TRIP INSPIRES BUSINESS VENTURE

Married Maxwell alumni Fabiola Lara ’13 B.A. (IR) and Sabith Khan ’11 M.P.A./ M.A. (IR) provide a sales platform for Mexican artisans.

During a 2018 visit to Oaxaca, Mexico, Fabiola Lara and Sabith Khan soaked up the rich cultural traditions of artisans who sell handmade goods like baskets, rugs, coverlets and clothing.

But the married Maxwell alumni pair were troubled by the artisans’ lack of access to platforms to sell their goods and by customers’ apparent lack of knowledge about the items they were buying.

Last year, Khan and Lara launched a business, Tlali Pani, that offers handmade goods from the community they visited. They work directly with women-led artisan families who set their own prices based on the pieces they design together. Khan and Lara are committed to sustainable processes and materials, and they work to educate their customers about the traditions connected to their wares.

Both say their education and experiences at the Maxwell School have been foundational in the business endeavor. Lara earned a bachelor’s degree in international relations in 2013, while Khan earned master’s degrees in public administration and international relations in 2011.

“We both had a life-transformative educational experience,” says Khan, who attended Maxwell after finishing undergraduate studies in his home country, India.

Lara adds, “For me, it was being exposed to global issues and perspectives around cultural exchange, empathy, and deep understanding of systemic inequalities that keep people from having equitable access to resources that can be transformative for future generations.”

The pair likely crossed paths in the halls of Maxwell while both were students, but they didn’t meet until the summer of 2011, just after Khan graduated. He had relocated to Washington, D.C., for work but returned to New York to attend and help facilitate a peace-build- ing retreat co-organized by the Maxwell School. Lara also decided to attend. She was in her junior year; in addition to international relations, she was majoring in French and francophone studies at the College of Arts and Sciences.

Khan and Lara have now been married seven years and have laid roots in southern California, near Lara’s hometown.

In addition to the business venture, Khan is a professor of public policy at California Lutheran University. He recently published a book that harnesses research conducted in Oaxaca during a 2019 visit. Lara continued graduate studies after Maxwell, earning a master’s degree in international education development at the University of Pennsylvania in 2014.

“Sabith and I both come from families that value the art of the handcrafting process as well as the knowledge and craft traditions of artisans,” says Lara. “It’s exciting that we’ve started our work in Mexico, Oaxaca specifically, and can offer these premium goods to the public while promoting the economic empowerment of the communities that we partner with.”

—Jewell Bohlinger

LaVasia Bullard ’05 B.A. (PSt) has been part of the Horizons Atlanta group since 2016, serving as a site director for Horizons’ Purpose Built Schools Atlanta program. During this time, Bullard also served as a K-2 instructional coach at Thomasville Heights Elementary School.

Seth Mulligan ’05 M.P.A. is the new director of innovation and partnerships at the Griffiss Institute, a talent and technology development company based in Rome, N.Y. Tapan Ray ’06 M.A. (PA) was re-appointed to the board of directors of CMS Info Systems, a cash management and payment solutions company based in Mumbai, India.

Ife Olatunji ’06 B.A. (Anth) has spent the last four years as a media educator with Facets Multimedia, a Chicago, Ill.-based nonprofit that connects people to independent ideas through transformative cinema. Olatunji teaches media literacy, narrative editing and documentary filmmaking.

David Whitmore ’06 M.P.A. was named vice president for advancement, academic affairs at Syracuse University. In this position Whitmore will work closely with Vice Chancellor, Provost and Chief Academic Officer Gretchen Ritter, among others, to advance Syracuse University’s academic and research enterprise. Whitmore came to Syracuse from Cornell University, where he served as the associate vice president for major gifts and alumni affairs and development.

Aleksei Filippov ’07 M.A. (IR) leads the project management department at Milrem Robotics, a company based in Tallinn, Estonia, that aims to provide innovative robotics for challenging environments.

Mark Newsome ’07 E.M.P.A. was promoted to vice president and senior partner of U.S. Federal Healthcare, IBM Consulting. The Armonk, N.Y.-based business discovers, designs and develops advanced information technology through consulting services.

Edward Yoshio Uechi ’08 M.P.A. joined the United States Department of Labor as a federal project officer, charged with managing grants implemented by state governments and nonprofits.

Zeina Koinis ’09 M.P.A. is the leading managing director of Definitive Results, a marketing consulting firm based in Leesburg, Va.

