2022 Marks the 50th Anniversary of Taft Coeducation!

Lily Spencer '22

Lily Spencer '22 traveled to Morocco over the summer, where she engaged in an independent research project focused on education in a remote mountain village.

Julissa Mota '22

Julissa Mota '22 is a passionate learner. Over the summer she became a passionate teacher, guiding young students in Central America.

Angel Chukwuma '22

As a virtual teaching intern, Angel Chukwuma '22 shares her passion for learning with students in Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic.

Blake DiMarco Herrera ’00

Blake DiMarco Herrera has helped run schools for underserved children ever since leaving an earlier corporate career. She’s now product manager of school services at Bezos Academy, a nonprofit is opening tuition-free, Montessori-inspired preschools nationwide that will serve low-income and middle-class families, including families who earn too much to qualify for Head Start.

Hilary Klotz Steinman ’86

Hilary Klotz Steinman has been producing documentary films for more than 20 years, with subjects as varied as contraception and the environmental toll of the digital revolution. Her most recent release is The Codebreaker, the story of the untold hero of cryptology, Elizebeth Smith Friedman. Along with overseeing her production company, Napatree Films, Steinman is the senior vice president/executive producer of the documentary division of Engel Entertainment.

Bianca Perren ’93

As a paleoecologist for the famed British Antarctic Survey, Bianca Perren’s fieldwork routinely involves visiting some of the most inhospitable locations on earth. She establishes ecological records through a process called “lake coring,” or drilling holes into the muddy bottom of lakes, retrieving samples from below the surface to gather an environmental record.

Susie Banikarim '93

If ever there was a crucible for journalism, Susie Banikarim ’93, as executive VP and head of global newsgathering at Vice News, met this one head-on—a year consumed by a pandemic, protests, and a presidential election. The public health crisis sent media executives like Banikarim scrambling to reimagine the newsroom, coverage, and work-life balance.

Eliza Geddes '97

Over the years, artist Eliza Geddes ’97 has explored several mediums—welding, mixed media sculpture—but ultimately chose to pursue painting as a career. Her paintings begin with a focus on color combinations, and she chooses to work with house paint over oils or acrylics. Geddes’ work has been displayed at exhibitions across the U.S. and in London, and is in three permanent collections in New York.

Margaret Wilkerson Sexton '00 and Bonnie Blackburn Penhollow '84

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Liz Barratt-Brown '77

Liz Barratt-Brown, Natural Resources Defense Council advisor, during the age of COVID-19

Alexa Bette Lehtinen ’94

Alexa Bette Lehtinen ’94 is a registered nurse in the ICU at Yale New Haven Hospital. Read about her round-the-clock work on the front lines of the fight against coronavirus.

Sara Sutton '92

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Liz Temkin ’83

As an epidemiologist with Israel’s National Center for Infection Control and Antibiotic Resistance, Dr. Liz Temkin ’83 focuses on how to control the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, how to limit unnecessary antibiotic use, and how to respond to the fact that few new antibiotics are in development.

Amber Guild ’95

As president of the T Brand portfolio—the marketing services division of The New York Times—Amber Guild ’95 helps brands tell their most powerful stories in innovative ways while connecting them to The Times’ vast and devoted audience.

Fiona McFarland ’04

A desire to serve, which first took hold during her time at Taft, has gone on to drive many of Fiona McFarland’s life decisions, including her most recent ambition: being elected to the Florida State House.After graduating from the United States Naval Academy McFarland spent eight years on active duty, including six and a half years at sea.

Ellie O’Neill ’11

Based on their view that water scarcity is a pressing issue of our time, Ellie O’Neill ’11 and Jack Hartpence cofounded Powwater, a social business that sells reusable water bottles, coffee mugs, and wine tumblers and reinvests profits into sustainable clean drinking water systems across the globe.

Irina Prentice ’94

Read about the work of Irina Prentice ’94, who is part of a team at Encounter Edu, a London-based education agency using innovative teaching methods, such as live-stream learning, to help students in classrooms around the world learn about pressing environmental issues.

Jennifer Wolter ’96

Jennifer Wolter is a founder of S.A.F.E.R., the Survivors of Abuse Feeling Empowered for Re-Entry program, at the Suffolk County House of Correction in Boston, a program that works to end domestic violence, offering trauma-informed, gender-specific support for men and women in custody.

Stacey Rudnick '85

In her role as director of the Center of Leadership and Ethics at McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin, Stacey Rudnick gives MBA students the tools to become the “effective, thoughtful, moral leaders that businesses so desperately need,” she says

Bojana Drca '20

Bojana Drca ’20 is passionate about the environment. She is especially passionate about climate change. Over the summer, she studied it at the edge of the Arctic. 

