Class of 2011

Indy Shome was named one of the Citizens of the Year, specifically the “Educator of the Year,” by the Philadelphia Citizen, which wrote: “In collaboration with his colleagues, Shome launched Future Visions Lab, a paid, after-school leadership program where students identify an issue in their community and develop a project around it. Students created a documentary about the connection between violence and environmental issues in Philadelphia and planted a garden at school where students grow vegetables and herbs they can use for cooking and natural
cosmetic products.”

Eunice Hong’s first novel, Memento Mori, will be published by Red Hen Press on Aug. 13. Eunice writes that she wrote the first draft of the book in 2011 when she was a student in Renee Gladman’s class at Brown, and after ten years of sporadic revisions, she won the 2021 Red Hen Press Fiction Award. More information about the book and Eunice’s other creative works can be found on her website, eunicehong.com. Contact Eunice at eunice_hong@alumni.brown.edu.

Two reunion classes came together when Craig Convissar married Philip Maynard ’11 on Oct. 14, 2023. Craig writes that the joyful gathering in Beacon, N.Y. was attended by Brunonians galore, including proud parents Joanne Ahola ’77 and Keith Maynard ’78, as well as friends Jennifer Gordon Collier, Rebecca Dorfman, Ella Evans-Aguiar ’11, Suzanne Farer, Maxine Sharavsky Garrett ’05, Larry Livornese ’11, Karin Miller ’11, Rachel Mehlsak, Serin Seçkin ’11 and David Smith ’11. Contact Craig at craig.convissar@gmail.com.

Niki Osvalds ’12 ScM and Heather Myatt were married on Sept. 9 in Montreal, Canada. Heather and Niki were introduced through Brown Sailing friends Emily Dellenbaugh ’12 and Elizabeth Barry after Heather, Emily, and Elizabeth met training together during a campaign for the 2016 Olympics for sailing in the 49erFX. Emily and Elizabeth were there to celebrate along with Tucker Adams, Pan Chaudhury, Ashley Noble ’13, Sam Speroni, Fred Strammer, Max Straus, Mark Towill, Amy Walker ’16 MD, Mike Yanagisawa ’13. 

Abby Schreiber married Jacob Stein in Westerlo, N.Y. on Aug. 5 and a multi-generational group of Brown alums were in attendance. Guests included Matt Doup, Ben Hyman, Ariel Hudes, Allie Kriesberg, Whitaker Lader, Maura Lynch, Kate Gannett Merrill, Liz Mooney, Charlie Posner, Kelsey Keith Posner, Kayla Ringelheim, Allison Seidner Robbins ’81, John Robbins ’78, ’81 MD, Eliot Schreiber ’78, Amin Shaikh, and Cecilia Strombeck. 

Karen Misler writes: “My husband, Barry Feigenbaum, and I had a thrilling summer of 2023. Our daughter, Stephanie Feigenbaum, married Avi Arfin on July 3. In attendance at the wedding—in addition to her brother Jeremy Feigenbaum ’11—were Laurie Bass ’76, Katherine Johnston Hutto (my Brown roommate who transferred after sophomore year), Susan Israel ’76, and Randa Reitman ’80, ’83 MD (Avi’s aunt). Then our son Jeremy married Adam Amir on September 3. Wedding guests included Laurie Bass ’76, Jerry Cedrone ’11, Katerina Wright ’11, and Gabriella Ra’anan ’11. Our cup runneth over.”

Eliot Schreiber writes: “Our son, Henry, married Uttara Sivaram in a multi-day wedding event consisting of separate Hindu and Jewish ceremonies and wedding receptions, in Los Gatos, California. They met when both were at Stanford. The officiant was Rabbi Serena Eisenberg ’87, who was not only the executive director for Stanford Hillel, but previously executive director for Brown Hillel. Our daughter, Abigail Schreiber ’11, was best woman.”

Rebekah Bergman writes: “I was a writing fellow and editor for The Indy. I married a fellow 2011 alum and after living in Brooklyn for seven years, we decided to return to Rhode Island to raise our family. I am very happy to have landed back in Providence and to get to know the city, this time as a parent and a novelist. In August Tin House published my debut novel, The Museum of Human History, a futuristic fairy tale that examines the burden of memory. It centers on a young girl who slips into a strange comatose state and stops physically aging and the host of characters who find themselves pulled to her. The very first seed for the book was a short story I wrote as part of my undergraduate thesis at Brown. I’m looking forward to celebrating the launch at a local independent bookstore before I head out on a book tour through the Northeast and West Coast. The book has received early praise from authors Kate Bernheimer, Tiffany Tsao, Allegra Hyde, and Samantha Hunt.”

