September 2021
Cooke Scholar Alumni Buzz
Hello Cooke Scholars and Alumni!
We hope you are enjoying the start to the autumn season and the new academic year. Here’s an update on what’s going on in the community and the great things some of your fellow Cooke Scholars are doing. Alums, we’d love to feature you and your work, so please reach out and let us know what you’re up to - send us your updates at alumni@jkcf.org.
Community Buzz
Blog: Cooke Scholar Provides Critical Help to Refugees from Home Country of Afghanistan
During Omar Azizi’s time at the University of Southern California, he founded and designed SAFAR – an information aggregation app that helps refugees, NGOs, and refugee camp managers access important resources and communicate with each other. SAFAR launched in Greece at the end of 2019, specifically on the island of Lesbos where a large refugee camp is located. The work is currently paused, since Greece has since enacted restrictions toward organizations trying to aid in the refugee crisis, making it difficult for SAFAR to achieve any mobility. But Omar has pivoted since the Taliban took over Afghanistan in August, and now spends much of his time helping refugees through Oasis Rescue, a nonprofit for which he serves on the Board of Directors. To read more about Omar’s work, click here.
Job Opportunity: Special Assistant to the President at the Black Economic Alliance Foundation
Cooke Foundation Board member Samantha Tweedy shared with us that the Black Economic Alliance Foundation is looking for a Special Assistant to the President to work in their New York City office. This is a robust opportunity for someone with strong organizational skills to contribute to research, development, and special projects at the foundation. For more information and to apply, click here. Applicants should mention that they are a Cooke Scholar Alum when applying.
September Alumni Virtual Chat: Starting New Journeys on the Right Foot
On Thursday, September 30th, Cooke Scholar Alum Luis Veloz hosted a conversation with fellow Alums David Liendo, Patrick Soltis, and Tashrima Hossain. Our panel covered strategies, experiences, and lessons they've learned embarking on new academic and professional ventures. Furthermore, the alums had a fruitful discussion about making new friends and first impressions, financially preparing for moments of transition, and embracing the experience of new beginnings. You can watch the video of the event below.
October Alumni Career Pathways Virtual Chat: Write Your Way into a Career in Journalism & Media
Have you thought about exploring your love for writing and transforming that passion into a career? Join us on Tuesday, October 26th as the Alumni Engagement Council hosts a discussion with a panel of alums on how you can Write Your Way into a Career in Journalism & Media. We’ll hear from alums and learn about the industry’s landscape and how one can become a successful journalist, freelance writer, author, and screenwriter. A formal invitation will be sent in the coming weeks, but you can register for the event right now here, we look forward to seeing you there!
Do you have a topic you are passionate about and want to share with the community? Consider serving as a panelist in an upcoming Career Pathways Chat by completing this survey.
Alumni Buzz
2007 Young Scholar; 2012 College Scholar, New York University
Next time you’re in New York City, head on over to Brooklyn to visit Rachel’s business Kelewele at the Dekalb Market Hall so you can get your hands on some delicious recipes made with Ghanaian plantains! In a recent article with CBS 2 New York, Rachel mentioned that “Kelewele is a Ghanaian food service reimagining plantains in our mission to provide familiar yet innovative, healthy, and sustainable products to our community.” In addition to running Kelewele, she’s pursuing two PhDs at Yale in Anthropology and African American Studies while teaching courses at NYU.
2001 Young Scholar; 2006 College Scholar, Johns Hopkins University
Join us in congratulating Victoria in receiving her white coat at the Rowan School of Medicine’s D.O. Class of 2025 White Coat Ceremony! Prior to medical school, Victoria worked with fellow Cooke Scholar Alum Dr. Anna Fiskin in San Francisco where she managed documentation, supplies, sample transport, and preliminary sample processing for acute COVID patients during recovery and follow up in an observational study for viral shedding. The Cooke Scholar Alum duo also worked together to address homelessness in the city through the University of California, San Francisco.
2015 Undergraduate Transfer Scholar, The City College of New York
Kyle recently became the Chief of Staff at Apis & Heritage Capital Partners (A&H), a new social impact private equity firm that invests in small businesses with large workforces of color. He spent three years in Mergers & Acquisitions at Citigroup Inc. in New York and met A&H’s founders in 2019. Kyle joined their firm in January 2021 as an Associate. “When you’re stuck on the 41st floor until 1am, it’s easy to forget about what’s happening on the ground”, says Kyle. “I’m in a position where I can effect change for ordinary people. The fact that I’m helping a new company scale its operations is just a sweetener.” On Juneteenth 2021, A&H announced the first close of its flagship Legacy Fund I and raised $35 million from the nation’s leading philanthropies and impact investors. A&H will use that capital to invest in essential services businesses across America.
2012 Graduate Arts Scholar, University of Florida
After recently starting his job as an adjunct professor at Santa Fe College in Gainesville, FL, Mario received a full-time Assistant Professor position in the Fine Arts department! Additionally, he will be giving a talk alongside some colleagues regarding multicultural inclusion in the classroom content in a month. Mario’s artistic work “involves the reconstruction and implementation of his native visual languages as well as reclaiming vital relationships between people and other outside systems. He sees his work as an exploration of his humanity, language, and history.” To learn more about his work, click here.
2015 Undergraduate Transfer Scholar, College of New Jersey
Recently, Natasha joined the Educational Opportunity Fund (EOF) team at Passaic County Community College in Paterson, NJ as the Coordinator for Returning Student Experience. She mentioned that “It is humbling to see my career make it full circle and bring me back to my roots as an EOF and community college alumna.” As a matter of fact, Natasha’s graduate research explored retention and persistence among Latinx students at Hispanic-serving community colleges - which will directly and relatedly support her in the new role at Passaic! Talk about manifestation!
2014, Undergraduate Transfer Scholar, Virginia Tech; 2017 Graduate Scholar, California Institute of Technology
This past summer, Armian started a new job at Apple as a Test and Instrumentation Engineering Program Manager. Although the work is very different from his previous experience at NASA, he’s enjoying the new learning experiences while living under the sun in San Diego. While at NASA, Armian joined the team just in time as a digital parts reliability engineer to explore the parts of the Perseverance rover that took off on a journey to Mars. Armian’s story was recently featured in Albania Tech and to read more about his journey to NASA, click here.
2017 Undergraduate Transfer Scholar, Arizona State University; 2019 Graduate Scholar, Georgetown University
Join us in congratulating Matt, who recently completed his master’s in security studies at Georgetown's Walsh School of Foreign Service. He took the oath of office this month to embark on what will be a long and fulfilling career with the U.S. Department of State. He is entering the Foreign Service this year and excited “to put to use my skills in concise analysis of complex issues, intercultural communication, and the confidence to question orthodoxies and take risks on ideas to good use on behalf of my country.”
2009 Young Scholar; 2014 College Scholar, Georgetown University; 2020 Graduate Scholar, UC Berkeley
Patrick recently completed his Masters in Civil Engineering, with a focus on energy systems and analytics and associated business development, and joined the Department of Energy as an ORISE Fellow. He currently manages research contracts exploring how hydropower and hydro-based energy storage can support an increasingly renewable power grid. With a long career ahead of him, Patrick aspires to pioneer new approaches to renewables development or energy market regulation, or start a team to develop energy information systems or accessible electrification solutions. On the side, he is a semi-competitive runner and an amateur pop/rock musician, and still somehow found time this month to be a panelist in the Alumni Virtual Chat!
Throwback Photo of the Month
Young Scholars at Scholars Weekend 2005