inc.
- BA, Economics and Mathematics, Vassar College
- Assigned Career Cluster: Financial Services
- LinkedIn Profile
Nick serves as Vice President of Finance at Veris Residential (f.k.a. Mack-Cali Realty). He joined the company as an analyst shortly after graduating in 2016 from Vassar, where he majored in economics and mathematics, focused on financial markets applications and pure math. Nick directly supports the Chief Financial Officer on strategic financial planning and forecasting, reporting and compliance, capital markets activities, and investor relations. He is primarily responsible for the corporate earnings model, which provides projections of all major key performance indicators for the company. He also plays a key role in liquidity management and treasury, serving as the primary point of contact to the banks in the company’s credit facilities.
Advice to Students:
Be practical. Take advantage of the diverse things you can learn at Vassar and the environment that Vassar affords to build your own education, but balance that with a plan of what you might want to do for the next five to ten years.
Michelle DeFossett ’87
Chief Operating Officer, Girls Who Invest, Inc.
- BA, Economics, Vassar College
- MBA, Columbia Business School
- Assigned Career Cluster: Financial Services
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Nonprofit/Social Justice
- LinkedIn Profile
A nonprofit and Wall Street veteran committed to building social-change infrastructure, Michelle is currently the COO at Girls Who Invest, where she partners with the CEO to grow the organization and its impact. She supervises their IT, HR, and Finance teams, contributes to their overall revenue model, and drives collaboration with board members and external partners.
Michelle was previously Vice President of Finance, Human Resources, and Administration at Sponsors for Educational Opportunity, and was the senior finance professional for Habitat for Humanity (NYC and Westchester) and the Maple Street School.
Prior to working in the nonprofit sector, Michelle spent over 20 years in financial services. She began her career within the Global Derivatives, Eurocurrency, and Latin American Debt divisions at Chase, and later worked at J. P. Morgan Asset Management and Pareto Partners, where she led teams responsible for business development and new-product development and distribution, and processed re-engineering initiatives for domestic and international products and markets.
Michelle holds a BA in economics from Vassar College and a MBA from Columbia Business School, where she was awarded the Robert F. Toigo Fellowship. A Bronx native, she now lives in Brooklyn with her family. Her interests include African Art, the theater, national parks, and travel.
Laura DeLima ’06
Head of School, Templeton Academy
- BA, Anthropology-Sociology, Vassar College
- MA, Education Policy, University of Wisconsin-Madison
- EdD, Education Leadership & Policy, The George Washington University
- Assigned Career Cluster: Education
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Nonprofit/Social Justice
- LinkedIn Profile
Laura is an experienced school designer and leader who has served as a head of three innovative private schools over the past eight years. Prior to that, Laura was a social science researcher and student of education policy as well as the owner of an educational services business. She earned her MA in Education Policy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (2009) and Doctorate in Education Leadership and Policy at the George Washington University (2017).
As a school leader, Laura has been awarded for her keen financial and people-management skills, founding and running the most successful school in a network of private schools for three years. That said, Laura’s true passion is in designing educational programming and curriculum that supports adolescents in finding their passion and living purposefully. In her current role as Head of School for Templeton Academy, Laura has been able to do just that. She is currently combining her robust management and instructional skills and knowledge to grow and iterate a socio-economically and racially diverse secondary school whose mission is graduate students who are purposeful; they understand their strengths, interests, and gifts and how to catalyze them to serve others in the world.
Advice to Students:
Take time to sit quietly with yourself and reflect on what truly brings you joy. Dig deep into why those things, people, or experiences bring you joy and how they all connect. Listen to yourself. Then, seek out professional experiences that allow you to access that joy.
Kathy Elsesser P’24
Partner, Goldman Sachs & Co
- BA, Psychology and Management, Boston College
- MBA, Kellogg School of Management
- Assigned Career Cluster: Financial Services
- LinkedIn Profile
At Goldman Sachs, Kathy advises companies and boards of directors across the globe. She works with large, complex organizations and high-growth entrepreneurial companies. She gives them strategic advice on raising capital and on mergers & acquisitions.
Advice to Students:
Think about classes you liked and why and the type of work settings that really motivated you. Make a list of the characteristics that you enjoyed and look for a career where those elements exist.
Maya Enriquez ’17
Graduate Teaching Assistant, University of Minnesota Duluth
- BA, Cognitive Science, Vassar College
- Pending MA, Integrated Biosciences, University of Minnesota Duluth
- Assigned Career Cluster: Scientific Research
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Education, Health/Medicine
- LinkedIn Profile
Maya is a master’s student at the University of Minnesota Duluth Integrated Biosciences Program. She works with advisor Dr. Allen F. Mensinger, with a focus on fish neuroetholgy and sensory ecology. Her most recent study collaborates with Dr. Suzanne McGaugh’s lab at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities and explores the rapid divergence of sensory systems between satellite populations of the Mexican tetra, Astyanax mexicanus. Her research has focused on electrophysiological techniques to determine threshold differences in both visual and auditory systems. Maya is a recipient of the University of Minnesota Diversity of Views and Experiences (DOVE) Fellowship and is committed to creating equity and community for underrepresented minorities in the sciences as she pursues a career in academia.
Prior to graduate school, Maya worked as an EKG technician and medical scribe in Los Angeles. Though initially interested in a medical career pathway, she found her passion for biology through several experiences at Vassar, included tagging northern saw-whet owls on Mohonk Ridge and discussing unique animal adaptations in the Biomechanics senior biology seminar.
Advice to Students:
Don’t be afraid to take time! When I graduated, I felt like I needed to hit the ground running to have the upper hand in my career. In reality, it took two years working in the medical field after graduating before realizing it wasn’t for me and pivoting to my current academic track. Often it feels like there’s a series of checkpoints that need to be reached within a certain amount of time, and any derivation from this plan puts you behind the rest. The only timeline you should be worried about is the one that takes you where you want to go. No matter how long the path may be, if it is what you truly want to do, you will get there in due time, at your own pace.
Lisa Esposito ’16
Senior Actuarial Analyst, Allied World Reinsurance
- BA, Economics and Mathematics, Vassar College
- Assigned Career Cluster: Financial Services
- LinkedIn Profile
Lisa is a Senior Actuarial Analyst at Allied World Reinsurance Company, where she has worked for the past four years. She primarily spends her days pricing reinsurance treaties--calculating the price Allied World will charge an insurance company in exchange for taking on some of the insurance company’s risk. In the pricing off-season, Lisa works on updating the pricing models based in Excel and builds SAS programs to analyze data. She works with her team to complete an annual review of their pricing parameters used in their models. Their findings are presented to the underwriters and the senior leaders of the company. When the workday ends, the studying begins. Lisa is pursuing her credentials from the Casualty Actuarial Society and sits for two actuarial exams each year. Prior to joining Allied World, Lisa worked for a year as a pricing actuary at Chubb, based in Philadelphia.
Advice to Students:
Never be afraid to fail. View failures as learning experiences that can lead to growth and be the catalysts for some of your greatest successes. Hard work and perseverance will serve you well in every aspect of your life. Push yourself out of your comfort zone—you will be amazed at what you can achieve once you do. Always try to keep a positive attitude; it will make any situation better. As you start your career, keep in mind that your first job doesn’t have to be your dream job. You do not have to take a direct path to get to where you want to end up. Keep an open mind and be willing to explore new opportunities that come your way.
Kirsten Ferguson ’93
Director of Publications, American Farmland Trust
- BA, English, Vassar College
- Pending MA, English, University at Albany
- Assigned Career Cluster: Environment/Sustainability
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Advertising/Marketing/Public Relations; Entertainment/Media; Environment/Sustainability; Nonprofit/Social Justice; Writing/Publishing
- LinkedIn Profile
In her role at American Farmland Trust, Kirsten manages the writing, design, and publication of print materials for the national conservation organization. She also does freelance writing and editing for several other conservation groups and is a music and arts writer for newspapers, magazines, and websites. She and a partner also run JetPack Promotions, a music and arts promotion company.
Advice to Students:
Don’t be afraid to major in English—there are many careers in communication-related fields. Also don’t be afraid to consider working for a nonprofit or academic institution—what you may sacrifice in salary, at least to start, you can often make up for with increased benefits, quality of life, and time to explore other interests. When working in communications, it’s best to diversify your skills and explore multiple avenues of interest.
Amber Footman ’13
Analyst, Mele Associates
- BA, International Studies and Russian Studies, Vassar College
- MA, European and Eurasian Studies, The George Washington University
- Assigned Career Cluster: International Affairs/Global Careers
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Government/Public Service
- LinkedIn Profile
Amber Footman is an international affairs professional living and working in the Washington, DC metro area. After graduating from Vassar in 2013 she completed a master’s in European and Eurasian studies at the George Washington University. During her master’s program, Amber interned at the U.S. State Department, which was instrumental in starting her career as a federal contractor who has supported the State Department, Department of Defense, USAID, and currently the National Nuclear Security Administration. In 2017 she joined the Peace Corps and served as a Community Development Volunteer, employing program management, editing, translation, and public speaking skills gained through her higher education and professional life to serve her community.
Advice to Students:
Create a master résumé with every task and skill, along with the address and phone number of each employer. Create a separate copy that you edit down for each position. This sounds tedious, but it makes the application process so much easier.
Patricia Franz ’01
Intelligence Analyst, Federal Bureau of Investigation
- BA, Hispanic Studies and Sociology, Vassar College
- EdM, Higher Education Administration, Harvard University
- Assigned Career Cluster: International Affairs/Global Careers
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Government/Public Service
As an Intelligence Analyst at FBI Headquarters in Washington, DC, Patricia generates intelligence products employing research and analysis of global policy issues. She briefs stakeholders in Washington and overseas to stay current on threats and trends. Prior to occupying her current role with the FBI in DC, Patricia worked as a Spanish Linguist in the FBI Pittsburgh office where she supported investigations and provided specialized analysis of foreign documentation. Previously, Patricia worked at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City as a Desk Officer with the International Bureau of Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs and managed police professionalization programs for Mexican police forces. Before working in Mexico City, Patricia was a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State, and was last posted at the U.S. Consulate General in Monterrey, Mexico. As a Vice Consul, she supervised a visa unit and worked closely with inter-agency partners in Mexico to advance border security. Prior to her federal government career, Patricia worked in Massachusetts, New York, and Connecticut in education, marketing, and real estate management.
Advice to Students:
Working for the federal government is an act of public service. It is a way to give back to your community and country and can be very meaningful, rewarding work. There are numerous opportunities to work for the U.S. Government and many agencies to explore at the local, state, and federal levels. It is worth job shadowing, networking, and applying to more jobs than one might consider typical, in order to get a foot in the door.
Karina German ’16
Dean of Academics, Success Academy Charter Schools
- BA, Biology, Vassar College
- Assigned Career Cluster: Education
- LinkedIn Profile
Karina has served Success Academy Charter Schools in several capacities for the past six years. For three years, she was an eighth-grade math teacher and was rewarded with Success Academies’ internal Excellent Teacher Award in 2017. Karina was also recognized in the New York Post and on Fox News for her scholars’ outstanding achievement on the New York State Algebra I Regents: 100 percent of her eighth graders received a five out of five on the Algebra I Regents exam in 2019.
Before becoming the Dean of Academics, Karina was the Dean of Mathematics at Success Academies’ High School of the Liberal Arts. She oversaw the high school’s math program, collaborated with curriculum developers on the development and implementation of curriculum, and managed the professional development of the school’s math teachers.