Kelly McWilliams released her latest YA novel Your Plantation Prom is Not Okay in May. The story calls upon recent conversations about plantations and their place in our shared history.

Ruth Bloomfield Margolin is enjoying retirement, keeping busy as president of her local Jewish Family Service agency board, serving on several other local boards, and finishing the occasional NY Times crossword puzzle. She enjoyed seeing several of her ’80 Brown friends at the wedding of her son, Nathan Margolin ’11, last May.

Nick Carter writes: “I moved back to Providence to expand my small business, a clothing project called ASMR Homegoods. In February, my business and I received a $15,000 catalyst grant from the Providence-based nonprofit Design X RI. These funds are helping me design and create a new collection in my studio off Elmwood Ave. in South Providence and market to stores around the country and online. I am in the process of completing the collection and beginning to document it before its release. ASMR Homegoods is inspired by natural camouflage and decorative craft patterning; each piece is a 1-of-1 wearable monoprint, often made using bleach and dye on upcycled or deadstock garments. Each item is designed to create intimacy between the wearer and their own body while simultaneously confounding the eye of a surveiller. ASMR Homegoods can be found at asmrhomegoods.com and on instagram at instagram.com/asmr_homegoods.”

Bruktaweit Addis and Tif Slama celebrated their marriage on May 16 at Awbury Arboretum in Philadelphia, two years after eloping during the early pandemic. They were joined by family and friends, including Tif’s brother-in-law, Bill Seeley ’93, bridesmaids Courtney Baskin, Jenna Harris, Nic Mooney, Michelle Morales, Brice Peterson, Nicole Taykhman, and friends Michael Danna, Kelly Devlin, Lakshmi Madhavan, Brian Mastroianni, Celina Pedrosa, Yaa Sarpong ’10, Felipe Umana, and Randi Siegel Weniger ’05. The couple’s one-year-old daughter, Beza Slama, was a special part of the celebration, serving as a flower girl alongside her cousins.

Timothy Carey was awarded a 2021 Stewardson Keefe LeBrun grant, a national award which supports the professional development of an architect in early or mid-career through travel and is administered by the Center for Architecture in New York City. He will travel to Reykjavik, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Bruges, Berlin, Vienna, Copenhagen, and Oslo over the course of several months to study 30 performing arts buildings in support of a research and writing project entitled “Some Assembly Required: Performing Arts Architecture and the Idea of Audience.” Timothy is currently a project architect at Selldorf Architects and previously worked on the design of Brown’s new performing arts center for several years while a designer at REX.

Harry Aspinwall joined the ranks of Merlin and Maleficent as the magical lead in the new original Disney+ show The Quest, which premiered on May 11. The Quest, a ground-breaking hybrid scripted and reality competition series, drops eight young people into the fantastical world of Everealm, where they must save a kingdom by fulfilling an ancient prophecy. Harry plays Dravus, the archmage of the kingdom of Sanctum, who must do all in his power to protect Sanctum’s young heirs from the dark magic of sorceress Tavora and her armies. Harry’s no stranger to playing morally gray characters. Last year he made his Netflix debut as the antagonist Baxter in Netflix’s original family action hit The Sleepover, opposite Ken Marino, Joe Manganiello, and Malin Akerman.

Kayla Ringelheim writes: “I was published in the New York Times’s Modern Love column. This is my first ever piece of published writing. My essay is a heartfelt commentary on friendship, self-discovery, and...dating in your 30s during a global pandemic. Since publishing it, I have been surprised and touched by hearing from women all over the world who see themselves in this story.”

Ryan G.W. Grubbs was one of a group of Brunonians celebrating the wedding of Rachel Z. Arndt and Vincent Peiffer in Chicago on July 17. Other Brown grads in attendance were Hannah Garrett ’08, Ben Hyman ’11, Kate Taylor, and Maddie Wasser. The bride and groom descended from a fire pole at the Firehouse Chicago into an evening spent partying with friends and family. 

Eric Johnson, a podcast consultant in San Francisco, is hosting a new podcast called Follow Friday. The podcast is a weekly interview show about the Internet creators he admires and why you should follow them. Guests include comedians, writers, musicians, and other digital creators. Details at FollowFridayPodcast.com.  

