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Alumni News | 12/19/2019
By: Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation

December 2019 Accolades

TINA: The Tina Turner Musical opened on Broadway in NYC November 7 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, and Katori Hall (1999), the show’s writer, was seated front and center. She also caught up with the 12-time Grammy winner herself! Katori is an award-winning playwright who’s previous works include Hurt Village, Our Lady of Kibeho, Children of Killers, and The Mountaintop.
SoGal Ventures, co-founded by Elizabeth Galbut (2007), partnered with Macy’s to create SoGifted, a female entrepreneur-focused destination for gifts in seven Macy’s stores across the United States. Open through January 2020, the SoGifted concept shops give Macy’s shoppers access to new brands that define what SoGal stands for: entrepreneurship, equality, and empowerment of diverse enterprises.

“Our mission is to build a firm that embodies the cultural values that we want to see in the world,” said Elizabeth. “With the partnership at Macy’s we’re taking this a step further and giving in-store shoppers across the country an opportunity to discover and support female-led small business brands – so the next generation of women can be empowered to know that entrepreneurship is within their reach.”
Caroline Leadmon (2016) was named Ms. Mountaineer at West Virginia University. A long-time Mountaineer Week tradition, the prestigious award recognizes exemplary academic achievement and extracurricular involvement.
Meena Venkataramanan (2017) won the Harvard Institute of Politics’s inaugural Civic Tech Challenge last week with her teammates and received seed funding to develop their project of a digital network of pro bono legal services and community resources for asylum-seekers across the United States, tailored to their location and individual needs. The group will be developing this project over the next semester and received seed funding as part of the prize.
Kawther Berhanu (2015) was selected as a 2020 Charles B. Rangel International Affairs Graduate Fellow. Thanks to this fellowship, she will begin the program next fall with a funded Master’s Program in International Affairs followed by a 5-year commitment in the Foreign Service.
Clara Ma (2015) was named a Scharzman Scholar. The program gives the world’s best and brightest students the opportunity to develop their leadership skills and professional networks through a one-year Master’s Degree at Tsinghua University in Beijing – one of China’s most prestigious universities.

Clara studied Geology & Geophysics and Political Science at Yale University, with concentrations in Climate Science and Chinese Energy and Environmental Policy. She is a U.S. Presidential Scholar and has worked at the U.S. Department of Energy, where she contributed to the development of the Energy Earth System Model. After winning an essay contest to name the Mars rover, Curiosity, she worked with NASA for nearly a decade to promote youth engagement in science and space exploration, she continues this work as the president of Yale Undergraduate Women in STEM.
Jolene Loetscher (1997), her husband Nate Burdine, and their team at Mud Mile Communications won two W3 awards for their work producing “The Big Picture” and “The Moment” videos for CCSF.

Judged by the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts (AIVA), the W3 awards celebrate digital excellence by honoring outstanding websites, web marketing, videos, and social content created by some of the best interactive agencies, designers, and creators worldwide. The office is even brighter for the holidays with these beautiful awards that go well with the Telly Awards we’ve already received for other awards that Mud Mile has produced for CCSF!
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