As the current Dean of Academics at Success Academies’ first high school, Karina oversees the development of the school’s 55 teachers and five assistant principals. Karina provides coaching, training, and feedback to staff members concerning the quality of their learning environment, intellectual preparation and planning, and general performance concerning the school’s goals and priorities. Karina’s inspiration for going into the education field was her own experience in New York City Public Schools. She wanted to be part of a system that genuinely prepared kids to not only get into great colleges, but to be able to persist once they’re there. In her six years working alongside her fellow educators, she knows she is part of an organization doing just that. One hundred percent of scholars from the last four graduating classes have been accepted into four-year colleges, many of which were highly selective schools, and most of which were a great financial fit for scholars and families.
Advice to Students:
Take advantage of all the classes Vassar has to offer. You never know where you might find your passion. Have a plan for yourself and work hard, but not for the sake of working hard. Take time to get to know yourself and what work will make you feel your best self every day.
Lisa Goldberg ’11
Scientific Program Manager, Taconic Biosciences
- BA, Neuroscience and Behavior, Vassar College
- PhD, Biomedical Neuroscience, Boston University School of Medicine
- Assigned Career Cluster: Scientific Research
- LinkedIn Profile
Lisa’s long-standing interest in neuroscience began at Vassar and propelled her into her PhD in neuroscience at Boston University School of Medicine. After completion of her PhD, she began post-doctoral training at Penn State University in biobehavioral health. Her research interests include behavioral genetic underpinnings of addictions. Throughout her research, she has presented at international conferences and published peer-reviewed papers and book chapters. She currently is a Scientific Program Manager at Taconic Biosciences, applying her research expertise and leadership experience to managing customer research programs at the mouse genetic biotech.
Advice to Students:
Don’t be afraid to advocate for yourself—you are the only person who can always be looking out for you.
Anabel Graff ’09
Founder/Writing Coach, Creative Connections Essays
- BA, English and Film, Vassar College
- MFA, Fiction, Texas State University
- Assigned Career Cluster: Writing/Publishing
- LinkedIn Profile
Anabel Graff is a writer and writing coach. She received her BA from Vassar College and her MFA in Creative Writing from Texas State University. She is the winner of the 2014 Prada Feltrinelli Prize and The Fiction Desk’s 2015 Ghost Story Competition. Her work has appeared in Day One, Prada Journal, Joyland, Joyland Retro, the Chicago Tribune’s Printer’s Row, Story|Houston, The Fiction Desk, and the Southhampton Review. She has taught in colleges, communities, and high schools in Texas, New York, and, most recently, in Alabama as the Writer-in-Residence at a boarding school. She is the founder of Creative Connections Essays, which helps students learn how to write college essays that stand out from the stack.
Advice to Students:
1. The most exciting thing about desire is not the successful fulfillment of it. Actually, it is the momentum and direction it takes you on, and how that forward movement alchemizes every molecule of your being into a more alive version of yourself as you step forward away from familiarity and towards the unknown.
2. And even the heartbreak of thwarted desire is still worth it because the pursuit still awakened these dormant parts of you, revealed a strange beauty and loveliness within yourself you never knew could exist within you.
3. And in this rupture that extends to the deeper parts that which you never knew before existed, you get to plant new seeds. The acidity and texture of the soil within you is different because thanks to your desire, it has experienced new weather patterns, new natural phenomena, new ways of being. You will bloom wilder and stronger. Always thank your lucky stars for your desires. Even in heartbreak they never lead you wrong, they always lead you to a more you version of you.
-Yumi Sakugawa
Jesse Graff ’15
Chief of Staff to the CFO, Compass
- BA, Mathematics, Vassar College
- Assigned Career Cluster: Financial Services
- LinkedIn Profile
Jesse works as Chief of Staff to the CFO at the tech-enabled real estate brokerage Compass Inc., assisting with the company’s corporate and financial strategy. Jesse has worked on a variety of strategic initiatives, including Compass’s Initial Public Offering and private fund-raising rounds, as well as several acquisitions. Prior to working at Compass, Jesse spent two and a half years working at Deutsche Bank as an investment banking analyst in the Global Consumer Group, where he helped various public and private companies raise capital through both the equity and debt capital markets, and also provided advisory services for multiple acquisition and divestiture opportunities.
Advice to Students:
Take every interview you can get—even if it is for a job you don’t like. You can practice an interview with friends and family and teachers all you want, but there is nothing like the real thing. Every interview you take is another step toward perfecting your “bag of interview answers.” By the time you land the interview for your ideal job, you can draw on your past experiences and absolutely nail it.
Michael Graff P’09, ’15 (Reception Only)
Managing Director, Warburg Pincus
- BA, Economics, Harvard University
- MS, Finance, MIT Sloan School of Management
- Assigned Career Cluster: Financial Services
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Management Consulting
- LinkedIn Profile
Michael Graff is based in New York, joined Warburg Pincus in 2003 and is involved with the firm's Industrial and Business Services activities, focusing primarily on the Industrial sector. Prior to joining Warburg Pincus, he served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Bombardier Aerospace. Prior to that, Mr. Graff was a Partner at McKinsey & Company in New York, London and Pittsburgh. He is Chairman of Consolidated Precision Products and Wencor and a Director of TransDigm and Allied Universal. He is also the former Chairman of the United States Olympic Water Polo Committee and a member of the Board of the National Psoriasis Foundation. Mr. Graff received an A.B. in Economics from Harvard College and an M.S. from the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Advice to Students:
Find something you love to do and try to make a living doing it. Never use more words than necessary to get your points across.
Anne Green ’93
Principal Managing Director, G&S Business Communications
- BA, English, Vassar College
- MA, 19th Century American Literature, New York University
- ABD, 19th Century American Literature, New York University
- Assigned Career Cluster: Advertising/Marketing/Public Relations
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Financial Services, Health/Medicine, Management Consulting
- LinkedIn Profile
Anne Green is Principal and Managing Director, Business Consulting at integrated communications agency, G&S Business Communications. Her responsibilities include client counsel and consulting, new business, and key external relationships and co-leadership of the agency’s DE&I Task Force. She is the strategic lead for several integrated account teams across multiple industry sectors and specializes in executive media and presentation skills training. Previously she served as Managing Director of the G&S New York office, where she was responsible for strategic direction, growth, and operations. Anne had also served as President and CEO of CooperKatz & Company, the award-winning independent agency whose team she had helped to grow for 22 years prior to its acquisition by G&S.
Advice to Students:
This continues to be a very good time to reach out and connect with Vassar alums in fields that might interest you. We all know it’s been a challenging time to navigate college—and we want to help! Get active on VassarNet, start building out your LinkedIn profile and pick a few people to ask if they’d be open to a quick talk about their career trajectory after Vassar. Don’t be shy about emailing or reach out more than once!
Alistair Hall ’11
Senior Associate, Climate & ESG Services, KPMG
- BA, Urban Studies, Vassar College
- MBA, Bard College
- Assigned Career Cluster: Environment/Sustainability
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Education, Nonprofit/Social Justice
- LinkedIn Profile
Alistair supports corporate clients in the Energy and Consumer Retail sectors with their decarbonization goals. In 2021 he was selected to join the management team for the national launch of IMPACT, KPMG’s market facing brand for all ESG services across the audit, tax, and consulting functions. Prior to joining KPMG, he served as Vassar College’s first full-time Sustainability Director, working with students, faculty, and administrators on renewable energy and sustainability in the curriculum, as well as Vassar’s 2030 Climate Action Plan. He earned his MBA in Sustainability from Bard College, where he had the opportunity to meet with and advise Patagonia senior leadership on their carbon neutrality goals and support a Seattle-based grocery store chain with their net-zero new store-design standards as an EDF Climate Corps Fellow. He continues to serve as a Teaching Assistant for the program in courses on Leading Change.
Outside of work he loves being outdoors, gardening, and figuring out what his next art project will be.
Advice to Students:
Have so many informational interviews; don’t underestimate the power of reaching out to folks on LinkedIn or elsewhere out of the blue. Want to learn about what someone’s role entails? Ask for 15 minutes of their time and find out!
Tucker Hughes ’01
Division Chief, U.S. Army Center for Army Analysis
- BA, Economics, Vassar College
- MA, Economics, George Mason University
- MMS, Military Studies, Marine Corps University
- Assigned Career Cluster: Government/Public Service
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: International Affairs/Global Careers, Technology
- LinkedIn Profile
Tucker currently runs the Resource Analysis Division at the U.S. Army’s Center for Army Analysis, where he leads a team of military and civilian analysts performing a broad spectrum of analyses of Army forces, resources, and processes for the institutional Army. The division is also the agency lead for difficult-to-define Army-wide initiatives that often require applying analysis and data science in innovative ways. Previously, Tucker led the agency’s Strategic Analysis and Integration Division, where he oversaw its international cooperative agreements program as well as the largest hiring action in the agency’s recent history.
A career civil servant, Tucker has also worked at U.S. European Command and U.S. Africa Command in Stuttgart, Germany; in the Headquarters, Department of the Army’s Strategy Plans and Policy Directorate; and in the Army’s Office of Business Transformation.
As both an operations research and systems analyst and a strategist, he has extensive experience with quantitative and qualitative analysis of topics including the stationing of Army forces, the requirements for Army forces to meet national military strategy, and the feasibility of plans for major convention combat.
Advice to Students:
How you present what you have done is at least as important as what you actually did.
Learning to write and verbally present complex ideas clearly and concisely is an underrated talent, and one that will pay dividends no matter where you end up working.
Take every opportunity that you can to get comfortable presenting, even if just in small group settings.
Beth Huntley-Fenner ’88
CFO and Principal Consultant, Huntley-Fenner Advisors, Inc.
- BA, Mathematics, Vassar College
- MS, Applied Math, Brown University
- Assigned Career Cluster: Technology
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Financial Services, Health/Medicine
- LinkedIn Profile
Beth is the co-founder of Huntley-Fenner Advisors, a 12-year-old human factors consulting firm. As CFO and Principal Consultant, Beth manages everything relating to finance, operations, and HR, in addition to consulting. Truly, she does a little bit of everything—such is the life of a small-business owner!
Beth has consistently had one foot in business strategy and the other in technology. Her wide-ranging career has included positions in a variety of business sectors, including VP of Medical Analytics at Apria (healthcare), Special Bid Desk Manager at Toshiba (technology), and Product Manager at Marcam (manufacturing software). She has held positions in IT, finance, sales operations, managed care, and marketing. Flexibility, getting up to speed quickly, establishing high-achieving teams, and implementing organizational change have been hallmarks of her professional career.
On the personal side, Beth is passionate about politics, women’s health justice, disability rights, and travel. She has served as treasurer of a PAC, been the campaign manager for a local school board candidate, served on the Special Education Community Advisory Committee Board for her school district, and is working hard to cram in as many adventures as possible (anyone up for hiking in the Guyanese rainforest, skydiving in the Hudson Valley, or wine tasting in Bordeaux by bicycle?).
Advice to Students:
1) Worry less about your major and more about excelling at whatever you do. Many people I know ended up in careers that had nothing to do with their college majors. High-quality work, creativity, and an excellent work ethic will get you noticed and create opportunities for you.
2) Believe it or not, you already have a network! Every relationship you establish—at Vassar, at work, and in your community—broadens your network and can serve you well. Even random connections can change your life.