Eric Johnson, a podcast producer based in San Francisco, launched BumbleCast, an independent podcasting company that will help individuals and organizations start podcasts or improve the shows they already run. Before BumbleCast, he worked at Vox Media, where he produced the popular technology podcast Recode Decode with Kara Swisher. 

Harry Aspinwall writes: “Hello! I’m a costar in Netflix’s The Sleepover opposite Malin Akerman, Ken Marino, and Joe Manganiello, and I shot a full feature film, Banishment, under COVID-safe conditions with Daniel Byers ’08—as far as we know, one of the first features to be fully produced since the beginning of the pandemic.”

Paris Waterman Dupree and Vernon Dupree announce the Feb. 22 birth of their son, Cairo Lee Dupree. Paris writes: “He was born in Philadelphia and is already an avid Brown Bears fan.” 

Writer Meara Sharma is the editor-in-chief of Adi, a newly launched literary magazine of global politics (adimagazine.com). Based in London, she can be reached on Twitter @mearasharma.

Lily Cohen writes: “After spending four years living in a cabin without running water, I mastered the art of the one pot meal and the one baby wipe shower. I have since completed over a year with indoor plumbing after moving for an employment opportunity to crash robots around the world. Unfortunately, Snuffles, my small corgi, got jealous of my frequent travel with the robotic dogs so I went back to school. You can contact me @lilyofthepingo.”

Andy Newton and Michael Bleicher published From the Campaign Trail or Thereabouts on September 12 with Humorist Books, an imprint of the Weekly Humorist.

Abby Colella married Dan Davidson ’11 and the following people were in attendance: father of the bride, Jay Colella ’79; man of honor, James Anglin Flynn ’11; aunt of the bride, Kim Colella DeMagistris ’81; Matthew Aks ’11; Michael Bleicher ’11; Skylar Fox ’15; Jenny Gorelick ’14; Natan Last ’12; Kelly Mallahan ’11; Jessie Medofer ’13; Kate Monks ’13; Meredith Mosbacher ’11; Luke Rohde ’11; Sam Schmerler ’11; Christiana Stephenson ’11; Adam Wyron ’13; and Leandro Zaneti ’12.

Chicago singer and poet Jamila Woods ’11 released her new album LEGACY! LEGACY! on May 10 via Jagjaguwar. It is her second full-length album following 2016’s HEAVN. Each of the 13 songs is named after someone who has made a lasting impact on the artist.

Nick Martell writes: “Thrilled to share with you that my company MarketSnacks has been acquired by fintech unicorn Robinhood. I believe Brown last referenced MarketSnacks when we were named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 List and when we launched our top-rated podcast series. This exit is something that I’m proud to share with the school since it so profoundly shaped our entrepreneurial journey, and I hope publicity of it can benefit Brown’s continuing growth as an entrepreneurship magnet.”
 

Nicole Taykhman married Scott Ferrara at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden on Oct. 21, 2018. Groomsman Justin Satriano ’10, ’15 ScM, and bridesmaids Bruktaweit Addis and Lakshmi Madhavan stood alongside them. They were thrilled to be joined by guests Katie Meyers Satriano ’10, Jeremy Feigenbaum, Elena Albright, Michael Sunshine ’11 ScM, Kelly Devlin, Danielle Dahan, Dara Goldberg, Cailey Bromer, Danielle Candelora, Katie O’Brien, Matthew Becker ’13, Evan Carmouche, Aaron Zick, Jeremy Noah, Jacob Kopf, Osmar Olivo, Wendy Castillo, Drew Marano, Celina Pedrosa, and Felipe Umana. Several of the guests lived with the bride throughout college and studied abroad with her in the Brown in France program in the Fall of 2009.

Ariana Cannavo and Jack Murphy ’11 were married July 28 in Providence. In attendance were: Libby Boghossian ’09, Marc Bergschneider ’73, Mark Dee ’11, Daniel Deisley ’11, Casie Horgan ’11, Misha Joukowsky ’87, Allan Just ’05, Lawrence Livornese ’11, Lindsay McAlpine ’09, Luke McGee ’01, Portia Johnson McGee ’01, Phoebe Manzella Murphy ’82, Victoria Nguyen, Serin Seckin ’11, Catherine Starr ’05, and Deborah Dryer Vo ’06. Professor Barrett Hazeltine was also at the wedding.

