Issuu

Washington Square News Presents

COVER BY VALENTINA BOJANINI AND EASTON SELF

Letter From the E

f you ask NYU students what the best part of living in the city is, it’s very possible you might hear something like this: the city never stops. At the same time, that can also be one of the worst things about living in a city like this — it’s limitless. The only thing standing in the way of the endless potential for success is the endless potential to get lost in the mix. In this issue, we sought to highlight students who are up-and-coming in the NYU community, but we weren’t just looking for the students who were doing the textbook definition of “the best.” Instead, we looked at 10 students who are taking their unique set of skills and amplifying them with all the resources that both NYU and NYC have to offer — students who are thriving in their niche, touching the communities around them and leaving their mark in the best way possible. It’s not just the student who got the killer internship or who aces every Micro exam (although you might find a couple of those people in here). The Up-and-Comers Issue is comprised of the student who doesn’t care if their brush strokes go outside the lines, who fails nine times just to connect on the tenth — because when they do connect, they make it count. We would be remiss if we did not thank our lovely deputy managing editor Audrey Deng, who stayed up with us at all hours of the night to make this happen; our steadfast multimedia editor Hannah Shulman, who smoothly coordinated the beautiful visual component to this issue; and our insightful themed issue directors Valentina Bojanini and Marita Vlachou, who provided us with guidance whenever we asked it of them. We would also like to thank Easton Self and Wen Ni, our magisterial creative design team, without whom this beautiful issue would have been made on Microsoft Word in 12 pt. Times New Roman font. Last but not least, we must thank Sam Bearzi, Calvin Falk, Polina Buchak and the rest of the multimedia team, who led the photo and video charge and generally saved our butts more times than we can count. This truly was a team effort. We hope you enjoy and that you genuinely take the time to celebrate the accomplishments of these incredible individuals. We certainly did.

Editors

Photo by Sam Bearzi

Interested in working for us? Drop by any time or come to our Sunday pitch meetings.

Jeph Acheamp Photo by Sam Bearzi

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I wanted to be that father figure for the youth that don’t have that uncle.

Photo by Sam Bearzi

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pong N

ot many people can say they have a thinking spot — a personal haven to which they can escape. For Jeph Acheampong, his spot is the Whitney. Acheampong wears his heart on his sleeve and holds the weight of the world on his shoulders, determined to do whatever he can to help it. In 2014, with a goal to decrease world poverty, a passion for the spoken word and an entrepreneurial spirit, Acheampong founded Anansi Global, a humanitarian fashion company that uses its products and original mentorship curriculum to inspire and empower youth across the globe. Throughout his life, it was the little seeds of creativity and wisdom which formed the foundation for both the man Acheampong is today and the company he now leads. Acheampong scales Anansi Global through collaborating and cultivating relationships with friends at NYU and around the world. Here he also utilizes his passions for fashion, economic development, business management and the spoken word. The spoken word, a recent passion discovered upon arrival at NYU, is what inspired the Anansi Global bracelets. After realizing the impact his words had on people, he sees the bracelets as a platform to expand the capacity of his spoken word into written world. Every bracelet has a phrase from the myriad of poems he has written. “In the future I see Anansi touching millions of youth,” Acheampong said. “That’s only going to come by scaling with technology, which is why we’re focusing on technology as our new platform. We want to decrease the employment rate in sub-Saharan African countries and it starts with the youth cultivating them with the skill set needed to reach their potential.” Anansi Empowerment Initiative cul-

tivates skill sets. The initiative’s curriculum is mainly focused on building entrepreneurial skills and exposure, providing opportunities to children that they may not otherwise have, such as work in the Parliament of Ghana. The initiative also incorporates sports in the hopes of motivating the youth to avoid risky behavior and focus their efforts on succeeding. AEI members play soccer with the boys and ampe — a traditional Ghanaian children’s game similar to rock, paper, scissors — with the girls to coincide with the core principle of education that they constantly preach. “The youth we worked with were occupied with strengthening and unifying their relationship and building their community through positively influenced collaboration,” Acheampong said. “Education is an extremely important force to cultivate growth in anyone. And when I say education it’s past the classroom, it’s outside the classroom: learning from a stranger, learning from a friend.” When he was just 10 years old, Acheampong lost his father. At such a vulnerable age, he became swayed by the privatized community in Ghana where he grew up. He found himself surrounded by peers who had neither drive nor aspirations. He needed a change in surroundings. He needed to be intellectually stimulated. It took his uncle, Ekow Aikins Jr., walking into his life for that to happen. “He showed me that I have potential, which is what inspired Anansi,” Acheampong said. “I wanted to be that father figure for the youth who don’t have that uncle. There are one million orphans in Ghana and they don’t have that parental figure to tell them how to act.” Aikins was a mentor both in life and in the classroom. Acheampong had already developed a sense of right versus wrong, but he credits his uncle