Gavin Huntley-Fenner ’90
CEO, Huntley-Fenner Advisors, Inc.
- BA, Cognitive Science, Vassar College
- PhD, Brain & Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Assigned Career Cluster: Scientific Research
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Environment/Sustainability, Health/Medicine, Law/Legal Services
- LinkedIn Profile
Gavin is a human factors and safety consultant. He received his PhD in Brain and Cognitive Sciences (MIT 1995) and became a university professor but left academia in 2001 to join management consulting firm McKinsey & Company. For the past 12 years, he and his wife, Beth, have run their own science and engineering consulting firm. They help corporate and law firm clients regarding risk perception and safety of motor vehicles, medical devices, and consumer products. Gavin is regularly sought out as an expert regarding human factors more generally, involving visual and auditory perception and decision-making and risk communication.
Gavin is passionate about public service at the intersection of science and public policy. Today he serves on the steering committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), Committee for Environmental Health Matters. He served as an elected school board member in Irvine, CA, in the 2000s. Gavin is an avid distance runner and an erstwhile drummer. Among his proudest band moments: opening for Fugazi in the Villard Room in 1990.
Advice to Students:
1. Take risks. Most of us engage in risky actions, but few of us take risks mindfully. Don’t let fear of failure or of being dissuaded prevent you from assessing opportunity in a clear-minded way.
2. The kids are alright. Consideration of young children’s perspectives and questions is a great place to embark on lifelong learning.
3. You’re going to be okay. It helps to reserve your greatest energy for those things that may stress you but are within your control.
Alexa Jordan ’17
Playwright/Actor, Self-Employed
- BA, Drama, Vassar College
- Assigned Career Cluster: Writing/Publishing
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Education, Entertainment/Media, Nonprofit/Social Justice, Performing Arts/Arts Administration, Visual Arts/Arts Administration
- LinkedIn Profile
Alexa Juanita Jordan is a playwright and actor. She has written multiple full-length and one-act plays. Fine, a drama about a therapist and her patients, was awarded the Marilyn Swartz Seven ’69 Playwriting Award at Vassar College and was recently featured on the “Unstaged” podcast. Additionally, Alexa’s play 5AM Pancakes was performed at Northfield Mount Hermon High School’s one-act play festival in December 2021.
Alexa was featured in the New York Times in spring 2018 for her performance in There’s Blood at the Wedding at the La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club. In 2020, she performed in various virtual productions with Bay Area Theater, Women’s Theatre Festival, and American Indian Community House. In 2021, she performed in a reading of her new full-length play, The Flower and The Fury, a drama following three pregnant women as they contemplate abortion.
In addition to acting and writing, Alexa has worked in education, development, and arts administration. She currently serves on the board of directors at the Juanita James Memorial Scholarship Foundation and CultureHub, where she was the associate producer and outreach coordinator for Turning Your Body into a Compass, a 360° livestream web story.
You can learn more about Alexa and her work at alexajuanitajordan.com.
Advice to Students:
1. Get to know your professors, and stay in touch! My mentor and good friend, Catherine Filloux, only taught me for one semester at Vassar, but she has had an invaluable impact on my life and career.
2. Get curious about classes and activities outside of your major. I never would have written a play about a therapist without all of the psychology classes that I took on a whim. (Including neuroscience—which I took senior spring as an NRO!)
3. Take advantage of all that Vassar has to offer—not just the popular things, or the things that your friends are doing. It sounds cheesy, but there are so many ways to carve out your own unique path. I really believe that no two Vassar experiences are the same—and that’s an amazing thing in itself.
John Joyce ’12
Access and Communications Coordinator, Dickinson College
- BA, Latin American and Latino/a Studies, Vassar College
- MAT, Social Studies and English, The Evergreen State College
- Assigned Career Cluster: Education
- LinkedIn Profile
John is an educator who has worked in both public and private K-12 schools as well as higher education. He currently serves as the Access and Communications Coordinator at Dickinson College. In that role, he works directly with students to coordinate disability-based accommodations, as well as with faculty and other colleagues in implementing those accommodations. He also supports students in developing academic skills to more successfully transition from the high school to the college academic environment. Previously, he worked as a middle school teacher, primarily with Special Education and English Language Learner students at schools in Montana, Washington, and Virginia. At Vassar, John majored in Latin American and Latinx Studies with a correlate sequence in Geography (Society and Space). He was a member of the Vassar Animal Rights Coalition, published a student guide to campus resources called Navigating Vassar, and was an anthropology research assistant and Ford Scholar.
Advice to Students:
Stay curious. Whether you already have a sense of where you’d like to go post-Vassar or you have no idea, don’t stop talking to people whose work you find compelling, who you admire, or who approach things differently than yourself. Explore what it is you find interesting about life and work, even (and maybe especially) when that exploration doesn’t have a clear end goal. You truly never know what kind of connection or opportunity you’ll discover by asking questions of interesting people—particularly members of the Vassar community!
Jayant Kairam ’08
Director of Global Public Policy, Walmart
- BA, Geography and Urban Studies, Vassar College
- MPP, Housing & Urban Development, Harvard Kennedy School
- Assigned Career Cluster: Environment/Sustainability
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Government/Public Service, Nonprofit/Social Justice
- LinkedIn Profile
Jay is currently Director, Global Public Policy for Walmart. He helps oversee and design the company’s public policy positions and engagement strategy with policymakers, trade associations, and NGOs and functions as a lead policy advisor to internal business units in supporting the company’s pursuit of zero emissions by 2040. Notably, he has authored Walmart Board–approved positions on carbon pricing, developed principles on advancing zero-emissions transportation and tackling plastic waste, and co-led the Walmart delegation to COP26 in Glasgow. He has policy expertise in environmental issues across the areas of climate, waste, clean energy, and biodiversity at all levels of government and internationally. Prior to joining Walmart, Jay served in leadership roles in and out of local government and environmental nonprofits. He was Director of Programs for the National Association of Counties and helped raise major philanthropic support for NACo’s technical assistance and best-practice programs to member county governments. He has worked for the City and County of San Francisco and interned for the Mayors of Boston and Louisville. Jay served as a Senior Advisor and Deputy Commissioner in the Bloomberg Administration, leading efforts to reduce the environmental footprint of the solid waste system. As lead for Environmental Defense Fund’s clean-energy campaign in California, he oversaw strategic advocacy at the legislature and PUC to advance the state toward a clean-energy future. Jay graduated from Vassar in 2003 and is a 2010 graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School and a returned Peace Corps Volunteer. He sits on the boards of FUSE Corps and the Anacostia Watershed Society, and is a mentor for the Clean Energy Business Network. He lives in Washington, DC, with his wife and daughter.
Advice to Students:
Balance curiosity with healthy skepticism. Take a 360 approach to unpacking an issue, building your career, and the work of your colleagues. My work on climate policy is connected to everything, and every economic sector has a stake in it. I’m intentionally curious about it. But I keep it rooted in my values—intergenerational equity. What will be your moral anchor?
Personal relationships will always matter. Take time to build trust. Go beyond the noise and transactional character of networking. Ask where someone comes from, and about their family, so you can understand a little about how their world view has been shaped.
Kindness, empathy, and a genuine willingness to listen really, really matter, and people will embrace you for it.
Do what you can to stay optimistic—travel, music, friends, community. Whatever will keep you grounded and hopeful.
John Kane ’02
Senior Policy Advisor and Subcommittee Staff Director for Water Policy to Democratic U.S. Senator Tom Carper, Chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee
- BA, Sociology, Vassar College
- Assigned Career Cluster: Government/Public Service
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Environment/Sustainability, Nonprofit/Social Justice
- LinkedIn Profile
John Kane is Senior Policy Advisor and Subcommittee Staff Director for Water Policy to Democratic U.S. Senator Tom Carper, Chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee. In his current role, John and his team oversee the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency activities related to both drinking water and clean water activities, hazardous waste and general waste management, and ecosystem restoration. The water policy group also oversees the Federal Emergency Response Agency (FEMA) and the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, the agency tasked with managing waterway infrastructure, coastal storm risk management, and flood control.
John has held this role for the last five years, and during that highly partisan time, led the staff that has passed and signed into law two major water resource laws that reformed the Army Corps of Engineers, reauthorized (for the first time in 30 years) the drinking water and wastewater infrastructure programs used by the EPA to help communities address drinking water and waste water needs, and oversaw the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which was signed into law on November 15, 2021. The $1.2 trillion contained in the IIJA is the largest investment in American infrastructure since the New Deal.
Advice to Students:
Never be afraid to say I don’t know or to ask for help.
Shigeru Kaneki ’18
Research Assistant, The Rockefeller University
- BA, Neuroscience and Behavior, Vassar College
- Assigned Career Cluster: Scientific Research
- LinkedIn Profile
Shigeru was a neuroscience major and pre-med at Vassar College. After graduating in 2018, he joined the Strickland Lab at Rockefeller University. His projects focused on the role of a high-fat diet on Alzheimer’s disease progression and the use of an immunosuppressant to mitigate Alzheimer’s pathology. Their findings were recently published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s and Dementia.
In the lab, Shigeru can be found analyzing the protein and RNA mainly through IF, IHC, western blot, and RT QPCR. He and his team are currently working to understand the specific lipids and pathways involved. For the immunosuppressant project, Shigeru and a post-doc are actively working to create an acute model and bring it to clinical trials.
Advice to Students:
As a sophomore, it is a great time to take advantage of all the research opportunities available on campus. I suggest reading the research and joining the lab of your liking. Some Vassar students are able to publish their findings, which looks great on a résumé. In addition to on-campus research, use your summers to learn about research at different facilities. I immersed myself in both basic and clinical science during my summers at Vassar. These opportunities taught me a wide range of techniques and helped me land my current job. Finally, previous exposure to mouse work can be very beneficial when applying for research assistant positions.
Jessie Kastenbaum ’13
Speech-Language Pathologist, NYC Department of Education
- BA, Psychology, Vassar College
- MS, Speech-Language Pathology, Boston University
- Assigned Career Cluster: Education
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Health/Medicine
Jessie is a speech-language pathologist at a NYC Department of Education high school in Manhattan. Her caseload includes students with language-based learning disabilities, articulation disorders, reading and writing disabilities, and hearing loss, as well as students who are autistic and students who stutter. She is a proponent of neurodiversity-affirming therapy and strives to help her students succeed in high school and beyond. Jessie works with students on skills such as building vocabulary, reading comprehension, structuring essays, making inferences, spelling, listening comprehension, speaking, and self-advocacy. Jessie provides services to students both in and out of the classroom, sometimes meeting with students in small groups in a speech therapy room, and sometimes co-teaching in special education and general education classrooms to provide contextualized linguistic support. Jessie assesses her students’ progress on their speech and language goals and participates in Individualized Education Program meetings, where progress and recommendations are discussed with parents, teachers, and students. In addition to her duties as a speech-language pathologist, Jessie also runs a theater club, Dungeons and Dragons club, and book club.
Advice to Students:
Don’t worry too much about picking the right major. Your liberal arts education will prepare you for a wide variety of fields and careers. Take your time figuring out what you want to do and don’t be afraid to change your mind. You may not like the first field you start out in—that’s okay! You will still learn something about yourself, and you can apply that to the next field you try. And always remember that your career isn’t everything—having a good work-life balance is important!