Brian J. Reil ’09 B.A. (PSc) was named managing director of external communications at the Edison Electric Institute, a Washington, D.C.based nonprofit association that represents the nation’s investorowned electric companies.

10s

Jihoon Yu ’10 M.A. (PSc)/’14 Ph.D. (PSc) is a commander in the Republic of Korea Navy. He is currently working as a research fellow at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses. He is also a member of the Republic of Korea’s Navy task force on the CVX light aircraft carrier project.

Patrick Fiorenza ’11 M.P.A. has joined Research and Marketing Strategies Inc. as the research analytics manager. Research and Marketing Strategies is a market research and healthcare consulting firm located in Central New York.

Amy Stormes Kremenek ’11 E.M.P.A. was named the fifth president of Tompkins Cortland Community College in Dryden, N.Y.

Kathleen Walpole ’12 B.A. (Hist/ PSt/PSc) is the director of program strategy, impact and evaluation for Home HeadQuarters, a nonprofit housing and community development organization in Syracuse.

Emma Goldbas ’14 B.A. (Anth/IR) is the director of operations at The Potter’s House, a Washington, D.C., bookstore focused on solidarity, justice, spirituality and care for the earth. The bookstore also runs a soup kitchen and has educational programming.

Jonathan Edelberto Martinex ’14 B.A. (IR/PSt/PSc) is head of U.S. federal affairs for Haleon, a healthcare company based in Washington, D.C. He previously served as the director of federal government affairs at GlaxoSmithKline, a global biopharma company.

Claire Rupert ’14 B.A. (IR) is the country director for parts of Europe/ NATO in the office of the Regional Affairs Directorate, for the Deputy Under Secretary of the Air Force, International Affairs. Rupert oversees foreign military sales cases for Italy, prepares senior leaders for engagements with their Italian counterparts, and serves as the main point of contact for the Italian air attaché to the U.S. in the Pentagon.

Debbie Truong ’14 B.A. (PSc) joined the education reporting team at the Los Angeles Times. She has focused her reporting career on higher education and challenges facing universities in California.

Maidel De La Cruz ’15 M.P.A. is the senior director of government and community affairs at New York City Health and Hospitals and was also named to the Nonprofit 40 Under 40 list, by City & State, a nonpartisan media outlet dedicated to covering New York’s local and state politics and policy.

Jeffrey Patrick Kurkjian ’15 B.A. (PSc) was named the new co-host of the Andie Summers Morning Show on 92.5 WXTU-FM in Philadelphia.

Sawyer Lily Cresap ’16 B.A. (PSt) has been named AdkAction executive director. AdkAction is an organization that addresses unmet needs, promotes vibrant communities and preserves the natural beauty of the Adirondacks. It is based in Keeseville, N.Y.

Joseph Serbun ’16 M.P.A. has joined CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield of Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., as a market research and customer insights consultant. Prior to this, Serbun served as a project manager and research lead for the federal elections team at Fors Marsh Group, a market research firm in Arlington, Va.

Sarah Baumunk’17 M.P.A./M.A. (IR) is a research and policy advisor for the Baltimore, Md.-based Catholic Relief Services, an organization that seeks to assist impoverished and disadvantaged people overseas.

Camila Urbina Escobar ’17 M.P.A./M.A. (IR) married fellow alumnus Maxwell Rupersburgh ’16 M.P.A. in Cartagena, Columbia, on June 25, 2022.

Raymond Levine ’18 B.A. (PSt/ PSc) is starting his last semester at the University of Michigan Law School and is managing executive editor of the Michigan Journal of Race & Law, Volume 27. He is currently a research assistant for Professor Patrick Barry in the legal writing department.

Adam Miller ’19 M.A. (IR) is a research analyst at the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, an organization that tracks political violence globally.

20s

Christopher R. Sponn ’20 M.P.A. is deputy workforce development director for Tompkins County, N.Y.

Parker Leland Nash ’21 M.P.A. is a program assistant for the German Marshall Fund’s security and defense policy team in the Washington, D.C., office. The German Marshall Fund is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that works on issues critical to modern transatlantic interests, such as democracy, security and geopolitics, technology, and innovation. It drives policy debate through analysis, community-building and cultivating leadership.

Megan Joyce ’22 M.P.A. is a communications officer for Reverse the Red, a global movement led by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums, that organizes conservation efforts and supports international biological diversity.