DA ALUMNI
Matteson Bechard, who lives with her husband in Hillsborough and works as a self-described “professional hippie”— serving as a research coordinator and health coach at Duke Integrative Medicine. She also keeps a private coaching, yoga and essential oils business on the side, and is in the process of training to become an instructor in Duke’s health coaching program. Meredith Bradley Sharpe is enjoying newly married life in New Orleans, where she maintains a private music therapy practice. Meredith reports that her venture is growing and is extremely rewarding work. Her parents, sister (Erika Bradley Wray ’93), brother-in-law and nephews recently moved to New Orleans, and the reunion in the Big Easy has been a treat. We know you all will continue to thrive! Keep us posted about future moments big and small.
2003
Andrea Fjeld andreafjeld@gmail.com There have been some big life changes this year, as the class of 2003 closes its third decade. Promotions, moves out of state, houses purchased and engagement, wedding and baby announcements are popping up in our Facebook newsfeeds daily. And my cat and I are doing just fine, too … Let’s kick things off on the West Coast, where Kirk Kirkland lives in San Francisco with his fiancée, Jamie (his wife, come September) and Rorie, their Cavalier King Charles. He cofounded the venture-backed scholarship company Raise.me and currently serves as its CEO. Monika Lind is also planning a wedding, having recently gotten
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engaged to “the handsomest man on Earth.” In the fall, she’s heading to grad school to study clinical psychology. (Can I get a few sessions on the house?) Moving east: Steven Suggs plans to spend another three years in Cleveland as his wife, Amanda, completes her dermatology residency. In July, he’ll graduate from his emergency medicine residency program at Case Western and become an attending physician. “This past year was great for us,” Steven says. The two are fervent athletes whose recent racing highlights include two Ironman events: Ironman Coeur d’Alene and Ironman Maryland. Steven also qualified and raced in this year’s Boston Marathon, where he caught up with Mark Chandler’s wife. Steven has a lot to report on his former DA peers — and I’m going to print it whether they like it or not. He saw Graydon Goodman at ACEP in Chicago. They both landed in the same medical specialty and are chief residents at their respective programs. And when he’s not running or saving lives? “Yes, I still play Magic: The Gathering,” he tells me. He and Bart Bressler got into a few games over the holidays. And “Josh Considine had a beautiful wedding that I was honored to be at,” Steven says. He concludes: “It’s awesome to be able to go through life with such great friends I made at DA. I feel truly blessed that I was able to go there.” Emily Luger has called Detroit home for the past two years. She works in advertising for Ford and enjoys exploring the growing food and music scene downtown with her fiancé and dog. By the time this is published, Emily will have already tied the knot, as the couple is getting married Memorial Day weekend in Hurdle Mills, North
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Carolina. A few years ago, Kyle Black made the jump across the pond. He’s finishing his work establishing the GlaxoSmithKline business in Cambodia. Next up is London, where he’ll work for GSK’s in-house biotech venture fund for the next year. Somewhat closer to home, Julia Lacy Gaylord and her husband, Jesse, are expecting their first child at the end of May. She is a teacher and administrator at The Field School in Washington, D.C. Among the many DA alumni who choose to stay in North Carolina are Rebekah Brenner Mark and Ben Mark. During a belated honeymoon in California last April, they found out they were pregnant, and the couple welcomed their first child, Elijah, on January 4, 2015. Amidst all of this excitement, Ben is getting his executive Master’s of Business Administration at Purdue in Indiana. Leann Widmark Jocius welcomed her second daughter on Nov. 14, 2014. Jett Elizabeth joins her older sister, Lyra Amber, born Oct. 19, 2011, to make them a family of four. They live in a newly purchased home in Durham’s Forest Hills neighborhood, where we and several other DA graduates grew up. Over in Raleigh, Stephen Dauchert and his wife, Leigh, are expecting their first child this fall. He works for the Redwoods Group and still finds the time to hang out with high school friends. Erik Knelson “just graduated the 24th grade” after completing his M.D./ Ph.D. program at Duke University. He is making the big move up north to Brookline, Massachusetts, where he’s slated to start his residency in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. His wife, Lauren, accepted a
clinical research position at nearby Boston Children’s. Just a few hours south in New York City, Allie Maxfield teaches Spanish, physics and chemistry to NYC public school kids — which she’s been doing the past six years. She credits her own teachers: “The lessons I learned from my teachers at DA continue to inspire me every single day of my career. The impact of their work has a ripple effect on the youth of NYC today.” On August 2, 2014, she married James Carmichael. Now, back to me and that cat I mentioned earlier. Since January 2014, we’ve lived in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, after hopping around the same borough and Queens for a year. In April, I left my reporting job at Euromoney Institutional Investor for one at the tech company LivePerson, where I am a copywriter and content producer. I work with a talented group of designers, marketing specialists, product managers and engineers, which makes going into the office actually enjoyable. Plus, the free coffee is much better than I’ve had at previous gigs. When you live in this city, I’ve learned that’s absolutely crucial. Good luck to my class as we enter our 30s and face the new and exciting adventures this decade will hold.
2004
Stephen Barlow Barlow.stephen@gmail.com Brittany Bussian Birch moved back to Durham in July 2014 with her husband, Tyler, who is attending Duke Business School. Shortly thereafter, she passed the North Carolina Bar and took a job at the North Carolina Supreme Court as a law clerk for Justice