Steve Kauderer ’85 P’24
Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company
- BA, American Culture, Vassar College
- MBA, Yale School of Management
- Assigned Career Cluster: Management Consulting
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Financial Services
- LinkedIn Profile
Steve helps organizations achieve breakthrough performance, which leads to profitable growth and improved customer and employee experience. He works across strategy, operations, and organization, with a particular focus on advanced analytics and digital innovation. He works most often with financial services/insurance companies.
Advice to Students:
You are each at an amazing place in your journey. Vassar is a very special school, and I encourage you to take it all in—academics, extracurricular activities, etc. Try to find your passion and spark by stretching into new areas. In terms of finding careers that excite you, please reach out to many alums and get a sense of what’s out there. Try a summer internship in an area that you’re interested in, even if it’s outside your comfort zone. Experiment and have fun as you get inspired.
Michael Kiel ’14
Business Intelligence and Data Intern, City of Austin
- BA, Geography and German Studies, Vassar College
- Pending MA, Global Policy Studies, University of Texas at Austin
- Pending MA, Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, University of Texas at Austin
- Assigned Career Cluster: International Affairs/Global Careers
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Education; Government/Public Service; Nonprofit/Social Justice
- LinkedIn Profile
Michael Kiel is pursuing masters’ degrees in global policy studies and Russian, East European, and Eurasian studies at UT Austin. He grew up near Houston before attending Vassar College from 2010–2014, when he graduated as a double major in geography and German. He has worked as an immigration paralegal, as a Fulbright teaching assistant in Austria, and as an Assistant Director at the Oliver Scholars Program in New York City. Currently, his master’s research focuses on Russian development assistance and media influence in the Balkans. During graduate school, he has interned with the City of Austin’s Public Works Department, the U.S. Embassy in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and a civil society organization in North Macedonia (the Balkan Civil Society Development Network). He plans to graduate in May and hopes to enter federal service or re-enter the nonprofit sector to work as a specialist in monitoring and evaluation. He is passionate about biking, printmaking, and upstate New York.
Advice to Students:
When I was twenty-two, I received some of the best guidance I ever had and often repeat it to myself, which was to remember that I was “collecting experiences” in my early career. Personally, and professionally, it can be good to have a five- or even ten-year plan. However, in the early stages of your career, it’s also important to try new things. As you are looking for your first jobs or internships, I recommend staying flexible and casting a wide net. If you help your team, then the work—and your career—will develop from that commitment.
Shari Leventhal ’85 P’24
Of Counsel, Sullivan & Cromwell
- BA, Political Science, Vassar College
- JD, Georgetown University Law School
- Assigned Career Cluster: Law/Legal Services
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Financial Services
- LinkedIn Profile
Shari D. Leventhal is a member of Sullivan & Cromwell’s Financial Services Group. Shari focuses her practice on regulatory enforcement matters, complex litigation, and external and internal investigations. She has substantial investigative and trial experience in matters involving economic sanctions, financial fraud, cross-border payments, cybersecurity, money laundering, and the FCPA.
Prior to joining Sullivan & Cromwell, Shari spent 18 years with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Legal Group, where she served as the Deputy General Counsel and Senior Vice President responsible for the Enforcement, Litigation, and Investigations Division. Before joining the New York Fed, Shari served as an Assistant United States Attorney with the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.
Advice to Students:
Career paths are rarely linear. Be open to changing directions because sometimes the best opportunities come up unexpectedly. Don’t worry about taking the “right” classes for your résumé or grad school application; focus on what you are passionate about. Vassar gives you so many opportunities to explore different subjects, and by doing that, you will become a better critical thinker—and that’s the best skill you can bring to any career.
Asher Levinthal ’08
Director, Bad Fact Productions
- BA, Sociology, Vassar College
- JD, University of Pennsylvania School of Law
- Assigned Career Cluster: Law/Legal Services
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Entertainment/Media, Nonprofit/Social Justice
- LinkedIn Profile
Asher Levinthal is a documentary filmmaker and attorney. He received his JD from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he served as the Articles Editor of the Journal of Law and Social Change. After graduation, Asher worked as a family defense attorney at the Bronx Defenders, a holistic public defender office in the Bronx. As a family defense attorney, he represented parents accused of child neglect and abuse and fought to reunite families that had been separated by the family regulation system. In 2016, Asher moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to co-found Still She Rises, the country’s first public defender office devoted exclusively to representing women. Asher returned to the Bronx Defenders as a family defense supervisor before leaving in late 2020 to direct a documentary film inspired by his work as a public defender.
Advice to Students:
Life is long. Slow down. You do not need to rush. A professional career will be waiting for you when and if you want it. Follow your heart about what you really want to be doing. Don’t be afraid to reach out to people for advice or support. We only have one life to live, and you want to make sure you feel fulfilled, whatever that means to you.
Adam Levite P’24
Creative Director, Mynt Music
- BA, English and Philosophy, University of Vermont
- Assigned Career Cluster: Advertising/Marketing/Public Relations
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Entertainment/Media/Performing Arts, Visual Arts/Arts Administration
- LinkedIn Profile
Adam is an independent creative director, designer, commercial director, music video director, and branding specialist with over 20 years of experience building category-defining brands and award-winning commercials and videos. Adam’s expansive skill set and striking visual style have made him a go-to creative partner and project whisperer for Fortune 500 brands, scrappy start-ups and more than the occasional rock star. Working fluidly across identity, graphics, and video, Adam brings craftsmanship and future-minded innovation to clients and storytelling projects of all sizes.
Advice to Students:
My only advice is, to the best of your abilities, roll up your sleeves and create, strive, wrestle and fail as many times as you can for as long as you can. Then take a break and do it again.
Jeanine Liburd ’92
Chief Social Impact and Communications Officer, BET/ViacomCBS
- BA, Urban Studies, Vassar College
- MPP, New School for Social Research
- Assigned Career Cluster: Advertising/Marketing/Public Relations
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Entertainment/Media/Performing Arts, Nonprofit/Social Justice
- LinkedIn Profile
Jeanine D. Liburd is the Chief Social Impact and Communications Officer for BET Networks, a unit of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB) and the leading provider of quality entertainment for the African American audience and consumers of Black culture globally. In her role, Liburd leads and elevates a portfolio of multiplatform social-change initiatives that empower BET Network’s audience to have an impact on the critical issues facing the Black community today, as well as the network’s corporate communications, social responsibility, and events teams. She works closely with the network’s programming, marketing, digital, and international teams to utilize content as a catalyst to create awareness and build action-oriented impact campaigns around issues such as voter registration, voter suppression, and the 2020 census. She also works with other Viacom departments to align and amplify key campaigns. Additionally, she has oversight of strategic partnerships and community engagement at the local and national level, ensuring community issues and insights are incorporated into BET’s long-term strategy, programming, and events.
Advice to Students:
Stay informed: Resources are everywhere—use them!
Stay connected: Your network will power your career—nurture it!
Stay excited: Passion is everything—find yours and the rest will come!
Stay human: Be good to yourself—physically & mentally—and be good to others!
Amisadai Licea ’19
Program Manager, Community Investment Corporation (Tuscon)
- BA, Economics and German Studies, Vassar College
- Pending MPA, Local Government and Nonprofit Management, University of Southern California
- Assigned Career Cluster: Non-Profit / Social Justice
- LinkedIn Profile
Amisadai Licea holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, German Studies, and a Minor in Latin American and Latinx Studies from Vassar College. While at Vassar, he was involved in a multitude of extracurriculars, serving on the executive board for MEChA, Poder Latinx, and The Latinx Student Union. He currently works for Community Investment Corporations (CIC), a local economic development nonprofit, where he is the program manager for the Tucson Pima Eviction Prevention Program. His responsibilities include providing training and support to 50+ case managers, building strategies to maximize program efficiency, handling elevated cases, and general program oversight. The experience he gained in this role inspired him to pursue a Master of Public Administration at the University of Southern California to study how the concept of collaborative governance can be used to address complex social issues. Upon completion of his Master’s, Amisadai hopes to obtain a job at a local government and pursue a career as a public administrator.
Advice to Students:
Welcome every opportunity that comes your way and approach it with an open mind, you never know where it might lead you or what you might discover about yourself in the process. After graduation, you may see classmates immediately enroll in graduate school or land the job of their dreams. Some people have known what they want to do since they were in elementary school, but most of us are not that lucky. Do not let it discourage you, be kind to yourself and allow yourself the time to explore your options and interests. We all get there eventually, it just takes some people a little more time than others.
Rachel Ludwig ’18
Agent Assistant, David Black Agency
- BA, English and French and Francophone Studies, Vassar College
- Certificate, Publishing, Columbia University
- Assigned Career Cluster: Writing/Publishing
- LinkedIn Profile
After graduating from Vassar, Rachel attended the Columbia Publishing Course and then accepted a position at Georges Borchardt, Inc. Literary Agency. There, she learned the ins and outs of agenting: working with authors and publishers, reviewing contracts, managing royalties, and licensing subsidiary rights. Specializing in foreign and film rights, she worked with a wide range of authors from the estates of Aldous Huxley and Tennessee Williams to Novuyo Tshuma and Elizabeth Wetmore.
In May of 2021, she moved to the David Black Agency, where she assists lead agent David Black with clients like Chef Daniel Boulud, Billie Jean King, and the Estate of Lorraine Hansberry. She also represents her own clients in both the fiction and nonfiction space, with a focus on family sagas, narratives that challenge accepted norms, and marginalized voices.
Advice to Students:
Take advantage of the opportunities and resources that Vassar has to offer while you’re still a student. The folks at the CDO are incredibly knowledgeable and are always willing to help you form connections. Cultivate a relationship with a counselor at the CDO in your junior or senior year and check in with them regularly. Whether you want to apply to graduate school, internships, jobs, work abroad, etc., they will help you create a post-grad plan.
Once you enter the workforce, know what makes your contributions valuable, be confident in your skill set, and try to make time to foster your creativity and curiosity!
Morgan Mako ’11
Family Nurse Practitioner & HIV Specialist, Lynn Community Health Center
- BA, Religion, Vassar College
- MSN, Family Nurse Practitioner, Yale University
- Assigned Career Cluster: Health / Medicine
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Education, Government/Public Service, Non-Profit/Social Justice, Scientific Research
- LinkedIn Profile
Morgan is a board-certified family nurse practitioner (AANP) and HIV specialist (AAHIVM) and an active member of the National Health Service Corps (NHSC). He completed additional post-graduate nurse practitioner fellowship training (2018-2019) at The Institute for Family Health (NYC) and prepared as an FNP through the Yale University School of Nursing (2015-2018) direct-entry Master’s Graduate-Entry Pre-Specialty in Nursing (GEPN) program, earning a certificate of nursing and Master of Science in Nursing degree. As a practicing Zen Buddhist, his experience with meditation informs his understanding of health, illness, wellness, disease, and suffering. He is particularly interested in community health, caring for LGBTQI+ and other underserved populations, integrative behavioral healthcare in the primary care setting, and evidence-based applications of psychedelic substances for psychotherapy. He specializes in HIV treatment and prevention (PrEP), hepatitis C, medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid addiction (buprenorphine, naltrexone, naloxone), psychopharmacology of mood disorders, advanced diabetes management, men’s health/sexual health, and transgender care/HRT. He provides full-scope primary care across the lifespan, including newborn/pediatrics, women’s health, contraception, and prenatal care. He speaks Spanish fluently.
