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Entrepreneur Profile Series : |
This year unemployment hit levels not seen since our graduation. Since we prefer to dwell on the lighter side of both 1991 and 2009, we sought out classmates who have taken employment into their own hands. We found new ventures of all stripes, from bikes to baby clothes, and from food to food-for-thought. Ali Kagan and Jamie Malin have recently jumped into retailing, keeping their customers healthy with low fat foods and high performance bikes. Mary Morrison is putting her Mandarin to work designing baby clothes made in China and sold worldwide. Andi Silverman Meyer is the proud parent of a new book, “Mama Knows Breast: A Beginner’s Guide to Breastfeeding.” Dan Newman is taking free speech on the offensive against political contributions with MAPLight, an organization that illuminates the flow of money to politics. Some of these entrepreneurs are first timers and others are old pros (a.k.a. second timers), but they all share a passion for their path. Check out the full interviews below.
Politics & Public Service Profile Series: |
Is the activist Brown spirit alive and well? With the upcoming elections in full swing, we called on classmates who are active in politics – at any level – to talk about their experiences. We received responses from ‘91ers working for universities, city government, non-profits and private companies. Our classmates are forging partnerships for juvenile justice, monitoring ethics in medical research, navigating the border between government and religion and promoting renewable energy. Their dispatches are infused with a realism that has maybe changed the fight, but which makes them all the more formidable. For example, Suzanne Rivera notes that she has a better sense of “when to throw my fist in the air” and when to work an issue through committee. Equally pugnacious, an older, wiser Dave Kopans notes that “I also always make sure that I fully punch out the chad.”
We asked these respondents about the upcoming presidential election and discovered a clear Democratic bias. Nathanael Greene “realized that not only did I not know anyone who voted for Reagan, I didn’t know anyone who knew anyone who voted for Reagan.” Dave Onek held several fundraisers for Obama, while Suzanne Rivera was an Obama delegate in the Texas primary. Perhaps the most telling sign was the fear in Dave Kopans’ response, “I don’t want to jinx it . . . .” After 2000 and 2004, no lead in the polls seems large enough for a Democrat to rest easy.
If you have a Republican perspective to share, please write to us at brownclassof1991@yahoo.com, as including differing viewpoints is always the basis for sound political discourse. If you have a political profile to share, if you have suggestions for other upcoming profile series or just have some news to share, also let us know. We’d love to hear from you.
Women in Healthcare Profile Series:
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For our profiles page, we asked a handful of our classmates to describe their lives as women in the healthcare profession. Brown never disappoints. The following eight profiles are rich and varied in perspective. We are amidst primary care physicians, epidemiologists, specialists in ob/gyn, urology and integrative medicine, a Deputy Commissioner for the Baltimore City Health Department, and of course, a Brown professor.
Abi Zavod knew from an early age that she would be a doctor, using a plastic stethoscope on her mother at two years old. Kelly McCann found the calling some years later, after graduating Brown as a music major.
Neither Lisa Yanek nor Abi Zavod enjoyed Organic Chemistry at Brown, but Abi's professor played a more formative role than she ever could have imagined. Jenifer Allsworth asks "if you're working on this project at 2 am, will you still love it?" Lisa Bhimani answers "yes" but notes that the same holds true for our families and there are no easy decisions. Tracy Cannon cites urology as a well-balanced choice for work and family because, among other reasons, "there are few urological emergencies that cannot wait until morning." How do they manage all the demands of the profession? Kima Taylor answers "Love A LOT and laugh A LOT, then when things are not going your way, you remember the funny times and keep plodding."
Good advice for us all.
To read the individual profiles of these eight doctors, please scroll down. To download a longer list of women from our class who are working in a healthcare profession, please click here. (PDF)
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