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CLASS NOTES
COLUMBIA COLLEGE TODAY
COLUMBIA COLLEGE TODAY
CLASS NOTES
specialty food company. Fianco a
Fianco (fiancoafianco.com) makes
sweet-savory cookies, such as
biscottini al pesto, inspired by our
time in Italy. Last spring I was
pleasantly shocked to run into
Simone Sebastian at a farmers’
market — she’s a reporter at The
Houston Chronicle. We get together
every now and again to complain
about the humidity and how much
we miss NYC. Dan and I expect to
be down here through next summer,
so holler if you find yourself
in the Bayou City.”
Chelsea (Walsh) Beser writes,
“I recently joined Montage Legal
Group as the lead attorney for
New York and am responsible
for Montage’s expansion to New
York. Montage Legal Group is a
nationwide network of experienced
freelance attorneys who work for
law firms on a project basis. I live
on the Upper West Side with my
husband and son, Jacob Robert,
who was born on October 26.”
04
Angela Georgopoulos
200 Water St., Apt. 1711
New York, NY 10038
aeg90@columbia.edu
With fall under way, I hope that all
the members of the Class of 2004
are enjoying the season. Please send
your latest updates to me at the
email or postal address at the top of
the column. It’s a great way to stay
connected.
05
Peter Kang
205 15th St., Apt. 5
Brooklyn, NY 11215
peter.kang@gmail.com
It’s always nice to get first-time
submissions from classmates. Mike
Vary writes, “My wife, Jaclyn Matayoshi
’06, and I have never submitted
a Class Note, so I figured it’s time.
We’ve been back in my hometown
of Cleveland for three years. Jackie
graduated Case Western Reserve
Law School and took the bar in July.
All this with a 2-year-old, Lucas. We
are truly blessed and busy! I work at
UBS in Cleveland and Jackie is starting
at a boutique estate planning law
firm in the fall.”
Anil Kumar and Tanvi Desai
were married on February 25 in
San Juan, Puerto Rico. They were
wed under sun-drenched skies in
a traditional but humorous Hindi
wedding, after a raucous bharat
involving dancing groomsmen and
a gun-shy white horse. Columbians
in attendance included Fareed
Melhem, Harmony Davis, Liz
Down, Mike Camacho, David
Kim ’06, Nishant Dixit ’07 and
Suma Pratyusha Tumuluri ’05E.
Meredith “Merry” Boak married
Joshua Biber in June in Vermont at
the Round Barn Farm. Joining her
was Keri Wachter as her maid of
honor, Jackson Shafer as a reader
in the ceremony and Paul Wright,
who stole the show (as usual) as
the fabulous emcee at the reception.
Eva Rosen ’05 Barnard and
Justin Ifill ’06 also shared the special
day. Merry, Keri, Jackson, Eva and
Justin were all part of Notes and
Keys a cappella during their time at
Columbia and relished the reunion,
singing and dancing the night away.
Jacob Shell and his wife, Ize,
celebrated their first anniversary in
March. In July, Jacob started as an
assistant professor of geography
and urban studies at Temple.
Our classmates continue to
make strides in their education and
careers. Andy Rios will be pursuing
an M.B.A. at the Haas School
of Business at UC Berkeley this fall.
Ted Goldman earned a doctorate
in music composition from Juilliard.
He will be on the faculty at
Eastman School of Music, teaching
music theory, starting this fall.
Cary D’Alo Place earned a
master’s of architecture from Rice in
2008 after which she took some time
to be a Teach for America corps
member north of Baton Rouge, La.
She now is a designer with Odell
Associates in Richmond, Va.
Katie Henderson Adams
writes: “Since graduation I’ve been
working in book publishing while
obtaining my master’s in English
literature from NYU. I was married
in September to Benjamin Adams
in my hometown of Exeter, N.H.,
with many Columbia and Barnard
alums in attendance (Conor
McNamara ’03E, Christina Norris
McNamara ’05 Barnard, Frank Angones,
Peter Mende-Seidlecki ’07,
Lee Havlicek ’09 Barnard, Sarah
Matteucci, Ali Rohrs ’07, Pat Higgiston
’04E, Meredith Fuhrman,
Rami Raff ’06 GSAS, Sandy London
’02, Amanda McCroskery ’06
and Tanya Franklin). I’m an editor
at Liveright, a newly relaunched
imprint of W.W. Norton, and I love
both married life and my new job.”
Lots of congratulations to go
around for our newlyweds, new
parents and new grads. Thanks for
the updates, and we look forward
to hearing more!
06
Michelle Oh Sing
9 N 9th St., Unit 401
Philadelphia, PA 19107
mo2057@columbia.edu
Hope everyone had a great
summer! Here are some exciting
updates from our classmates.
Thessaly La Force is in her
second year at the Iowa Writers’
Workshop, where she is working
on a novel and short story collection.