Advice to Students:
Each and every single time you assume something about another person, you will always be wrong.
Susan Martinez ’15
Program Associate, Illinois Public Health Institute
- BA, Urban Studies, Vassar College
- MRP, Community Development for Social Justice, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Assigned Career Cluster: Nonprofit/Social Justice
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Government/Public Service
- LinkedIn Profile
At the Illinois Public Health Institute, Susan builds relationships with community collaborations developing their capacity for multisector data sharing through the Data Across Sectors for Health (DASH) program office and manages the daily operations of two funding programs. She has also contributed to publications, blog posts, and programming sharing the importance of community leadership in data-sharing initiatives.
At Vassar, Susan was involved in campus life as a Transitions mentor and CARES listener while juggling coursework and a work-study job at the ALANA Center. She worked in the nonprofit sector in New York City prior to graduate school, providing direct service to domestic violence survivors and other New Yorkers facing housing discrimination. As a graduate student, she supported research identifying key outcomes in multiracial coalition building in Dayton, Ohio.
Outside of work, she enjoys biking around Chicago and painting.
Advice to Students:
Networking can feel unnatural and takes some practice. You might’ve heard that before, but I know when I heard it for the first time, I was instantly relieved. One lesson in particular stuck with me from a mentor who told me, “You might not know what you want right now, but you can figure out what you DON’T want and start from there.”
Mary-Margaret McElduff ’17
Forensic Scientist, Philadelphia Police Department
- BA, Chemistry, Vassar College
- Assigned Career Cluster: Scientific Research
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Government/Public Service
- LinkedIn Profile
Mary-Margaret is currently working for the City of Philadelphia as a Forensic Scientist in the Firearms Identification Unit. Once her training as a Firearms Examiner is complete, she will testify in court based on her analysis of the evidence found during a criminal investigation. The project she is currently working on includes microscopically analyzing the fired cartridge cases from a crime scene to determine the number of distinct firearms present. The individual cases are then submitted to the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) database to provide hits to other scenes and give investigative leads to detectives.
Mary-Margaret worked in a variety of laboratories in Greater Philadelphia before moving to the public sector. She was a laboratory technician for a large brewing company, a forensic scientist at a private drug testing facility, and a research scientist for a biotech company specializing in the use of Bacillus species in various household and industrial products. After a few years of switching industries, Mary-Margaret is pleased to find herself serving the City of Philadelphia.
Advice to Students:
Interviews go both ways—don’t forget this is your opportunity to determine whether the job and the company are a good fit for you.
Time management and organizational skills are necessary tools to succeed in any job.
Know what you bring to the table, and don’t be afraid to reach out to anyone in the Vassar community.
Kat Mills ’93
Independent Musician/Owner, Sweetcut Music
- BA, Religion, Vassar College
- Assigned Career Cluster: Entertainment/Media/Performing Arts
- LinkedIn Profile
Kat Mills is a singer-songwriter, wife, mother, and activist based in the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia and known from New York to Nashville for her down-to-earth style and powerful voice. Working as an independent artist for over 20 years, Kat has built her own label and performing career one relationship at a time. Her fourth studio album, Silver, was produced with award-winning engineer and long-time collaborator Scott Petito in Catskill, NY. Kat has proudly been involved in Clearwater’s Hudson River Revival (NY), Floyd Fest (VA), Takoma Park Folk Festival (DC), and other events supporting social justice and environmental responsibility. She has shared studios and stages with Pete Seeger, Dar Williams, Jerry Marotta, and David Spinozza; has song placements in independent films and podcasts; and loves to appear as a backing vocalist for other acts. With vintage guitars, throwback threads, and a soulful original sound, Kat Mills reminds you of another era—but her work is for the here and now.
Advice to Students:
Keep it simple. Have a clear vision of what you love and what you value. Get rid of clutter. Stay healthy. And keep the long view in mind.
Kenneth Morford ’06
Assistant Professor of Medicine, Yale School of Medicine
- BA, Neuroscience and Behavior, Vassar College
- MD, George Washington University School of Medicine
- Assigned Career Cluster: Health/Medicine
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Education
- LinkedIn Profile
Dr. Morford is an Assistant Professor at Yale School of Medicine. He trained as a general internist in the Yale Primary Care Residency Program and completed specialty training in addiction medicine. He provides primary care and addiction treatment services at the APT Foundation, a large nonprofit addiction treatment center, and also cares for patients on the addiction medicine consult service at Yale New Haven Hospital. He leads an interprofessional addiction training program for students, residents, and faculty and serves as an Associate Program Director for the Yale Addiction Medicine Fellowship Program. He teaches workshops related to addiction, harm reduction, bias and power dynamics in medicine, and integrating behavioral health into primary care. He has a passion for medical humanities and enjoys mentoring students at Vassar.
Advice to Students:
I often meet with students who feel rushed to figure out what to do with their lives. Take your time. We make our best decisions when we slow down and reflect. Stay curious, notice the things you really care about, and reach out for help when you feel stuck. There’s a community here to support you along the way.
Kelly Bush Novak P’24
CEO & Founder, Self-Employed
- Assigned Career Cluster: Entertainment/Media/Performing Arts
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Advertising/Marketing/Public Relations
- LinkedIn Profile
Kelly Bush Novak launched her company in 1993 with three unknown clients and a surplus of now legendary tenacity. Renamed ID a year later, her agency celebrated its 28th anniversary in 2021, representing over 1,500 high-profile clients supported by a dedicated team of 100 in New York and Los Angeles, including the most respected publicists in the industry. Achieving her vision of a full-service agency collaborating on behalf of talent, brands, philanthropic organizations, music, filmmakers, content creators, athletes, and technology leaders, Kelly oversees all aspects of ID’s business. She personally represents exceptional talent including Pamela Adlon, Javier Bardem, Alfonso Cuarón, Lena Dunham, Hannah Gadsby, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, John Legend, Janelle Monáe, David Oyelowo, Seth Rogen, Denis Villenueve and Serena Williams. In 2008, Kelly founded VIE Entertainment, where she manages Oscar-nominated actor, producer, and activist Elliot Page. She continues to represent her first major client, acclaimed actor Sir Patrick Stewart, whom she introduced to the social media landscape with unprecedented results. Not one to miss an opportunity, she encourages you to follow him on Instagram @sirpatstew.
Advice to Students:
Ensure that your online presence aligns with your values and objective in life. Be the change you want to see in the world.
Andrea Orejarena ’17
Freelance Fine Artist, Self-Employed
- BA, Cognitive Science, Vassar College
- Assigned Career Cluster: Visual Arts/Arts Administration
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Entertainment/Media/Performing Arts
Andrea Orejarena is a Colombian-born American video artist. She received a BFA from Vassar College in 2017. Her work employs the subversive power of play and fantasy to examine the American dream’s underbelly and the ways media and technology influence our desire and agency. Orejarena has been nominated for major photographic awards including the W. Eugene Smith Grant and, most recently, a nomination for the Benrido/Hariban Award selected by the Tate Modern Senior Curator Yasufumi Nakamori. Her work has been published in Vogue Italia, ID Vice, and Port Magazine, among others. Her work is in public and private collections including the Nguyen Art Foundation and the Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee private collection. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Vincom Center for Contemporary Art in Hanoi, Vin Gallery in Ho Chi Minh City, The Curators Room in Amsterdam, and the Museum of the Moving Image in New York. She has a forthcoming book to be published by Jiazazhi Press, Long Time No See, made as an artist duo with Caleb Stein with text contributed by Do Tuong Linh and Forensic Architecture.
Advice to Students:
If I had to choose one piece of advice that has changed my way of thinking and working immensely, it would be to have fun and engage with everyone and everything.
Carol Ostrow ’77 P’09, ’15 (Reception Only)
President, Carol Ostrow Consulting (COC)
- BA, Drama, Vassar College
- MFA, Yale School of Drama
- Assigned Career Cluster: Entertainment/Media/Performing Arts
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Nonprofit/Social Justice
- LinkedIn Profile
Carol Ostrow’s executive leadership experience comes from her years as a theater producer. Ostrow began producing at Vassar, where she developed and founded the Powerhouse Summer Theater. She went on to become producing director of the award-winning Classic Stage Company and, in the wake of 9/11, became the producing director of The Flea, where she produced over 100 world premieres’ productions and spearheaded the construction of a three-theater performing-arts complex in Lower Manhattan. [Paragraph Break] Ostrow blends her theater administrative skills with a broad range of volunteer experience. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of Vassar College, and chairs the development committee and also serves on the Yale School of Drama Board of Advisors. She is the chair elect of the National Psoriasis Foundation and also co-chairs the Sag Harbor Partnership. [Paragraph Break] She received her BA from Vassar College and her MFA from the Yale School of Drama.
Advice to Students:
Follow your heart, but think with your head. There are a lot of options for your work life out there, but you have to know what you want in order to go for it. Remember that life is long, and careers take time to build. Sometimes it’s not a straight shot. You cannot choose your boss, but if you find a good one, cling. Like a cherished teacher or coach, that person in charge can become a guide for life and a colleague, too. Developing relationships is as important as building your resume. Remember that your professors at Vassar are people, too, who can provide you with career advice. Don’t be afraid to ask them about what they did to get where they are today.
Rhea Rakshit ’07
Senior Director of Product, Sourcemap
- BA, Economics, Vassar College
- MS, Development Studies, London School of Economics and Political Science
- MFA, Design for Social Innovation, School of Visual Arts
- Assigned Career Cluster: Environment/Sustainability
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Nonprofit/Social Justice, Technology
- LinkedIn Profile
Rhea is a Brooklyn-based product leader interested in applying the principles of human-centered design, systems thinking, and behavioral science to build high-impact, scalable solutions for values-driven organizations. Originally from Mumbai (India), Rhea is currently Senior Director of Product at Sourcemap, the leading provider of supply-chain mapping, traceability, and transparency software. A 2011 spinoff from MIT’s Media Lab, Sourcemap is used by manufacturers and brands globally to account for the end-to-end supply chain, measure their performance toward public commitments, and manage some of today’s most challenging supply-chain issues, including deforestation and labor compliance. Deeply committed to social and environmental justice, Rhea has followed her passion by choosing to focus her education and career on working with companies that are driving real, systemic change. She has over 10 years of experience working with social businesses in India and the United States, and holds a BA in Economics from Vassar, an MSc in Development Studies from the London School of Economics, and an MFA in Design for Social Innovation from the School of Visual Arts.
Advice to Students:
Being curious is an invaluable character trait that will take you very far in finding your path and building your career, and what better place than Vassar to fully exercise the breadth of experience that a liberal arts education can offer. Take advantage of stretching your perspectives, challenging your own beliefs, and really learning how to listen. The best designers (and leaders) are usually also the best listeners.
Alyx Raz ’16
Curatorial Associate and Digital Marketing Manager, The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center
- BA, English and Film, Vassar College
- MFA, Creative Writing, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
- Pending PhD, English and Film, The Graduate Center, CUNY
- Assigned Career Cluster: Visual Arts/Arts Administration
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Education; Writing/Publishing
- LinkedIn Profile
Alyx Raz is a poet from Ohio now based in New York City. Currently, they’re pursuing their PhD at The Graduate Center, CUNY and work as a Curatorial Associate and Digital Marketing Manager at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center. They earned their BA at Vassar College in English and Film and their MFA at UMass Amherst studying under Peter Gizzi, Lynn Xu, and Ocean Vuong. A founding editor and current editor-at-large of the Vassar Review, they have worked for Jubilat, Slope Editions, and across publications and curatorial at the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art. They are a recipient of an Academy of American Poets Prize, and a finalist for Omnidawn’s 2018 Book Contest and Nightboat Books’ 2020 Book Prize, among others.
