BUSINESS Sister Organizes Unique Food Conference
Photo courtesy of Lisa Novitsky Photography
Christie Blake (Beta Psi-San Jose State) organized a mobile food conference in Portland, Ore., in September that was touted as the world’s first conference dedicated solely to food carts. The conference featured a boot camp focused on starting and marketing a food cart business and an owner’s summit to share best practices. Christie is owner of Northwest Green Event Management (Portland, Ore.) and Food Carts Portland (foodcartsportland.com), a website dedicated to the city’s food cart culture.
Alumna Appointed COO Melissa Unemori Hampe (Delta-Cornell) was appointed as the first-ever chief operating officer for McAllister & Quinn, a government affairs and specialized grant consulting firm based in Washington, D.C. Melissa previously served as the firm’s senior vice president. She brings to her role 17 years of public policy experience working on Capitol Hill and in the private and nonprofit sectors.
Sister Is Creative Force Behind Social Enterprise Deirdre McGuigan (Zeta Iota-Virginia) is the creative director for Indego Africa (indegoafrica.org), a design-driven social enterprise connecting African women artisans with global markets and education. The organization partners with such companies as J.Crew, Nicole Miller and Anthropologie to sell the high quality and on-trend jewelry, accessories and home goods of their talented women artisans in stores and online. All profits go to business training and development programs.
Globe-winning Producer Jimmy Harry, this new group is an ensemble of singers, dancers and personalities. Chase is also an actress who has appeared on television programs such as “Gilmore Girls” and “Judging Amy.”
Sister Named Artistic Director Laura Kepley (BetaNorthwestern) is the artistic director of Cleveland Play House (Cleveland, Ohio). Laura previously served as the organization’s interim artistic director and as associate artistic director. She has coordinated programming for CPH’s New Ground Theatre Festival since 2011. Laura is a Drama League fellow and a recipient of the 2009-11 National Endowment for the Arts/Theatre Communications Group Career Development Program for Directors.
Actress Joins National Tour Tiana Okoye (Beta Delta-UCLA) performed in the national tour of the musical “Sister Act,” playing Tina and singing as part of the ensemble. Tiana’s other recent credits include a Dynamite in “Hairspray” (Musical Theater West, Long Beach, Calif.) and Pilar in “Legally Blonde: The Musical” (Moonlight Stage Productions, California).
Alumna Receives Industry Certification Kristin Roberts Thomas (Epsilon Beta-Butler) has achieved the title of certified ROI professional by the ROI Institute. ROI certification is the gold standard in building measurement and evaluation capability, and this designation identifies Kristin as a leader in the training and development industry with a professional advantage that few can match. To date, 3,000 individuals world-wide have achieved the designation. Kristin is a learning consultant for Skillsoft, specializing in strategy, management, implementation and value measurement.
THE ARTS Actress Lands Lead Role Emma Degerstedt (Beta Delta-UCLA) most recently played Elle Woods in “Legally Blonde: The Musical” at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza (Thousand Oaks, Calif.). In addition to other theater work, Emma has appeared in television shows and movies, including “Outside the Box,”“The Big Bang Theory” and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.”
Sister Is Part of New Pop Group Chase O’Donnell (Gamma Beta-UC/Santa Barbara) was one of 11 women selected for a new pop group named Girl Radical (girlradical.com). Launched by JC Chasez from N Sync and Golden
LEADERSHIP Alumna Leads Junior League Elizabeth “Liz” Moulter Brolick (Phi-Oklahoma) was named Junior League of Tulsa (Okla.) president for 2013-14. Photo courtesy of Jacque, Inc. Photography
ambassador to her host country, Bangladesh. The 2013 graduate was an honors anthropology major who minored in biology. With the grant, Anaise is conducting a study that she hopes will contribute to a reduction in the alarming incidence of maternal mortality and postpartum morbidity in Bangladesh.
Sister Holds Multiple League Roles Lora Tuley Brys (Theta Gamma-Truman State) serves in three leadership positions with the Junior League of Wichita (Kan.) for 201314. She is headquarters chair, solicitations steering committee secretary and publications advertising coordinator. Lora has also been active with Alpha Phi International for several years, including currently serving on the Foundation’s strategic planning committee and scholarship committee.
AUTHOR Columnist Publishes Book Marilyn Hansen Hagerty (Psi-South Dakota) is author of Grand Forks: A History of American Dining in 128 Reviews (Anthony Bourdain/Ecco, 2013. ISBN: 0062228897). The book features local restaurant reviews Marilyn wrote during her more than 50 years working for the Grand Forks Herald (North Dakota). Today, she continues to write five columns a week for the paper.
WINTER 2014
ALPHA PHI QUARTERLY
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