for furthering his understanding and significantly contributing to his growth as a person. After being raised in an environment that cultivated his keen interest in improving the lives of others, Acheampong had no trouble deciding on a university — NYU was the perfect place to empower his mission to celebrate diversity. Acheampong credits the diversity of the students and professors as a major influence on his perspective and how he thinks. Finding balance for any student is hard, between classes, extracurriculars, internships and work. And when you are the CEO of your own company at the age of 21, it is especially hard. “Surrounding myself with people who are doing very similar things helps,” Acheampong said. “When you’re around people that are like you, you realize you’re not crazy and you realize what you’re doing is okay.” Acheampong is also the Event Director for the African Student Union and a member of Gentlemen of Quality. Besides Anansi Global, he contributes ideas to three other startups, doing everything from community marketing and strategy to business development. “I believe the great thing about attending NYU is the wide range of networks students can tap into,” Acheampong said. “I successfully leverage my network by sharing opportunities I am involved in with them.” Acheampong says what he’s been through has put him in a position to make real change in the world. There’s no telling what it might take to realize that dream of ending poverty and giving everyone the same opportunities he’s had. But until then, Jeph Acheampong is content with his spot at the Whitney, introspectively reflecting on how he can use his intrinsic generosity and drive for the greatest good.

Gabriella Bower Beauty and Style Editor

Robert Cli R

obert Clinton is the kind of NYU student who gets written about in admission brochures and featured on university websites. When school administrators needed an Admissions Ambassador to show Malia Obama around campus, they choose the Gallatin senior. But the most remarkable thing about his NYU career might be that he ended up here at all. “I wasn’t gonna go here,” Clinton said. “It was not on the list of schools I was considering, I didn’t know what NYU was — like ‘fuck you, New York.’” A high school quarterback, Clinton planned on attending one of the schools that had offered him a football scholarship. While visiting New York City for the first time in his senior year of high school, Clinton begrudgingly met with a friend of his mother’s — NYU Clinical Law professor Tony Thompson. Like Clinton, Thompson grew up in Richmond, California, and he worked hard to change Clinton’s mind about his college plans. “We actually fought a great deal about him applying to NYU, which I tease him about incessantly now,” Thompson said. “I thought that this environment, and New York City as a laboratory and a backdrop for your undergraduate education, would just grow him in ways he couldn’t even imagine.” Clinton eventually gave in, and said that he now thinks his decision to come to NYU was one of the best he’s made in his 21 years. But when he arrived at Gallatin, Clinton had no idea what he wanted to study — just that he was interested in cities. “All of my classes had the word ‘urban’ in them,” he said.

Eventually he narrowed his focus to how the design of cities impacts the way people access healthy food, and settled on his concentration – “The Sociology and Politics of Urban Agriculture.” Clinton’s interest in food justice began when he attended a city council meeting in his hometown of Richmond, where many residents aren’t able to afford nutritious food in their neighborhoods. While studying abroad at NYU Accra, Clinton worked on a local farm, planting crops and chopping down banana trees. Once he figured out what he wanted to do, Clinton applied for every fellowship and grant that would allow him to learn and travel. As a Gallatin Global Fellow in Urban Practice, he spent three months in Berlin studying how the relationship between ethnic Germans and Muslim migrants impacts the city’s sustainability practices. Clinton also visited Naples, Cairo and Athens to research how their cuisines compare to those of immigrants living in Queens. Back in New York, Clinton also started a student club called “Know Your City.” “We put on events like a ‘Know Your Neighborhood’ series,” he said. “And stuff like a hip-hop guide to Urban Planning.” Though he’s clearly a self-starter, Clinton said that much of his success is due to the mentors he’s found at NYU. Clinton is one of the 32 winners of this year’s prestigious Marshall Scholarship, which will allow him to move to London after graduation to complete two Master’s degrees from UK schools. But Clinton said that he probably would never ever even applied for the Marshall

without the support of his professors and advisors. When he needed a new suit for the Marshall interview, one administrator even accompanied Clinton to Suitsupply, a menswear store on Madison Ave., to help him choose the perfect one — a testament to the extra mile those who believe in him will go. And while Clinton may be far from home, he said that the support system he’s built here feels like family. He’s grown particularly close to Thompson and his wife Kim Taylor-Thompson who also teaches at NYU Law. “They’ve just been tremendous help since I’ve gotten here,” Clinton said. “I’ve done Thanksgiving with them, and we hang out. They’re really, really nice people.” It’s clear that everyone at Gallatin expects big things from Clinton. Becky Amato, a professor who worked with Clinton during his Gallatin Fellowship, said that Clinton will definitely be in charge somewhere soon. “He’ll be running something that’s about equity and justice,” Amato said. “I don’t think he’s going to be running a corporation.” This focus on community is a theme in Clinton’s senior project — a cookbook. He’s collecting recipes from the people who have defined his NYU experience. That group includes everyone from upper level administrators and academics to employees at dining halls around campus. “NYU’s a big scary place,” Clinton said. “But when you find people like them to make it worth it, it’s really worth it.”

Kendall Levison Features Editor

inton “

NYU’s a big scary place. But when you find people like them to make it worth it, it’s really worth it.

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Photo by Sam Bearzi

Christopher

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I still very much consider myself as someone in development, in my craft and what I’m trying to say.