Advice to Students:
As a young creative and scholar currently in the throes, know the humanities and academic tracks are increasingly competitive. To navigate such transitory fields, I’ve found it helpful to diversify your professional experiences, advocate for yourself, and above all else, keep your mentors and peers close. This sounding board and sense of support can start at Vassar, soften the turbulence, and of course carry your craft, whatever that may be.
Siobhan Reddy-Best ’13
Talent Agent, 10 Talent Agency
- BA, Victorian Studies, Vassar College
- Assigned Career Cluster: Entertainment/Media/Performing Arts
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Advertising/Marketing/Public Relations
- LinkedIn Profile
Siobhan is a Talent Agent at 10 Talent Agency in Chicago, IL. She represents actors for their work in all areas of the entertainment industry, with a special focus on television, film, and stage work. Her personalized, heart-centered, and developmental approach to talent representation is influenced by her own experiences as an actor. She relishes finding actors the opportunities (both professional and training) that will further their careers and bring them closer to their goals. She has successfully nurtured the careers of those just starting out as well as mid-career actors pivoting from another area of the entertainment industry and is proud to have booked many actors in their first roles on reputable stages like Steppenwolf and Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and network television shows such as The Big Leap, Chicago Med, Chicago Fire, and Chicago PD.
As a former Vice President of Philaletheis, Shakespeare Troupe alum, and founding member of Britomartis, she is thrilled to still be telling stories and finding connections.
Advice to Students:
Indulge your curiosity as much as possible and let it lead you to the type of work you find fulfilling.
Grace Roebuck ’20
Research Scholar, Centre for Advanced Design Research and Evaluation at HKS Architects (CADRE)
- BA, Psychological Science, Vassar College
- Assigned Career Cluster: Non-Profit / Social Justice
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Scientific Research; Visual Arts/Arts Administration
- LinkedIn Profile
For the past few years, Grace Roebuck has pursued a path in non-profits and neuroaesthetics research. Currently, Grace is a Research Scholar with the Center for Advanced Design and Research Evaluation (CADRE), the nonprofit research branch of HKS Architects. Her research focuses on how the built environment of affordable care senior living facilities can influence social capital in pandemic resilient ways. Outside of her research, Grace is also the Elks Scholar Fellow for the Elks National Foundation (ENF), where she does community-building work with the ENF’s scholarship recipients.
Prior to starting with CADRE, Grace worked as a Research Assistant with Johns Hopkins International Arts + Mind (IAM) Lab and as the Director of Operations and Fellowship with the Center for Conscious Design (CCD).
Advice to Students:
The best thing to ever happen to me came from an opportunity I never got. In the process of applying to the Watson Fellowship, I spoke with someone who connected me to the Conscious Cities Festival–which happened to be in New York City the following month. I ended up volunteering at that conference, found myself absolutely engrossed with the material, and fell in love with the field of science-informed design. I never ended up getting the fellowship, but It’s at that conference that I made connections which later led to my postgraduate offers with Johns Hopkins IAM Lab, CADRE, The CCD, and the Human Metric Studio. So, while getting rejected can be discouraging, keep an open mind to where else it might lead, and always, ALWAYS, network.
Lindsey Sample ’20
Data and AI Technical Sales Specialist, Public Market, IBM
- BA, Cognitive Science and Neuroscience and Behavior, Vassar College
- Assigned Career Cluster: Technology
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Government/Public Service, Health/Medicine
- LinkedIn Profile
Lindsey is a Data and AI Technical Sales Specialist in the Public Market at IBM. She helps clients in the health care and life sciences spaces and state government agencies to get better insights from their data. She is passionate about the ways we can utilize technology and, more specifically, data and AI to improve outcomes in health care, medicine, and public welfare. Her role includes traveling to clients to give live or remote demos of IBM’s Data and AI software, creating demos for new use cases (such as homelessness recidivism, student retention, chronic disease prediction, justice cycle optimization, etc.), leading proof-of-concept engagements, and generally ensuring the technical win by showing how IBM’s technology can help clients overcome challenges and achieve their goals. At Vassar, Lindsey double majored in neuroscience & behavior and cognitive science, and had correlates in economics and computer science. Also at Vassar, Lindsey was a member of the Vassar Night Owls, a student fellow in Main (though her first-year dorm was Raymond), and President of the Vassar Business Club. She now lives in NYC where she serves as the Young Alumni Chair for the Vassar Club of New York.
Advice to Students:
1) Instead of “what am I doing for the rest of my life,” think “what will I try next!” Use internships as a chance to test out jobs you are considering, and start as early as possible. Each summer allows one free trial of a new job/career/role/industry to find out what you’d like in a full-time opportunity post-grad.
2) When thinking about possible careers or jobs, think about two levels. First, the big picture: Is the overall mission of the role/company one that you care about and are motivated by? Second, the day-to-day: Are the day-to-day tasks something that you enjoy? Do you prefer working with people? On a screen? With your hands? Look for a role that checks both the big-picture and day-to-day enjoyment boxes.
3) Be proactive and take initiative. From what I’ve seen, this is the single biggest indicator of success.
Caroline Sarles ’13
Senior Marketing and Client Service Manager, Martin Investment Management, LLC
- BA, Political Science and Psychology, Vassar College
- CFP, Financial Planning, Northwestern University
- Assigned Career Cluster: Financial Services
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Advertising/Marketing/Public Relations
- LinkedIn Profile
Currently a Senior Marketing and Client Services Manager at Martin Investment Management, LLC in Evanston, Illinois, Caroline is a Certified Financial Planner professional with a passion for personal finance education. As a financial advisor, Caroline works with clients to analyze their current financial situation and seek courses of action to help them reach their goals. This includes reviewing retirement planning and readiness, investment portfolios, insurance needs, saving for education expenses, estate planning, and other areas of a client’s financial life, as well as working with a team of professionals such as lawyers and accountants to provide expert advice on a wide range of topics. In her current role, Caroline also oversees the design and implementation of marketing campaigns, updates the firm’s marketing materials, and completes due diligence questionnaires for clients and prospective clients. While at Vassar, Caroline double majored in political science and psychology, served as Music Director and Business Manager of Measure 4 Measure a cappella, and participated in student theater productions with Future Waitstaff of America (FWA), Idlewild Theatre Ensemble, and Philaletheis Society.
Advice to Students:
It is okay to find yourself pulled in a different direction than you had envisioned for your career. New experiences in the broader world may spark curiosity in areas that were not part of your core academic interests at Vassar, leading you to industries you had never considered as a career path. If the work is compelling, but the traditional framework of the industry does not align with what you want to accomplish, there are probably others who share your goals. Every industry needs innovators to maintain relevance with new generations, and a diversity of backgrounds and perspectives offers the best chance for this evolution.
Tim Serkes ’14
Senior Product Designer, Amazon
- BA, Physics, Vassar College
- BE, Engineering, Dartmouth College
- MS, Human Computer Interaction, University College London
- Assigned Career Cluster: Technology
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise:
- LinkedIn Profile
Tim is a product designer at Amazon Web Services currently building a new and exciting product that will shape future of developer experiences globally. For the last six years he’s been designing products while working in San Francisco, London, and now New York City. I have a passion for designing user-centered products that are compelling, intuitive, and purposeful. Tim holds a Master’s in Human-Computer Interaction from University College London, a bachelor’s of engineering degree from Dartmouth College, and a bachelor's degree in physics from Vassar College.
Advice to Students:
Before settling on a career path to pursue I sought out 1:1’s with alums that allowed me to ask questions I couldn’t answer with research myself. Through these conversations (and even some job shadowing!) I tried on different career hats and that helped me make a better, more informed decision for myself.
Adam Shapiro ’11
Director of Marketing, Fuku
- BA, Sociology, Vassar College
- Assigned Career Cluster: Advertising/Marketing/Public Relations
- LinkedIn Profile
Adam Shapiro is a born-and-bred New Yorker with an appetite. Since graduating from Vassar College in 2011, he’s held marketing positions at NY-based food and hospitality concepts like Peanut Butter & Co., Shake Shack, Just Salad, and Fuku, where he currently serves as Director of Marketing. Adam lives in Harlem and is a proud cat dad to Waffles.
Advice to Students:
Be shameless (yet respectful) in your approach to networking! Even the most distant connection can get your foot in the door.
Anthony Shih P’25
President & CEO, United Hospital Fund
- BA, Economics, Amherst College
- MD, New York University School of Medicine
- MPH, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
- Assigned Career Cluster: Health/Medicine
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Nonprofit/Social Justice
- LinkedIn Profile
Tony is a physician and nonprofit executive who has spent his entire career working to improve healthcare policy and practice. He is currently President of United Hospital Fund (UHF), a nonprofit established in 1879, whose mission is to build an effective and equitable healthcare system for every New Yorker through public policy research and analysis, as well as developing and supporting innovative programs that improve patient and community health. Tony has held senior executive positions at several leading New York nonprofits, including Executive Vice President at the New York Academy of Medicine, Executive Vice President for programs at the Commonwealth Fund, and Chief Quality Officer at IPRO. He began his medical career at a community-based mental health clinic serving immigrant and refugee families in Oakland, CA. Tony is board certified in preventive medicine and public health, and is nationally recognized for his expertise in health policy, health system performance improvement, quality improvement, and population health, as well as for his commitment to underserved and historically disadvantaged populations.
Advice to Students:
Health care is always changing—be open to exploring nascent fields, as oftentimes these are the areas where the greatest opportunities lie. Try to get comfortable with risk and uncertainty. Continuously work on improving your communication skills. Do what you can to help others in their career development.
Yasmeen Silva ’15
National Field Manager, Population Connection Action Fund
- BA, International Studies, Vassar College
- Assigned Career Cluster: Non-Profit / Social Justice
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: International Affairs/Global Careers
- LinkedIn Profile
Yasmeen spends her days working to make sure everyone has access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive rights. She is passionate specifically about ending toxic masculinity that fuels violence towards and control of women’s bodies. Prior to organizing on the #Fight4HER (Health, Empowerment, and Rights), Yasmeen worked as a field organizer and coalition manager across the country on issues ranging from anti-militarism and anti-nuclear issues, a $15 minimum wage to climate justice. She also ran a voter registration office prior to the 2016 election. As National Field Manager, she brings issue connections to light to build strong, intersectional coalitions that fight for justice and to empower volunteers to fight for a world they want to see.
Advice to Students:
Be fearless about reaching out. The worst someone can say is no. People are often excited to talk about their work and offer connections, especially in this current moment. People across the country, world, and various disciplines are so much more accessible and willing to engage. So find out who you want to talk to, do your homework, and reach out.