She recently finished working
on an illustrated book, My Ideal
Bookshelf, with artist Jane Mount; it
will be published in November.
Emily Ross ’12 SIPA writes,
“After spending two wonderful
years back on Columbia’s campus,
I graduated from SIPA in May
with a master’s. Since then, I have
returned to Washington, D.C., and
work for the political consulting
firm GMMB. Next time anyone is
in D.C., be sure to let me know!”
Stephanie Simon earned an
M.B.A. and master of urban planning
degree from Michigan. In July,
she joined GE Capital.
Kathleen Adams writes, “My
husband, Ford, and I and our son,
Wells (3), have moved to New
Delhi, India! Looking forward to
seeing any classmates who are here
for work or pleasure.”
Justin Ifill writes, “The Young
Alumni Party, held during Alumni
Reunion Weekend aboard the U.S.S.
Intrepid, was bigger and better than
ever, with almost 2,000 people! It
was great to see many 2006 faces
and other young alumni. The following
weekend I had the pleasure
of attending the wedding of Merry
Boak ’05 and Joshua Biber. I had
an amazing time with our fellow
Notes and Keys a cappella family
including Eva Rosen ’05 Barnard,
Jackson Shafer ’05, Keri Wachter ’05
and Paul Wright ’05.
“Lastly, it has been my amazing
honor to serve as the president of
Columbia College Young Alumni
for the last two years. I hope I
was able to make young alumni
programming just a bit better, and
I know Calvin Sun ’08 will do an
amazing job! On to the next one!”
07
David D. Chait
1255 New Hampshire
Ave. N.W., Apt. 815
Washington, DC 20036
ddc2106@columbia.edu
It was amazing seeing so many of
our classmates at Alumni Reunion
Weekend in June. The Class of 2007
had a record 264 alumni in attendance
and 340 overall attendees.
Thank you to everyone who came
out for it.
Classmates came from far and
wide to join the festivities, including
Nishant Dixit from his global
travels, Keith Hernandez from
China, Marco Zappacosta and Jessica
Isokawa from California and
Tammi Lee and Isaac Schwartz
from Cleveland.
Ngozi Okoh writes, “Hey everyone!
It was great seeing you in
June. I’m back in New York City after
moving from Philadelphia and
so hoping to reconnect with many
of you, so find me on FB and let me
know when you’re available!”
Geo Karapetyan had a “great
time reconnecting with so many
CC ’07ers at reunion in June!” Immediately
afterward, Geo boarded
a plane and moved to Los Angeles
for the summer to work at Walt
Disney Studios in feature animation
finance. He has since returned
to New York and is completing an
M.B.A. at NYU Stern.
Jessica Wong Zen shares,
“Shortly after attending reunion,
I received an M.B.A. from MIT’s
Sloan School of Management and
then promptly moved with my husband
from Boston to Seattle. As I
write, I’m planning to start my new
job with Amazon in August — in
the meantime, I am getting situated
in my new city and my time is
mostly occupied with the fun and
games (and headache) that come
with being a new homeowner.”
Isaac Schwartz was happy to
see everyone at the reunion before
heading to Peru. He helped organize
and carry out a monthlong
medical mission in the Sacred Valley
region with doctors, students
and nurses from Cleveland.
Joshua Davis and his wife, Naomi,
were sorry they missed the reunion
but had a great reason: They
welcomed their son, Samson Rex, to
the world on May 30 in Washington,
D.C. Josh says, “His sister,
Eleanor, is very excited to have a
playmate and can’t understand
why he spends all day ignoring her.
You can see pictures on our family’s
blog, Rockstar Diaries. It’s been
featured in a number of magazines,
on websites and in newspapers and
gets millions of page views each
month: tazaandhusband.com.”
Caitlin Shure thought that the
reunion was “amazeballs.” She
was so caught up in the magic of
the night that she “completely forgot
to execute her original reunion
plan (to seduce a man from the
Class of ’02).”
Margaret Bryer writes, “Great to
see people whom I hadn’t seen in a
while at the reunion and reassuring
to see that people haven’t changed
all that much in five years.”
Love is in the air for many members
of our class. Luciana Colapinto
and Jake Olson got engaged and
will be married next June. Erik
Lindman and Naomi Nevitt ’07
Barnard also are engaged. And Pitr
Strait and Katherine Atwill ’08 were
married April 7. The ceremony was
held in Washingtonville, N.Y., and
was attended by Columbians from
every class from ’04–’12.
Congratulations to everyone!
Julia Kite writes, “I’ve recently
completed my second year of a
Ph.D. in sociology at UC Berkeley. I
live in San Francisco and miss New
York City every day! This summer
I spoke at conferences in Denver
and London about my research into
Vegas’ Alexandra Epstein ’07 Revitalizes Her Hometown
Alexandra Epstein ’07
starts every workday
by moving methodically
through the
secret passageways of Las
Vegas’ El Cortez Hotel & Casino.