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Photo by Sam Bearzi

Cole U

nder the fluorescent glow of blue and pink lights surrounded by meticulously decorated walls, a sea of young people filled the room, swaying to the smooth music heard above the hum of conversations. Among the group was Tisch junior Chris Cole, who welcomed friends to the special event he was co-hosting — a night of promoting dialogue with a clever #OscarsSoWhack boycott, held at director Spike Lee’s spacious 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks studio. A filmmaker himself, Cole experiments with all aspects of creative endeavors including directing, writing and producing. Last spring, Cole wrote and directed a short film about an obsessive Drake fan called “If You’re Reading This, It’s Too Late” as a final assignment for his “Sight and Sound” filmmaking class with David Irving. “I thought ‘If You’re Reading This, It’s Too Late’ was both topical and had a tremendous amount of energy,” Irving said. “Cole has a good handle on how to engage an audience.” In fact, the video, which juxtaposed hip hop with dark humor, drew vast audience appeal and went viral. Following a post on Reddit, the short accumulated over 30,000 views overnight. The film was covered by prominent music publications like the Fader and Noisey, and was even chosen as a featured film of Nitehawk Cinema’s Short Film Festival in Williamsburg last November. “I wanted to do something with Drake because I think he has an interesting persona and I’ve always liked dark comedy,” Cole said. “What many people have told me

is that the more you watch the film, you notice something new. The first time you watch it, you may not see the underlying thing and then you notice it the more you go.” Cole appreciates the bombardment of attention but assures he’s not a one-hit wonder. His interests go beyond pop culture to its relationship with social issues. Cole’s storytelling delves into the connections between seemingly disparate issues, including hip hop and race relations. His co-written screenplay about privilege was chosen for an upcoming MTV project, but Cole cannot elaborate on the project as it waits in post-production for distribution. Cole does acknowledge how fortunate he was to be provided with the right working environment. “I’ve learned from this opportunity that filmmaking is so collaborative and working with people is the best part,” Cole said. “I was able to have my friends do music and have friends act in it. I was working with my friends and the guys from MTV. It’s crazy to be at this level and this age to be able to get that experience.” Recognizing the influence of visual media in shedding light on prevalent issues, it is not surprising that Cole has sought to vocalize the struggles of minorities in creative fields through the collective Chromatic. Co-founded with six other friends, the newly formed group is one way for Cole to respond to the current climate through his craft. “It’s our goal to provide a service and a space for any underrepresented voices within media to be able to get their voices out there

and get the proper education to get to that level,” Cole said. Cole’s desire to develop his skills in lending guidance for people in his fields of expertise is only one aspect of his future plans. He references NYU alum Donald Glover as an individual of great versatility as a rapper, actor, comedian, director and writer. Cole hopes to one day emulate Glover’s ability to have multiple successful projects. “It takes building,” Cole said. “I don’t want to be there right now but that’s the point where I want to get. And if that means having a show that nobody watches or never gets picked up, so be it.” Another source of inspiration for Cole is the sketch comedy “The Chappelle Show,” and one day he hopes to produce content of similar value and style. “I’d love to do a sketch show. Here at NYU, my friends, Tisch or non-Tisch, filmwriter or not, I feel like I’m surrounded by so many hilarious, talented people,” Cole said. Conversing with these same friends at the Sunday night event protesting the Oscars, Cole’s presence is indicative of not only the various stages his work has carried him through but also alludes to the many frames still yet to come. “I still very much consider myself as someone in development, in my craft and what I’m trying to say,” Cole said. “You never really know what’s going to happen. If something were to come up sooner than later, I’d love to just fail and learn from it, or at least try and fail to embrace that time. When things come around in 10 years perhaps, it’s going to be even better.”

Nina Jang Deputy Digital Director

Jenny Jiao W

hen was the last time you read the painfully self-conscious pages of a teenage girl’s diary while playing a video game? Personal touches like that are the exact thing that sets aside Tisch senior Jenny Jiao Hsia from her peers. Hsia had no qualms about breaking down the wall of her adolescent thoughts with users in her personal project, Consume Me. When Hsia entered NYU in 2012, she had no idea in what direction she wanted to steer her life. Though she always had an interest in art, she was afraid of becoming the stereotypical artist if she were to pursue a major in art. She set herself on the pre-med track instead — an option Hsia thought to be more practical — and she finished the first semester of freshman year with a 1.9 GPA. As it would turn out, pre-med was not Hsia’s passion. She decided to take a semester off, escaping to her father’s farm in upstate New York to figure out who she was and what she wanted to do with the rest of her time at NYU. The following fall, Hsia sampled some new classes including, fortuitously, a Games 101 course. The course was mainly a history of games, but she ended up loving it so much that she took another game design course. It was in this next course, Intro to Game Design, that Hsia dropped all of her other courses in order to spend all of her time on the class’ final project, a non-digital abstract strategy game. “I guess I just became obsessed with it,” Hsia said. “I would spend all my time thinking about the design. Maybe it wasn’t the most efficient use of my time, but I guess I never experienced an activity so absorbing and transcending as cutting out a bunch of paper hexagons.”