Rahul Sood P’25
Senior Vice President, Go to Market, New Initiatives, Palo Alto Network
- BS, Computer Science, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi
- MBA, Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta
- Assigned Career Cluster: Technology
- LinkedIn Profile
Rahul Sood leads the GTM of the new Initiatives team at Palo Alto Networks. He joined Palo Alto Networks with over twenty years of experience in cloud services and platforms, during which he held leadership roles at Facebook, Google, SAP, and McKinsey; and founded multiple billion-dollar businesses. Rahul brings a diverse skill set across product management, ecosystem development, and business building. His experience in cloud technology extends across productivity applications, business applications, and IT/Dev platforms. Rahul earned his BS in computer science from IIT Delhi and his MBA from IIM Calcutta. Rahul and his wife, Mansi, live in Los Altos with their two daughters and their puppy, Pippin, who frequently joins him on Zoom calls.
Sabrina Stacks ’20
Financial Services Consultant, West Monroe
- BA, Psychological Science, Vassar College
- Assigned Career Cluster: Management Consulting
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Financial Services
- LinkedIn Profile
Sabrina is a Financial Services Consultant at West Monroe, where her clients are primarily banks, payments services, and credit unions. Currently, she is heading up a near-prime consumer lending internal initiative where she and her team are devising digitally centered solutions to sell to target lending companies, with the goal being to ultimately offer these services as a specialty within the Financial Services practice. She is also wrapping up a client facing project for an international bank focused on record retention. Outside of her client facing and business development work, Sabrina is the New York Office Lead for WMPride, the company’s national LGBT group, and captains the West Monroe team in an NYC Corporate Tennis League.
Advice to Students:
Utilize any and all connections you have, whether they be from the alums network, your family, your friends’ families, etc. A referral goes a much longer way than your stand-alone résumé in a general application portal.
Evelyn Starr ’87
Chief Brand Strategist, E. Starr Associates
- BA, Economics and French and Francophone Studies, Vassar College
- MBA, Boston College
- Assigned Career Cluster: Advertising/Marketing/Public Relations
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Management Consulting, Writing/Publishing
- LinkedIn Profile
Evelyn Starr is an author, brand expert, and marketing consultant with over 25 years of marketing strategy and research experience. Evelyn uses her keen powers of observation and insight to help her clients wow their customers and grow their businesses. She specializes in working with Brands in Adolescence—brands that have stalled after their initial success.
Evelyn’s book, Teenage Wastebrand: How Your Brand Can Stop Struggling and Start Scaling, was published in April 2021.
Her clients have ranged from small businesses like Laird Superfood and Harbor Sweets to global brands like Hasbro and Gillette.
Before founding E. Starr Associates in 1999, Evelyn worked for some of New England’s most recognized brands including Dunkin’, Veryfine Products and The First Years. As leader of the Care & Safety category at The First Years, she launched one of the company’s most successful products, the Hands-Free Gate, which won The National Parenting Seal of Approval in 2002.
Living in the Greater Boston area, her passions include travel, reading, writing, yoga, tea, dark chocolate and nurturing the entrepreneurial spirit in both her husband and her two children.
Advice to Students:
Think of networking as connecting and building relationships with people you like and admire. Look for ways to help your connections, and they will be happy to help you. This is about putting good karma into the world and not necessarily a "quid pro quo" situation.
Eli Stein ’12
Senior Product Manager, Postlight
- BA, International Studies, Vassar College
- Assigned Career Cluster: Technology
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Advertising/Marketing/Public Relations, Education, Entertainment/Media, Nonprofit/Social Justice
- LinkedIn Profile
Eli is a Senior Product Manager at Postlight, a digital product, strategy, design, and engineering agency headquartered in NYC. There, he helps bring digital products to life for a wide range of clients, helping them understand the problem and the strategy, and then working with a diverse team of designers and engineers to build the solution.
Prior to joining Postlight, Eli has worked in a variety of industries ranging from Education to Politics to Logistics. He started his career after graduating from Vassar in the world of Admissions before moving into Advertising and then Tech.
Eli is also involved in the Vassar Club of New York, serving on the Board and with the alums interviewing.
Advice to Students:
Be curious! The job that you’re going to spend most of your career in probably hasn’t been invented yet, so follow your curiosity and passion. Make sure you’re pausing to reflect on what you learned as well as liked/disliked about each role as you take that next step forward.
Harrison Taylor ’20
Research Assistant, MDRC
- BA, Educational Studies and Neuroscience and Behavior, Vassar College
- Assigned Career Cluster: Education
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Nonprofit/Social Justice
- LinkedIn Profile
Harrison currently works as a Research Assistant for MDRC, an education and social policy research organization within the Families and Children policy area. His policy area focuses on low-income families with preschool-aged children and younger. He helps with all aspects of research from implementing programs to producing publications. One of the reports he worked on was just published, titled “Long-Term Effects of Enhanced Early Childhood Math Instruction.” Before working at MDRC, he served as the Assistant Director of Alumnae/i Engagement at Vassar.
Advice to Students:
It’s okay to not have a step-by-step plan for yourself following graduation; don’t be afraid to reach out to alums for help and follow the classes that bring you the most joy!
Sarah Tempel ’14
Senior Analyst, U.S. Government Accountability Office
- BA, History, Vassar College
- Master of International Affairs, National Security and Diplomacy, Texas A&M University - The Bush School of Government and Public Service
- Assigned Career Cluster: Government/Public Service
- LinkedIn Profile
After graduating from Vassar in 2014, Sarah worked as an event coordinator for one year before enrolling at the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University. She graduated from the Bush School with a masters of public international affairs in 2017.
Since receiving her Master’s, Sarah has worked as a Senior Analyst for the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), an independent, nonpartisan agency that provides Congress and federal agencies with information to help the government save money and work more efficiently. Sarah works in the Contracting and National Security Acquisitions team supporting a wide variety of engagements related to federal contracting and major acquisition programs. Her work at GAO has touched on topics ranging from Department of Defense counterdrug efforts to the federal contracting response to Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria; the 2017 and 2018 California wildfires; and COVID-19.
Advice to Students:
Figure out the things that really and truly matter to you, whether that’s working on a particular issue or achieving a certain level of work-life balance, and relentlessly pursue opportunities that will take you closer to those goals. Don’t be afraid to reject opportunities that would divert you from where you really want to be.
Wesley Thompson ’13
Associate Director of Donor Relations, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
- BA, Neuroscience and Behavior, Vassar College
- Assigned Career Cluster: Visual Arts/Arts Administration
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Nonprofit/Social Justice
- LinkedIn Profile
Wesley is a passionate donor relations officer and fundraiser committed to creating strong and sustainable cultures of philanthropy. He is the Associate Director of Donor Relations at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF)——the de Young in Golden Gate Park and the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park. In his role, he oversees strategy for donor programming and stewardship, manages multi-channel donor communication and promotion plans, and supervises renewal, acknowledgment, and benefit-fulfillment processes for themMuseums’ Patrons Circle and Leadership Circle annual giving programs.
Prior to FAMSF, he was Development Manager at Filoli in Woodside, CA, a vibrant landscape of the Bay Area comprising a historic house, formal gardens, and a vast nature preserve. He was the organization’s first dedicated development staff person and coordinated several efforts including the annual fund, special projects, grants, sponsorships, donor events, and impact communications, significantly increasing donor engagement, and contributed revenue annually during his four-and-a-half-year tenure.
Wesley is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and Association of Donor Relations Professionals.
Advice to Students:
1. Go to class and take advantage of office hours.
2. Be curious and ask questions.
3. Don’t be afraid to say “I don’t know”–those words are not a reflection of your intelligence, skill, or effort.
4. Trust yourself.
5. Take up space.
6. Bring integrity to all you do.
7. Build your communication skills–verbal and written.
8. Invest in your work and personal relationships.
9. Appreciate your journey. There is no one path to success (whatever that means for you).
10. Not advice, but a reminder: You are more than your major. You are more than your degree. You are more than your career. You are more than what you earn.
Dave Tobias ’83 P’16
Director of Land Acquisition Program, NYC Department of Environmental Protection
- BA, Biopsychology, Vassar College
- MS, Environmental Sciences, Yale University
- Assigned Career Cluster: Environment/Sustainability
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Government/Public Service
- LinkedIn Profile
After receiving my MS degree, I was immediately hired by The Nature Conservancy, where I spent seven years honing real estate skills in the interest of conservation. I then joined NYC in my current position as Director of Land Acquisition, focusing on long-term protection of drinking-water supplies, land stewardship, conservation easements, and public recreation.
Advice to Students:
Network, network, network! In addition to WHAT you know, new opportunities are very often dependent on WHO you know and the connections you maintain!
Archit Tripathi ’09
Editor, Literally Media
- BA, Psychology, Vassar College
- Assigned Career Cluster: Entertainment/Media/Performing Arts
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Writing/Publishing
- LinkedIn Profile
Archit Tripathi is a writer and editor who has worked with some of the web’s most beloved entertainment brands. He currently works at Literally Media, supervising editorial and content strategy.
Advice to Students:
We all wanna get paid, but working for knowledge can be more rewarding in the long run. Sometimes a crappy, underpaid job can still give you chances to expand your skillset—which gets you paid later on.
Saúl Ulloa ’15
Latin America & Global Policy and Advocacy Officer, International Rescue Committee
- BA, International Studies, Vassar College
- MA, Arab Studies, Georgetown University
- Assigned Career Cluster: International Affairs/Global Careers
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Government/Public Service, Nonprofit/Social Justice
- LinkedIn Profile
Saúl is a Policy and Advocacy Officer with the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in Washington, D.C. In close collaboration with the IRC’s offices abroad, he covers diverse issues such as humanitarian financing reform, the decolonization of international aid, humanitarian access, and the implications of UN Security Council resolutions on the IRC’s operations around the world. His portfolio primarily covers the Venezuela Regional Response and the IRC’s work in Afghanistan, in addition to system-wide reforms. As a Policy and Advocacy Officer, Saúl leverages the IRC’s status as both an operational humanitarian NGO and advocacy organization to deliver policy recommendations that make sense given conditions on the ground in service to the IRC’s clients around the world. Additionally, as a first-generation college graduate, Saúl makes a concerted effort to mentor other underrepresented groups in the foreign affairs field.
Advice to Students:
Never be afraid to ask for advice! Take a look at the LinkedIn profile of someone you admire. What steps did they take along the way to reach their current position? Where did they go to graduate school? What did they study? Where did they intern? Reach out to them and ask about their experiences.
You certainly don’t need to follow their path to the letter, but it’s important to learn from the experiences of others who have been in your place before and are where you want to be in the future.
David Vannier ’99
Founding Partner, Georgetown Advisory LLC
- BA, History and Italian, Vassar College
- MA, International Economics and International Law, Johns Hopkins University/SAIS
- Assigned Career Cluster: International Affairs/Global Careers
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Advertising/Marketing/Public Relations, Financial Services, Government/Public Service
- LinkedIn Profile
David is the founder of Georgetown Advisory LLC, an advisory firm specializing in sovereign advisory and debt restructuring, geopolitical and risk analysis, and crisis management and communications. Previously, David worked for the International Monetary Fund: From 2015 to 2020, he served as an advisor, and the IMF chief of protocol, in the cabinets of successive IMF Managing Directors Christine Lagarde and Kristalina Georgieva. In this role, he briefed the heads of the IMF, providing advice on a wide spectrum of issues and topics, as well as drafting and editing speeches and public communications. From 2008 to 2015, reporting directly to Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Christine Lagarde, he coordinated external stakeholder engagement and drafted speeches and written contributions. From 2006 to 2008, he worked on brokering alignment on various policy, crisis, and country decisions. Prior to joining the IMF, David worked as a developmental economist, after teaching in Asia. From 2003 to 2005, he worked for the World Bank, first in Africa and subsequently in Asia. Previously, David worked as a Financial Economist for the Crédit Lyonnais (2002 to 2003), after having written for the Financial Times and Business Week.