Julia Kashimura '20

Julia is not only an exceptional student, she is an exceptional golfer, earning impressive titles and course records across the globe. 

Liz Osterhus Fleuette ’84

Liz Osterhus Fleuette ’84 was inspired to start Ms President US when her daughter, Maggie, at age 5 announced that she wanted to be the first female president during a visit to the National Constitution Center. Through the nonpartisan, nonprofit, community-based program and its mentors, girls learn about public speaking, diplomacy and listening skills, local/state/federal government, and women’s history.

Alexandra Dickson ’99

For actor and improviser Alexandra Dickson ’99, who performs and teaches at New York’s Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, it all began in an introductory acting class during her mid year at Taft. After studying acting at the Circle in the Square Theatre School and taking workshops at Chicago’s The Second City, she now appears weekly with The Stepfathers.

Donna Eldridge ’76

For Bay Area-based Donna Eldridge ’76, delivering furniture to a family of Afghan refugees in her truck is just another day. But for these uprooted families who have landed in the U.S. with nothing, her services are invaluable, and, ultimately, life-altering. Read about her Non ut sibi-inspired service work.

Abby Fabiaschi ’98

Read about Abby Fabiaschi ’98, cofounder of Empower Her Network (EHN), a nonprofit that collaborates with survivors of human trafficking to help them on a path toward independence. Operating in several large cities and regions throughout the U.S., EHN helps break down barriers for victims of human trafficking.

Eliza Clark '03

Based in Los Angeles, Eliza Clark '03 is both an accomplished playwright and the showrunner/executive producer of TNT's popular drama Animal Kingdom. On any given day, Clark is in the writers' room, the editing suite, on set, or in production meetings.

Lexi Brownell Reese ’92

How a career shift vaulted Lexi Brownell Reese to the C-suite

Liz Camp ’96

As visual development production supervisor for DreamWorks Animation, Liz Camp ’96 works on the popular How to Train Your Dragon series of films, including the recently released The Hidden World, third in the series. Camp crafts the look of the characters and the digital environments of the film, everything that gives a film its unique look.

Torie Snyder Pearce ’04

Torie Snyder Pearce ’04 has always been inspired by Taft’s motto, Not to be served but to serve. A strong resonance with Non ut sibi helped persuade her to become a pediatric nurse, and to cofound Urgent Care for Kids, an urgent care company specializing in pediatrics in Texas.

Shannon Lenz Guidotti

Science Department Head

Shannon's evolution as a scientist, teacher, and thought leader has been shaped by deeply personal experiences and driven by unparalleled passion.

Courtney Reardon '03

Courtney Reardon successfully summits after a two-month expedition

AJ Mleczko ’93

Former Olympic gold medalist AJ Mleczko had her fifth assignment as NBC’s women’s hockey analyst at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics for her post-playing broadcasting career, which started in 2006. In May 2018, she also became the first female broadcaster to call an NHL playoff game from the booth.

Evelyn Barata Lee ’75

Evelyn Barata Lee transformed her Southport, Connecticut, property into Butternut Gardens, a fresh-cut flower garden that produces about 45,000 beautiful flowers every year. Since 2011, her business has grown to include a small retail cottage, wholesale accounts, weddings and events, workshops and presentations, and a flower delivery subscription service for local customers.

Vanessa LeFebvre Robinson ’95

Vanessa LeFebvre Robinson is leading the women’s merchandising team at Stitch Fix, one of the most successful and exciting fashion/technology companies in the world. Starting at her mother’s clothing store before she went to UPenn, then moving on to a position as a buyer at Lord & Taylor, along with other prominent retailers, she is now at the forefront of fashion selection using technology.

Rhydian Glass '12

How Ensign Rhydian Glass lives out Non Ut Sibi in her daily life in the military

Leslie Herrlinger Lanahan ’73

Leslie Herrlinger Lanahan ’73, whose son, Lynn Gordon “Gordie” Bailey Jr., died of an alcohol poisoning at the University of Colorado after a fraternity initiation ceremony in September 2004, has made it her and her family’s mission to bring awareness about alcohol poisoning and hazing in order to save lives.

Baba Frew

Spanish and Geography Teacher Baba Frew has spent 30 years showing Taft students how to walk the walk

Dr. Joyce Poole '74

For more than 40 years, Dr. Joyce Poole ’74, the 2017 Horace Dutton Taft Alumni Medal honoree, has been a passionate voice—a protector and defender—of elephants, dedicating her life to their conservation and welfare.