However, the 21-year old was not always interested in video games. When she was younger, she didn’t like them, much less played them. “My dad and brother played a lot of them and I just thought it was the biggest waste of time,” Hsia said. “I think it’s funny how something I hated turned into something that I am now devoting most of my time to.” Hsia creates video games that diverge from the usual first-person shooters. Her personal projects attempt to diversify gamers’ actions, forcing the users to perform actions other than shooting or racing. She believes that games have incredible potential to teach and expand. “There’s still so much space to explore in games,” Hsia said. “The games that I want to play do not exist yet, so I want to spend time and energy into making that stuff happen.” One way in which Hsia is exploring the spectrum of games is with one of her personal projects, Consume Me, a game based on her high school experiences with dieting, discussing topics such as body image and eating disorders. At the surface, Hsia’s game Consume Me is a puzzle game. The player builds meals combining various fruit, vegetables and protein in attempt to lose a certain amount of weight. But ultimately, the game reveals the difficulty of trying to adhere to self-imposed dietary restrictions, and the reality of failing miserably at them. Toni Pizza, a former professor, said that something that she admires about Hsia is that she takes dense topics and uses visual design to make them approachable. “When she first pitched the game Consume Me, she received a lot of pushback from her classmates,” Pizza said. “The other students were obviously uncomfortable with the idea,

but Hsia was adamant and basically told the students that just because they were uncomfortable talking about the topics, it didn’t mean that she had to shy away from them.” Hsia’s game repertoire includes games such as Stellar Smooch, Slam City Oracles and Beglitched — all of which are products of many hours of hard work and dedication. Her work, as with any passion project, draws from her own personality. Vibrant, energetic and friendly colors consistently emanate from all of her games, mirroring the designer’s unique persona. Gallatin junior and Hsia’s friend from high school, Kirsten Rischert-Garcia, said that she is impressed with the way in which Hsia’s personality traits are evident in the games that she produces. “Jenny is very honest and vulnerable with her friends and what I love about her games is that she expresses this honesty and vulnerability in that work,” Rischert-Garcia said. But Hsia isn’t all work and no play. A foodie, she also runs a healthy cooking channel on YouTube called Mdfrmscrtch (Made from scratch), where she shows step-by-step how to make scrumptious dishes such as raw vegan carrot cake. When she’s not creating content for her YouTube channel, Hsia also enjoys following finely curated food blogs on Tumblr and reading comics such as “Scott Pilgrim.” Now a senior, Hsia has managed to recover her GPA, even earning herself a spot on the Dean’s List multiple times. Despite this success, she is not as concerned with grades or GPAs as she is with studying something she is passionate about. “At the end of the day, it’s about working on something that you love, throwing yourself into it and getting lost in it,” Hsia said.

Dejarelle Gaines Copy Chief

Hsia

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The games that I want to play do not exist yet, so I want to spend time and energy into making that stuff happen.â€?

Photo by Sam Bearzi

Shuaib Jew “

The key to building a startup is having a perfect team with imperfect members.

Photo by Calvin Falk

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won W

hen Tandon sopho more Shuaib Jewon is at NYU’s Leslie eLab, his love for fun and teamwork is at its peak. One Friday, he led a meeting to discuss the latest ideas for CastMe, a startup he co-founded with CEO Phillip Chavira. Alongside Chavira and Jonathan Demar — the startup’s national sales manager — Jewon discussed marketing, software, curating Facebook posts and graphic design. A 12x12 room is hardly enough to contain Jewon’s confidence and ambition, and over the coming years, his platform will only grow. “There’s no one who does what we do now,” Jewon said. CastMe, which is currently scheduled to be in beta testing this summer, plans to make communication between producers and actors easier. The app has already tallied over 550 likes on Facebook, and his array of accomplishments has even piqued the interest of Randi Zuckerberg, the sister of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. But while the preliminary success of the app may seem like Jewon’s life has been smooth sailing, things haven’t always been so easy. Jewon was born with cleft palate, a birth defect that occurs when the mouth’s tissue doesn’t form properly during pregnancy. He faced adversity from a young age, having to work to overcome subpar social skills and a speech impediment. But with a limited social life came opportunity. He was enthusiastic about technology from a young age, tinkering with his father’s laptop in his home country of Mauritius, a small island nation located in the Indian Ocean. Though his father passed away when he was nine, Jewon’s love for technology continued to grow. He was fascinat-

ed by the interconnectivity that went into his family’s desktop, and this experience proved to be the central lesson of his early years. “The most important thing I learned from my childhood is collaboration,” Jewon said. “If I cannot have the chemistry with the other team members, it’s not going to work.” At 14, he began performing freelance coding jobs on the Internet for a small fee. Through his educational tutors, Jewon turned what was a private hobby into a feasible future. He found out about the Junior Chamber International Creative Young Entrepreneur Award, which recognizes the the most innovative entrepreneurs under the age of 30. His friend convinced Jewon to give it a shot and three months later, the pair took home second place for TravelArcher, an application that provided marketing strategies for the travel industry. “I was like wow, I did this on a whim, but maybe I can seriously do this,” Jewon said. “Maybe there’s something here.” With the intention of learning more about entrepreneurship, Jewon and his friend set their sights on the United States, but even when he was accepted into NYU after his cousin convinced him to apply, Jewon was short on tuition funds. Desperate, he sought help and eventually secured several donations, including an approximately $50,000 scholarship from GML, an important economic power in the Indian Ocean with over 300 subsidiaries and associated accompanies. But four months before he came to New York, Jewon’s first major surgery for cleft palate failed, putting him in a coma for about a day. With his mouth now shut for a month, Jewon was forced to literally relearn how to