Advice to Students:
As daunting as identifying a career path seems, do not anguish over it. The days of "find a job you love, and never work another day" are in many ways long gone. Indeed, whereas your grandparents tended to have a single career, spent in the employ of one company or institution, you will have multiple careers, spanning numerous fields, including some that do not yet exist! As such, your future should be governed by the fact that the only person you will spend the rest of your life with is yourself. Therefore, find causes you care about, and strive to make the world a better place. And do not forget that, as Mike Tyson aptly put it, “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” Thus, leave plenty of room for curiosity and serendipity.
Eli Vargas ’16
Senior Democracy Campaigner, Greenpeace USA
- BA, International Studies, Vassar College
- Assigned Career Cluster: Nonprofit/Social Justice
- LinkedIn Profile
Eli Vargas is an experienced advocate with more than seven years in working on immigrants’ rights, environmental justice, and indigenous rights on the international, national, and state/local levels. Eli has worked to advance policy through electoral campaigns, on UN human rights country reviews for the U.S. at the border, on state level ballot measures, and on the federal level through legislative and administrative advocacy. Eli has a deep network in the immigrants’ rights space and has helped coordinate immigrants’ rights movement visioning retreats with the executive directors and staff of over 60 immigration organizations.
Eli has recently joined Greenpeace USA as a Senior Democracy Campaigner to lead their advocacy efforts combating antiprotest legislation in states across the U.S. At the American Civil Liberties National Political Advocacy Department, Eli has built out programming related to climate displacement and the intersections of immigration, indigenous justice, and environmental justice. Eli is Maya K’iche’ and advocates for the Mayan diaspora in the U.S. and indigenous rights in his free time as a member of the International Mayan League team.
Advice to Students:
Reach out to people for information interviews. It never hurts to ask people for their time and ask questions about their journey to where they’re at now. The worst they can say is no, and many people are happy to speak about themselves.
Be kind to yourself along your career journey. There’s no one formula for finding career success and fulfillment.
Fred Vogelstein P’23
Author/Investigative Journalist, Self-Employed
- BA, Political Science, Pomona College
- Certificate, Business and Economics Journalism, Columbia University
- Assigned Career Cluster: Writing/Publishing
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Advertising/Marketing/Public Relations, Entertainment/Media, Health/Medicine, Technology
- LinkedIn Profile
Fred Vogelstein is an author and investigative journalist based in Silicon Valley. For more than two decades—at Wired, the New York Times Magazine, and Fortune—he’s chronicled the region’s transformation from a tiny computer industry hub into ground zero for the most powerful, and now controversial, companies on the planet. They include some of the earliest investigations into Bill Gates’ fear of Google, the smartphone wars, and both the rise and now the growing pains of Facebook. His 2013 bookDogfight: How Apple and Google Went to War and Started a Revolution was published in 17 countries. He’s been a finalist twice for the Gerald Loeb Award, business journalism’s top prize. He’s also written about his family’s struggles with epilepsy, a 10-year journey that drove them to become early users of the ketogenic diet and to help jump-start development of the 2018 drug Epidiolex.
Advice to Students:
College teaches you how to think—to expand your mind through reading, debate, and friendship. Asking a good question is often more important than knowing the answer. You’ll use that knowledge and brainpower in the workplace at some point. But you probably won’t immediately. What you’ll use more at first is the part of your brain you no doubt take for granted—the part that enables you to show up for appointments on time, do what you’re asked with minimal supervision, and do it without complaint. Don’t take this skill for granted, however. Being reliable is easy to do for a few months. But keeping it up week after week, during summers or on weekends, when there are other things you’d rather be doing, can be really hard. Embrace this challenge. It will make you feel staid and unspontaneous sometimes. But it’s the foundation of any success. Few will care about all the brainpower and creativity you bring to a workplace if you haven’t proven you are someone who can be counted on.
Jennifer Williams ’18
Special Assistant to the President, Research, Council on Foreign Relations
- BA, International Studies, Vassar College
- Assigned Career Cluster: International Affairs/Global Careers
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Government/Public Service
- LinkedIn Profile
Jennifer is the Special Assistant to the President at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). In that role, she conducts research on foreign policy issues connected to the work of the President. Daily activities also include drafting, editing, fact-checking, and providing administrative support to the President and Chief of Staff. Following graduation in 2018, she was a U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholar in Morocco and a yearlong Vassar Ann Cornelisen Graduate Fellow in Jordan. Following those fellowships, she worked for a year as a paralegal. Her work in law showed her how much she missed foreign policy, and she was excited to rejoin the field in 2020 at CFR. During her time at Vassar, she worked as the International Studies intern (among other positions), studied abroad in Jordan with CLS and Egypt for her entire junior year, interned for CFR, and—when time permitted—played intramural soccer.
Advice to Students:
Don’t be afraid to deviate from the plan. By that same token, try to operate with an open mind and try things that challenge you. There will always be help if you seek it. And don’t forget to add personal happiness to the goals you set for yourself!
Kristin Woods ’08
MSW Student, Smith College School for Social Work
- BA, Psychology, Vassar College
- Pending MSW, Smith College School for Social Work
- Assigned Career Cluster: Health/Medicine
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Government/Public Service, Nonprofit/Social Justice
Kristin is currently pursuing a master’s degree at Smith College School for Social Work. She provides therapy to students through Smith College’s Counseling Services as a Social Work Intern. Kristin approaches clinical work with a trauma-informed, psychodynamic, and social justice lens. As an emerging clinician of color, she is interested in strengthening her understanding and utilization of somatic modalities to address trauma (including racialized trauma). After graduating from Vassar, she moved to Brooklyn to begin her career in community-engaged work. Her professional experiences include supporting survivors of relationship and sexual violence, applying a health equity lens to neighborhood emergency preparedness/resilience at the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, supporting an NYC mayoral initiative to address public safety concerns, and challenging systemic factors causing houselessness.
Advice to Students:
1. Careers take time to build—give yourself time and space to figure out what interests you, what sparks joy, and what feels meaningful to you (personally and professionally). 2. Allow yourself to be a lifelong learner. It’s okay to take some risks—accomplishments AND mistakes are both integral to your growth. 3. Developing meaningful relationships in and out of the workplace can be as important as your résumé and cover letter. You may not want to overlook the support, advice, and resources your friends/peers can offer.
Tanya Wright ’89
CEO, Hairiette of Harlem
- BA, Independent Program, Vassar College
- Pending MA, Education, Harvard University
- Assigned Career Cluster: Entertainment/Media/Performing Arts
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Education, Technology, Visual Arts/Arts Administration, Writing/Publishing
- LinkedIn Profile
Tanya Wright won a SAG award twice (Best Ensemble) for her portrayal of Crystal Burset on the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black. She also appeared on groundbreaking shows like True Blood, The Good Wife, Madame Secretary, 24, and NYPD Blue; Tanya made her television debut on The Cosby Show.
Tanya was an Independent Major at Vassar; her thesis was a comparative study between Frederick Douglass’ Narrative and Henry David Thoreau’s Walden. A two-time author, Tanya went on to write several screenplays and was a semi-finalist in the prestigious Nicholl’s Screenwriting Competition.
Tanya is currently a Master’s Candidate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education in support of her children’s educational franchise called Hairiette of Harlem, the story of a 7-year-old girl and her comb! In the Harvard Innovation Lab, she created a prototype for a Hairiette Learning App and a mobile school.
Advice to Students:
Follow YOUR heart.
You are the captain of your own ship.
Who cares what anyone else thinks.
Keep your eyes on your own page.
Do one thing every day to advance your cause.
Rest.
Eat Well.
Sleep.
Drink plenty of water.
Spend time with positive and inspiring people.
Be happy spending time alone.
Silence is good sometimes.
Stretch your body!
Tiffanie Young ’12
Storyboard Artist, Self-Employed
- BA, Media Studies, Vassar College
- Assigned Career Cluster: Visual Arts/Arts Administration
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Entertainment/Media
- LinkedIn Profile
Tiffanie Young is a freelance storyboard artist who draws frames primarily for the prep phase of live-action TV, commercial, and film shoots. Formerly a coordinator on staff at award-winning production houses Framestore and Smuggler, she brings a wealth of production knowledge to her love of cinematic storytelling. Whether expressing a director’s singular vision, finding creative solutions for shoot day, or brainstorming new ideas, she believes in saying more with fewer lines.
Tiffanie’s storyboarded films have won honors at Telluride and Locarno Film Festivals, screened at MoMA, and reside on permanent collection at Brooklyn Museum. Past commercial clients include Lexus, Samsung, HBO, and the ACLU.
Tiffanie also enjoys illustrating for print and digital projects, creating character designs and assets for animation, and painting on commission. She spends her time between New York and her native Los Angeles.
Advice to Students:
Incorporate as many diverse classes into your college experience as possible! You may never get another chance to take random classes just for the hell of it.
Interview companies when they’re interviewing you. Ask employers about dress code, work/life balance, or their least favorite thing about the job.
Meeraal Zaheer ’20
Research Associate, Maplight Therapeutics
- BA, Neuroscience and Behavior, Vassar College
- Assigned Career Cluster: Scientific Research
- LinkedIn Profile
Meeraal came to Vassar as an international student from Pakistan and found her primary academic interest shortly after attending her first neuroscience course in her freshman year. Currently, she works as a Research Associate at Maplight Therapeutics, a Silicon Valley biotech start-up founded by Stanford neuroscience professors. In this role, Meeraal investigates the circuitry of the human brain through the use of precision neuroscience methods in order to identify and validate novel therapeutic approaches to address central nervous system disorders. During her time at Vassar, she spent three years conducting research in the Zupan Lab, where she investigated the role of exercise on stress and further engaged with the field through neuroscience-focused summer programs at Duquesne University and Yale University.
Advice to Students:
Lean on the support of the people surrounding you; more often than not, they’re rooting for your success, too. You can never be too informed, so use your network to squeeze out as much information as you can—you’d be surprised by how many strangers are willing to help you. Take the help, but also fight for yourself and don’t undercut your achievements. Branch out of your comfort zone—this is the time in your life to take risks, and sometimes the opportunities you never expected end up being the most insightful and fulfilling. But most importantly, make sure your life is about you, and not just your work.
Huadi Zhang ’11
Project Leader, Boston Consulting Group
- BA, Biology, Vassar College
- PhD, Medical Sciences, Harvard University
- Assigned Career Cluster: Management Consulting
- Additional Career Cluster Expertise: Scientific Research
- LinkedIn Profile
Huadi is a Project Leader at Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where he works with private- and public-sector clients to advance growth and strategic agendas. His recent engagements include developing portfolio strategy for an innovative biopharmaceuticals company, enhancing health care value for a large health system, and defining an operating model for a global NGO. Prior to joining BCG, Huadi worked in drug/medical device regulatory policy and technology commercialization. A scientist by training, he obtained a PhD in Biomedical Sciences focusing on molecular mechanisms in cancer development. While at Vassar, Huadi was a resident of Jewett and Main, and a member of VISA.
Advice to Students:
Align your career path with your interests and the impact you want to make, and re-evaluate career trajectory regularly. Carry your intellectual curiosity into the career conversation: Learn about as many career options as you can and don’t limit yourself to the preset and the typical.