She traverses the kitchens and
the unmarked hallways, greeting
the cocktail waitresses and
bartenders as well as the “back
of house” staff. It is definitely
the scenic route, but it’s one
she takes religiously.
Why the long walk? In the
service industry, your company
is only as good as the people
who make it hum and happen
— and Epstein knows this.
“I’m a perfectionist,” she admits.
“And I don’t try to direct
things without having an idea
of what I’m speaking about.”
Granted, the El Cortez —
Las Vegas’ oldest continually
operating casino (built in 1941)
— isn’t Epstein’s company, but
it may be one day. The 27-yearold’s
father, Kenny Epstein,
now the CEO and chairman,
has helped run the 366-room
complex since the 1960s. His
daughter is the e.v.p., promoted
after two years as executive
manager, and you’d be hard
pressed to find someone who
says she didn’t earn that title.
With a love for art history and
an eye for design cultivated at
Columbia, where she majored in
art history with a pre-med concentration,
Epstein is balancing
her creativity with her business
pedigree to realize a cosmopolitan
vision for her native city. In
just a few years she’s become
a rising star of the downtown
— the city’s other major district,
apart from the famous Strip —
spurred by Vegas pride to revitalize
her neighborhood despite
the greater economic woes.
“The area around Fremont
Street on the North Strip is
really where Las Vegas began,”
Epstein says of the area where
the El Cortez is located. “Residents
here see a silver lining.
There are plenty of people who
have taken the opportunity to
leave, but I think those who
have stayed, particularly downtowners,
are very optimistic
about the potential for change.”
The El Cortez has been an
important part of that change.
In 2009, Epstein spearheaded a
redesign of the hotel’s smaller
Cabana Suites, bringing the 66-
room property from seedy “old
Vegas” skeleton to a modern
Miami Beach-style boutique
hotel. In 2011, she helped the
hotel run a contest for designers
to revamp the El Cortez’s luxury
suites that was touted by the Las
Vegas Sun as galvanizing interest
in new construction and development
in a city still struggling with
a national mortgage crisis.
It’s not only about the family
business, though. Epstein also
sits on the board of the Neon
Museum, which houses many
of the city’s giant signage fossils,
like that of Caesars Palace
and the Golden Nugget; on the
board of the Jewish Federation
of Las Vegas; and on the University
of Las Vegas Libraries
Advisory Board. She is the
youngest member of the City
of Las Vegas Arts Commission,
appointed by then-Mayor Oscar
Goodman to help the commission
with placement of new
public art, from the new Las Vegas
City Hall to outdoor parks.
“She is absolutely the personification
of energy when it
comes to the redevelopment
of downtown Las Vegas,” says
Goodman, who has worked
with Epstein on efforts to bring
life to a newly designated entertainment
district surrounding
the intersection of 6th and
Fremont Streets, north of the
busiest part of the Strip. “She
single-handedly transformed
the El Cortez and the Cabana
Suites into places that locals
and tourists now flock to. Her
taste is impeccable. That’s
why I appointed her to the arts
commission.”
As a Columbia student, Epstein
fell in love with New York’s
bounty of museums and galleries;
but she first fell in love with
the idea of a community built
B y Ben Johnson
Alexandra Epstein ’07 spearheaded a major redesign at her
family’s El Cortez Hotel & Casino in downtown Las Vegas.
PHOTO: BRYAN HAINER
around shared knowledge.
“I was really drawn to the
Core Curriculum,” she says. “I
loved the idea that I would have
this connection with the past,
with people who had been coming
to Columbia for decades.”
Gathering community around
shared knowledge and ideas
can be seen in the vibrant Emergency
Arts building, an old medical
center on Fremont Street,
owned by the El Cortez, which
since spring 2010 boasts a new
creative collective. With 42 tenant
businesses, from galleries to
web design and photo studios to
a bustling coffee shop, Emergency
Arts — its name a nod to
the building’s former use — is
another example of Epstein’s tenacity
in turning good ideas into
practical realities. Put together
by Epstein and directors Michael
and Jennifer Cornthwaite, the
collective has been a shining
example of revitalization, and
how cheap real estate for artists
can bring new commerce into
downtown.
“It’s an awesome concept,
and she’s made it a reality,”
says Heather Hyte, owner of
the Rad Kisser photography
gallery on the collective’s
second floor. “It’s nice to get
a lot of people with ideas to
contribute to a common goal.
To focus on something like that
out of passion, even though it’s
not going to be a major payout,
that says a lot about a person.
Already, she’s done a lot for
this city.”
Ben Johnson is a writer living
in Brooklyn and working at Slate
Magazine, where he is an editorial
supervisor for Slate’s video
department, SlateV.
FALL 2012
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FALL 2012
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