speak with college just around the corner. His first year in college was a year of reflection. After a difficult first semester, Jewon gradually came out of his shell and met Tisch sophomore Jake Rosenberg. A playwright, Rosenberg and Jewon collaborated on an experimental app that would make rush ticketing easier. Though it failed, the two remained friends, and Rosenberg asked Jewon to join him at a play. It was here that he got his first taste of theater. He learned about theater production firsthand, assisting Rosenberg in one of his plays, “Brothers.” Rosenberg credits Jewon with saving the production. “As soon as I asked Shuaib aboard, he turned us around, reorganized our entire mode of operating and made sure every choice we made was making financial sense,” Rosenberg said. Three months later, Jewon was introduced to Phillip Chavira, the brain behind CastMe. Since then, building the app has been his top priority, but he knows he can’t do it alone. “You cannot do everything,” Jewon said. “The key to building a startup is having a perfect team with imperfect members.” Jewon is currently collaborating with Rosenberg on a new play, “The Jews,” which will be traveling to Poland in 2017. The Jewon today is far happier than the Jewon from freshman year, though at times he is still uncertain what the future has in store for him. He refuses to narrow his window of opportunity though — for him, anything is possible as long as it’s fun. “I don’t think we are currently living in a world where technology has caught up to Shuaib’s ambition,” Rosenberg said.

Michael Thompson Sports Editor

Sudhi Kaus T

here is no such thing as a normal day for Sudhi Kaushik. One day, he’ll be organizing a protest, the next he’ll be organizing content for an online literary magazine. In fact, the only static element of his daily schedule begins at 11 p.m., when he starts placing calls to run his nonprofit organization halfway around the world in India. From talking to him, it’s hard to tell that Kaushik has founded several nonprofit organizations, created a newspaper distributed among public school children in India and just finished production of a documentary set to premiere at the New York Indian Film Festival. The Gallatin junior is from Birmingham, Alabama, enjoys sweet coffee drinks and says he imagines his life as a sequence of Bollywood music numbers. But more than anything else, Kaushik is driven by the desire to improve the lives of others. CAS junior Danish Aamir, who co-founded a South Asian literary magazine called Qissa Bazaar with Kaushik, said that while his resume and accomplishments might make him seem unapproachable, he actually found him to be very down to earth. “The Sudhi that you meet in person will never talk about [his achievements],” Aamir said. “He wouldn’t talk about it in person just in case on the off chance he comes off as full of himself or proud or arrogant.” His first experience in the nonprofit sector was in high school when he founded LoveLiveHope, a small nonprofit that provided people in India three meals for every dollar donated. Originally a pre-med student, Kaushik spent two years at the University of Alabama at Birmingham before being drawn to NYU’s international relations program.

“I decided I wanted to do more policy work,” Kaushik said. “I was more interested in the upliftment of society rather than individuals. There are themes across the world where you see a lot of societies whether it’s caste, creed, race, culture that are completely undermined by their state government or powerful actors and those are the people that I want to help.” During his last year at University of Alabama, Kaushik pitched an idea for a new nonprofit called Equality Initiative to Clinton Global University. Instead of dealing with food insecurity like he did with LoveLiveHope, Kaushik focused his attention to education and illiteracy in India. “There was a huge distance problem, there was a huge need for community based education rather than going somewhere,” Kaushik said. “So people would have to travel a kilometer or two, people weren’t comfortable sending their children there. So what we decided to do is completely change the system — send the teacher to the students.” Equality Initiative, or EqIn, was showcased at CGU last year and has since taught more than 500 students in rural communities in India. The program sponsors teachers who go directly to the communities and teach English, math and a local language to children and adults alike. “The idea is not to give them an Ivy League education,” Kaushik said. “It’s basically to raise their standard of living. People have come in earning less than 75 cents a day and they graduate through taking two or three months of classes.” That same year, he also founded the Maverick, a free newspaper distributed to public school students that gave them access to a basic English language newspaper with local and global current events.

For EqIn, each night, teachers and local managers report back to Kaushik, hence the late night phone calls and text messages. Each teacher is given a photo-capable cell phone and takes a picture each class to mark attendance and to help Kaushik track data such as gender ratios among students. Although the work is ultimately rewarding, he admits that the workload of being a full-time student and running EqIn from another country can be straining. “There are a lot of things that you have to sacrifice,” Kaushik said. “It’s not my work, it’s not my ambition, it’s the simple idea of being there for someone that takes priority over a social scene, over going to a party.“ CAS junior Simran Parmar, who is on the Multifaith Advisory Council alongside Kaushik, said his passion for human rights is always apparent, even when he doesn’t set out to be an activist. “When I first met Sudhi in Abu Dhabi, he would randomly approach local migrant workers and greet them with a warm smile and speak to them in their native languages,” Parmar said. “While the rest of us on the trip were obsessing over the country’s luxuries, Sudhi was genuinely interested in trying to learn about the working conditions in the country.” Although it might be easy to put Kaushik up on a pedestal for his altruism, he constantly stresses that he is simply doing what makes him happy. “If I see that I have the potential and ability to help, there’s no goddamn way I’m not going to do so, whether [it’s] sacrificing my grades — which I have, [or] whether [it’s] sacrificing my social life — which I have,” Kaushik said. “But that’s what gives me joy, and I enjoy what I’m doing right now.”