The 2019 Forbes 30 Under 30 featuring the brightest young entrepreneurs, innovators, and game changers of the year in 20 different industries included: Claire DeBoer ’12, partner of New York City’s King Restaurant; Trang Duong ’18, cofounder of Penta; Amelia Friedman ’14, cofounder of Hatch Apps; Dakota Gruener ’11, executive director of ID2020; Ross Harrow ’11, cofounder of Flour Shop; Jessica Liu ’13, engineering manager at Figma; Melanie Masarin ’12, head of retail and offline experiences at Glossier; Alex Morse ’11, mayor of Holyoke, Mass.; Viet Nguyen ’17, cofounder of EdMobilizer; and Alexander Salter ’12, an MD-PhD candidate at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, who is studying T-cells.

Nate Wardwell married Jared Misner in November. Adam Katz officiated, while Joshua Linden and Timothy Parsons ’15 ScM were groomsmen. Also in attendance were Brook Achterhof ’15; Duane Barksdale ’17 Jeffrey Baum ’15; Natalie Diacovo; Drew Hansen ’15; Margaret Hanson; Dara Illowsky; Ryan Joudeh ’16, ’17 AM; Raghava Kamalesh; Russyan Mabeza ’15; Noah Prestwich; Derek Shay ’16; and Ben Simon ’11,’12 ScM.

Almaz Dessie ’11 MD married Michael Moffat on Oct. 7 at the Belle Isle Boat House in Detroit, Mich. Their friend Kira Neel ’05,’19 MD officiated the ceremony. Almaz is an assistant professor of emergency medicine and pediatrics at Columbia University Medical Center in New York and practices as a pediatric emergency doctor at New York-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital. Michael is also a physician, practicing as a pediatric hospitalist at NYU Langone Hospital in Brooklyn. The couple met in 2012 during their pediatrics residency at the University of California, San Francisco Benioff Children’s Hospital in Oakland. They have a mutual love of music, global health, and travel. The wedding was a four-day celebration of love, community, and blessings. They honored their Ethiopian and Jewish traditions and surprised their guests with a reunion performance by their band from their residency days in California (Almaz sings lead and Mike plays guitar). Members of Almaz’s former dance company at Brown, New Works/World Traditions, also surprised them with a West African dance performance at the reception. In attendance were Senior Lecturer in Theatre Arts and Performance Studies Michelle Bach-Coulibaly; Elizabeth Anto ’06, ’11 MD; Tarik Asmerom ’05; Praveen Basaviah ’05; Nora Blackall ’08; Alykhan Boolani ’06; Mark Brown II ’09; Jalle Dafa; Vanessa Danziger ’11; Sheila Desai ’05; Sybil Dessie ’04, ’08 MD; Chris Erway ’06 AM, ’11 PhD; Sushil Jacob ’05; Jazzmen Johnson’15 AM; Jori Ketten ’02; Kira Neel ’05, ’19 MD; Meghan O’Brien ’06; Ethan Philbrick ’08; Micah Salkind ’06, ’10 AM,’16 PhD; Sophie Shackleton ’09; Daniel Sobol ’09; Matthew Soursourian ’08; Ida Specker ’09; Alexx Temeña ’16; Nicole Thompson ’08;  Monica Tilly ’11 MD; Jessica Vosburgh; Chantel Whittle ’12; Kenya Wright ’15; Ali John Zarrabi ’06, ’12 MD; and Leonora Zoninsein ’08.

Annie Matusewicz ’11 and Max Montgelas celebrated their marriage in Warren, Conn. In attendance were Kiana Alzate ’10, Alexa Baggio ’09, Sam Baker ’11, Dominique Ferraro ’11, Moira Gallagher ’10, Justin Klee ’13, Andrea Bonilla Munoz ’10, Jennifer Randall ’11, Meaghan Caulfield Sandtorv ’10, Olga Usyk ’09, and Sheila Walsh ’01. Annie manages responsible investment products at Eaton Vance, while Max leads the engineering and product teams at a home renovation startup, Renoviso. 

Joy Chua-Schwartz ’10 writes: “My husband, Corey Schwartz ’11, and I got married in Big Sur, California, in June, with a spectacular showing of Brown alums. Our wedding was officiated by Graham Rogers ’11, and among the wedding party were Cristina Botero ’10, Anne Francois-Poncet ’10, Jordana Fribourg ’10, and Thea Jacinto Ugarte (RISD ’10). Alumni in attendance included Alexis Anselin ’10, Sam Arnow ’13, Lena Gaviria ’12, George George ’10, Frannie Hannan ’10, Isabelle Lubin ’16, Max Lubin ’12, Melanie Masarin ’12, Cyrus Mojdehi ’13, Isabella Morton ’10, Isabel Lopez Polanco ’10, Marie Poyet ’10, Jillian Ressler ’10, Mohammad Saigol ’11, Danielle Sheridan ’10, Adriana Urruela ’10, and Sibel Yalman ’10. It was a spectacular day and we couldn’t be more grateful to Brown for being the place where we met.”