Anne Cruz News Editor

shik “

It’s not my work, it’s not my ambition, it’s the simple idea of being there for someone that takes priority over a social scene, over going to a party.

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Photo by Sam Bearzi

Isabelle Kling

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It doesn’t matter if you’re interested in politics or not. Every policy decision made will have an impact on your life.

Photo by Sam Bearzi

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ghoffer M

ost students feel uncomfortable speaking in public, but CAS senior Isabelle Klinghoffer is able to persuade more than 100 Model United Nations delegates to support her diplomatic approaches to the world’s most pressing concerns and lead NYU’s MUN travel team to a first place finish in countless competitions. Klinghoffer feels right at home behind a podium debating foreign policy strategies, as she provides resolutions to maintaining peace and stability in a region and discusses how to create successful economic policies. She can even school you in six languages while munching on her favorite wasabi cream cheese bagels. “All I want to do is convince people that policy matters,” Klinghoffer said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re interested in politics or not. Every policy decision made will have an impact on your life, and that’s why we have to strive to make the best compromises possible.” Klinghoffer ultimately wants to use her public speaking talents to pursue a career in foreign policy. She has already held esteemed internships at the State Department and the White House. After getting a full-time internship at the White House her junior year, Klinghoffer made the decision to drop out of school for six months to take full advantage of the opportunity to work among world leaders. “I’ll admit it was scary having to drop all of my classes, but I had the full support of my parents,” she said. “I truly felt that this opportunity was leading me toward my ultimate career goals and the internship was something I

was meant to do. Once you find that passion for your dream, whatever it is, you’re willing to sacrifice whatever it takes to get there.” Her father’s job as a commercial airline pilot initially sparked her interest in foreign policy and gave Klinghoffer the opportunity to travel all over the world as she lived in places like Italy, France, Thailand, Macao and China. These real-world travel experiences ultimately led to her decision to major in politics, history and East Asian studies with a concentration in U.S. foreign policy. “Living in all of these places really taught me how to be an American from abroad,” Klinghoffer said. “I was striving to learn more about each country I lived in, but at the same time I always wondered how my friends viewed me as an American. Not only did I want to learn about the affairs of each country, but I was particularly interested in how U.S. policy played a role internationally.” While each country holds a special place in her heart, she said the cultural divide between Americans and foreign nationals can be a challenge. In fact, when she was in high school in the rural town of Xiamen, China, she was the only American in her class of 20 students. However, this experience only pushed her to become accustomed to a foreign culture, and now she is fluent in Mandarin. “You get the language down, you become immersed in the culture, and then you come to somewhere so culturally diverse like the U.S. where that background is now an incredible asset, especially for what I want to do,” Klinghoffer said. NYU seemed like the perfect place for Klinghoffer to attend college be-

cause its student body is diverse and she could comfortably settle back home in the United States. Close friend and CAS senior Laura Leira met Klinghoffer during the first week of their freshman year, and said any conversation with her, regardless of the topic, always leaves her feeling inspired. “Isabelle truly makes you believe that the world is yours for the taking — that you are capable, intelligent and important,” Leira said. “She’s a leader and change-maker, and an incredible friend.” Many of Klinghoffer’s friendships were forged through MUN, as the team became like a second family to her. Klinghoffer’s colleague and MUN teammate Robert Hankins said her work engaging the team led the group from their 13th ranking to fourth in the world during her junior year. “Isabelle is the type of person who is able to inspire others to become leaders and challenges her peers to compete at a higher level,” Hankins said. “I have the utmost respect for her ability to remain calm in the wake of chaos.” Klinghoffer plans to follow in the footsteps of her idols like Susan Rice, Madeleine Albright and Lael Brainard by working as a business analyst at the McKinsey and Company New York office after graduation before ultimately pursuing a career in foreign policy. “I need to find my entry point into foreign policy,” Klinghoffer said. “But it’ll come. I’ve found something I truly believe in, and that’s diplomacy. Through foreign policy you can convey such a powerful message and genuinely impact people’s lives.”

Lexi Faunce News Editor

Freia Lob W

hen I stopped by NYU’s Leslie eLab be fore Tech@NYU’s ex ecutive board meeting one Tuesday, club Vice President Freia Lobo took me in with open arms. She showed me around and introduced me to her friends and colleagues like she owned the place. And who knows, one day she just might. That’s the kind of limitless potential Lobo, an economics and computer science major in the College of Arts and Sciences, exudes. Already a trailblazer for women in the tech industry, Lobo was a selfproclaimed “gadgets-person” while growing up in Mumbai, India, as her dad would bring home the latest in tech toys when he made business trips into the states. Lobo was lucky enough to have access to things like the first iPhone, which wasn’t the norm amongst her peers in India. “I had a lot of exposure to tech really early on,” Lobo said. “I didn’t realize how much it was compared to my friends until now.” After making the trek from Mumbai to Manhattan to attend NYU, Lobo broke into the tech world freshman year when she found the technology collective Tech@NYU, which she kindof-not-really joked has now taken over her life. Lobo initially joined Freshman Circuit, going on tours of tech companies ranging from the likes of Spotify and Facebook to small startups with wide-eyed, sleep-deprived twenty-somethings. By the end of freshman year she was offered the role of running the circuit, which prompted her to try her luck at the big leagues: applying to a summer internship at Google. “Spoiler alert: I got rejected,” Lobo laughed.

She instead spent the summer working as a TA in San Francisco at Girls Who Code, a summer program for teaching high school girls how to code. Lobo said the great thing about programs like these is that once they learn the basics of coding, it creates an opportunity for these girls to create practical solutions to their own problems. It’s Lobo’s belief that personal problem solving is a crucial piece of the puzzle in improving diversity in tech — a battle her and others are fighting constantly. “When you teach people from different backgrounds to code, they build things that are relevant to them, so if software engineers are all white males, they’re solving the problems of only white males,” Lobo said. Lobo’s high school friend and current NYU student Shivam Jumani says her strong presence and opinionated nature is impactful on all those she meets. “I respect that she’s not afraid of taking on new challenges, and once she has set her mind on doing something, she will make sure she achieves it,” Jumani said. Though Lobo views herself as a feminist, the male-driven nature of the field of technology doesn’t really faze her, having been surrounded by many male friends while growing up. Though an imbalance is apparent — she noted that in one of her computer science classes, she loosely counted 30 women compared to a male contingent of roughly 70 — she said it is essential is that women fit seamlessly. Tech@NYU is actively trying to break the trend of a lack of women in tech — the e-board is made up of smaller teams that take on individual tasks, and one of these teams has five fe-

males to one male. But for Lobo, it’s less about the actual numbers and more about the climates in which those numbers can exist. “We’re not celebrating that we have five women or that we have one guy; we’re celebrating that we created an environment where that could happen,” Lobo said. With a host of new experiences under her belt, Lobo moved beyond her past attempt at Google and is now headed into her second straight summer there. The gender issues at Google alone are staggering — just 22 percent of all leadership positions are held by women, so Lobo would be in prime position to make a splash onto the scene there. However, Lobo’s ambitions go far beyond the San Francisco-based tech company. She’s always hashing out ways in her head to improve circumstances in her homeland of India through technology and propping up a small business. Meanwhile, Lobo’s former computer science professor Sana Odeh had nothing but kind words to say about Lobo. And when lumped together with the tech industry’s elite, Odeh said that Lobo could more than keep up with them. “She is very sharp, she can get anything done,” said Odeh. “She’s going to go places.” Few have their doubts that Lobo is going to do amazing things in technology, but the tech world just might have to wait for her to stop scrolling through Twitter first, something she freely admits to doing too much. Who can blame her though, because it’s what she does best — she’s just trying to connect with people the best she can, and she’ll see where it goes from there.

Rachel Ruecker Deputy Sports Editor

bo “

If software engineers are all white males, they’re solving the problems of only white males.

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Photo by Sam Bearzi

Rohit Mit “

We firmly believe in this idea, which is why we said no to investor money. We don’t need them to

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actually grow. Photo by Calvin Falk

ttal R

ohit Mittal does not speak like the average startup CEO. He has that sort of dorky, disarming charm that makes him instantly approachable. When he talks — whether about his company, Mitley, his experiences as a resident assistant or his strange passion for studying airlines — he carries in his voice a professorial enthusiasm, a desire to understand how everything works. As Vice President of the RA Council, former president of the Liberal Studies Council and a frequenter of the Aviation Club, the only thing more impressive than Mittal’s myriad of talents is his passion for every single one. But Mitley is easily his crowning jewel. The idea for the company first came about when Mittal, a Stern senior, and his co-founder Lindsay Heatley, a CAS senior, noticed that there was a distinct barrier preventing aspiring musicians from getting serious about their work — the entry cost of musical equipment. So they founded Mitley, which was designed to take that pressure off of musicians. For a monthly fee, musicians can sign up and gain access to Mitley’s library of guitars, mixing boards and other musical equipment, all of which the company owns. What sets Mitley apart from most other startups, however, is Mittal’s unique insistence on no outside investors. “The normal route is you have an idea, you get some users, and you go to investors and get money,” Mittal said. “But I was like, why go to investors? Why would anyone just try to grow inorganically with inves-

tor money if they can’t keep up with the company?” Instead, Rohit insisted on organic growth — building a customer base out of New York City musicians, growing off of pure cash flow and well-won grants, including from the NYU Entrepreneurs Festival and the Harvard Innovation Competition. Now he’s even stopped pursuing grants, preferring to operate entirely off of customer revenue. Investors and outside money, to him, are a crutch. “If your idea is not sustainable, then forget investor money, because you’re just going to burn it,” Mittal said. “We firmly believe in this idea, which is why we said no to investor money. We don’t need them to actually grow. At the end of the day, the most successful companies are going to grow whether or not they have investor money.” In residential life as well as startups, Mittal’s ideas work. As an RA, he’s gained a hit following among his residents through his insistence on creating a community based off of mutual interests — whether it be resume-writing workshops, tea in his room or trips to the Empire State building, where Mittal teaches residents about the history of various pieces of the skyline. It’s an approach that lets Mittal show off his contagious enthusiasm for learning, while also inviting his residents to turn to him for advice, guidance or a simple chat. Fellow Founders RA Ellen Jang described him as highly personable. “Rohit’s kind of like the cool dad,” Jang said. “He’s actually the type of person who’s just passionate about