Scott Phillips ’11 and Brittany Katz ’12, ’16 MD announce the May 7 birth of their son Jayce Eli Katz Phillips.

Alicia Maule was featured on a podcast focused on social impact. It’s an in-depth conversation on how we use digital at the Innocence Project to amplify the voices of the wrongly convicted and use their narratives to help reform the criminal justice system.

Richard Ellenbogen’s ’83 MD daughter Rachel L. Ellenbogen ’11, ’18 MD, graduated this year.

Frederick David writes: “I am still a practicing radiation oncologist in Santa Rosa, California, where I have enjoyed the wines, biking, and good friends for more than three years. Our daughter, Laura, opened her dental practice in Santa Rosa. Our son, Bryan David ’11, started his master’s program at Duke University in environmental studies. Susan and I are starting to travel more and I still get away for a week of heli-skiing in Canada every winter. If you are visiting the wine country let me know.”

Rita Bullwinkel published her fourth book, Belly Up. Rita took three creative writing classes at Brown, all with Professor Joanna Howard, with whom she read at Ada Books in Providence on May 12.

Nicolas A. Martell, cofounder of MarketSnacks, the daily source of financial news for millennials, was chosen for the Forbes 30 Under 30 list. Nick writes that Brown has been instrumental in helping him pursue a career in entrepreneurship, from his classes with Professor Hazeltine to the open curriculum to the supportive network of the men’s varsity lacrosse team.

Kimberly Dickinson ’14 MPH, ’14 MD, and Ross Beckman ’13 MD announce their Aug. 26 wedding at the Evergreen Museum and Library in Baltimore. Anabel Agloro, Rebecca Binder, Emily Eng, Heather Jones ’14 MD, Rachel Marano ’14 MD, Emma Reitman, and Leona Rosenblum were bridesmaids. Chris Mardy, Adam Margolius, Will Packer, Aaron Small, Brett Weinstock, and Ben Wolpaw were groomsmen. Other alumni in attendance included Neishay Ayub ’14 MD, Jeff Bayne, Ellen Loudermilk Cone ’10, Eugene Cone ’13 MD, Brad Cotter ’13 MD, Paul Cotter, Josh Drago, Julia Goldner ’11, Mark Hepokoski ’13, Shreyus Kulkarni ’14 MD, Ijeoma Njaka, Laura Mercurio Ouellette ’14 MD, James Simmons ’13 MD, Shannon Oppenheim Simmons ’09,’13 MD, Devin Smith ’13 MD, Pamela Escobar Smith ’13 MD, Ina Soh ’13 MD, Adam Vasconcellos ’07, ’11 MD, Mansi Vasconcellos ’10,’14 MD, and Lauren Vitkus. The couple works at Johns Hopkins Hospital, where Kimberly is a pediatric pulmonary fellow and Ross is completing his residency in general surgery.

Maxine Sharavsky married Christopher Garrett in Hudson, N.Y. on Oct. 28. Alumni in attendance included Owen Boynton, Amy Carvel, Craig Convissar ’06, Allison Lauterbach Dale, Chloé Hill, Philip Maynard ’11, Ivonne Rojas, Joseph Scattergood ’04, Randy Schwarzmann, and Randi Siegel Weniger.

Claire Miller and John De Leon will be married on Mar. 31, at the Pump House B&B in Bloomsburg, Pa. Emily Nguyen will be the maid of honor, and Ross Leskin ’12 will be the best man. They will be surrounded by many close friends from Brown and cannot wait to celebrate.

Raphaela Lipinsky DeGette and John Fisher announce their Sept. 9 wedding in Tabernash, Colo. Raphaela is the daughter of Lino Lipinsky ’79 and Diana DeGette (Colorado College ’79). She is in her final year of medical school at the UC San Francisco. John is a project manager at SKS, a San Francisco- based investor, developer, and advisor of commercial real estate properties in the western United States. More than 35 Brown alumni attended the wedding, including John’s sister Emma Fisher ’16.

Lily Cohen writes: “I am pleased to announce that I will be moving to the Hamptons, where I designed a modest mansion. The design was inspired by Kim Kardashian’s re-imagining of Jackie O. I am excited that Snuffles, my small corgi, will have more space to run and play.”