everything he does. Everyone knows him, he’s super friendly, everyone wants him to be their RA. He’s always willing to help.” Central to Mittal’s RA formula is his insistence that every event is voluntary. He pays close attention to residents and understands that a sense of community doesn’t come about when anyone is forced to do anything. Founders Residence Hall Director Ashley Nickelson testified to this empathy. “What makes him stand out is his ability to relate to residents on a level that is really about what they want,” Nickelsen said. “A lot of times RA’s will start with programs they enjoy. But Rohit really notices if the residents are enjoying something or not.” The payoff for the RA work it seemed was not dissimilar to the payoff for his wholly self-guided startup. He loves the feeling of making an immediate impact on the world — one not fettered by the pressures of investors, nor by the pressure to force anyone to be friends. Just him and the people who choose to come to him — in residential life as well as in Mitley. In the end, he explained, the results he earned himself are the most satisfying. “My moment of pure happiness was when I met my residents last year and saw how far they’ve come,” he said. “It’s the kind of thing that makes us think, ‘now I can move forward, I know that I made an impact on somebody else myself’. I think that’s the moment — that’s the moment we all want to live through, that we go day to day thinking about.”

Richard Shu Opinion Editor

Nicole Quinter O

n a Friday night in February, Tisch senior and Fusion Film Festival codirector Nicole Quintero Ochoa stood at the front of a Tisch theater filled with over 150 people, picking the pepperoni off her slice of pizza. “Hello! Welcome! I have a question. When is the festival?” she joked. A chorus of people told her that Fusion was next week. This was the final full team meeting before the start of Fusion, an annual event at NYU celebrating women in film. The room was filled with a tense excitement but Quintero Ochoa kept the mood light, cracking jokes the whole time and throwing in her own stories. Gabriela Alcalde, one of the other co-directors for Fusion, said this positive attitude and warmth is what allows Quintero Ochoa to captivate a crowd and lead effectively. “Nicole has this one-of-a-kind energy that fills up the entire room.” Alcalde said. “She’s extremely positive and that’s important during stressful situations such as Fusion.” Along with the other co-directors, Callahan Zacks and Natalia Bougadellis, the group organizes screenings, panels and competitions to celebrate women in the film, television and new media industries as well highlight a new generation of storytellers at NYU. For this year’s festival, there were events commemorating women across all areas of media including those leading the way in video games and comedy. Quintero Ochoa traces her passion for film back to her upbringing in a close-knit family. As a kid, she moved

around a lot because of her father’s job, often times relocating to a completely different part of the world — going from Mexico City to Seoul, South Korea to Connecticut. When her little brother was born, her family filmed hours of footage of him. Quintero Ochoa edited the footage into short films and, after seeing the emotional reactions she could inspire in her family, decided she wanted to study film. Now, she is studying film and TV in Tisch with minors in producing and business of entertainment, media and technology. Her involvement with Fusion began during her first semester on campus, after she casually came across the recruitment meeting on a search for free cookies. “I was walking into Third North one day and I saw a flyer that said: ‘Free Insomnia Cookies, come to the recruitment party!” she said. “So I ended up going because I kept hearing about these Insomnia Cookies, like everyone freshman year was talking about them.” But after the cookies were gone, the passion of the organization’s members remained. “I heard about the festival and loved everything the co-director said about the mission of celebrating women in film and TV,” Quintero Ochoa said. “And the amount of people that were there was just awesome.” Quintero Ochoa’s tireless work ethic and consistently positive attitude hasn’t gone unnoticed by her fellow Tisch students. She has been asked to work as an assistant director on as many as 10 student projects per semester since her freshmen year.

She has a reputation for being able to bring order to any set and fix any emergency situation. Susan Sandler, the faculty advisor for Fusion and a Tisch professor, said her popularity is a result of how she selflessly commits herself to the projects of others, even as much as her own. “She is excellent at management and stands by a project from preproduction through the last details of post,” Sandler said. “Nicole’s commitment is profound — she offers every director her full support to get exactly what they require to fulfill their vision for their film.” Quintero Ochoa favors the feeling of fulfillment she gets from helping others turn their dreams into reality over directing her own films. “I prefer hearing someone’s stories, hearing someone say ‘this is what I want’ and me turning around and being able to say ‘let’s do it, I will help you get what you want,’” she said. Moving forward, Quintero Ochoa hopes communities like those she’s found in Tisch and Fusion make a larger impact on the film industry as a whole. She believes that having this kind of access is what’s necessary for combating pervasive gender bias in the industry. “I don’t think gender should be a question. It shouldn’t be about whether you’re male, female or transgender. Opportunities should be open based on talent, not gender,” Quintero Ochoa said. “I think Fusion is doing the right thing where we’re supporting each other, building a network of amazing female students and creating access and opportunities.”

Zach Martin Arts Editor

ro Ochoa

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It shouldn’t be about whether you’re male, female or transgender. Opportunities should be open based on talent.” Photo by Sam Bearzi

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