Podcast
Harvard College Class of 2000: The Podcast
Hosted by Harvard College Class of 2000 · EN
Join us as we talk to classmates and hear what they've been up to the past 25+ years and reminisce about our time at Harvard.
30episodes
Episodes
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Harvard College 2000 Podcast: Andrea Volfova Filipi
Mar 1201:01:55Tap to summarizeDara talks to Andrea about “life being extraordinary” and “mulling over grand plans for the future.” Andrea discusses moving to the United States to attend Harvard, soon after the end of the cold war. She has always been interested in foreign affairs and dreamed of working at the United Nations (spoiler alert- she did!). After college, she went to the London School of Economics to study Development and then returned to Prague for her dream job at an NGO. An ad in The Economist changed her life- sending her into a career at the UN where she’s been for the past 20 years on and off, at both UN headquarters and many countries in Africa. Writing for Let’s Go was life-changing for Andrea, allowing her to see what war does to a country. Andrea also opens up about her health challenges related to a congenital heart issue.Andrea lived in Mather House and concentrated in Psychology. She is originally from Prague and now lives in Western Sahara.
Transcribe →Harvard College 2000 Podcast: Melina McTigue Garland
Mar 500:48:49Tap to summarizeEileen talks to the thoughtful, hilarious Melina McTigue Garland about moving back to her hometown of Worcester, MA, her love of music and of words, and starting a flute ensemble, ringing the bells in Lowell Tower and gazing at the rings of Saturn at Harvard. Melina also shares her experience of being diagnosed with ADHD at age 44, finding magic in the everyday, and her life-affirming experience at our 25th reunion. Melina works as an attorney, lived in Matthews and Leverett, and concentrated in English…“but really majored in Band and minored in vodka.”
Transcribe →Harvard College 2000 Podcast: Cori Racela
Feb 2600:41:01Tap to summarizeCori talks about working at multiple jobs (including Putney Student Travel- which she hooked Dara up with a job in Alaska!) before going to law school and becoming a health lawyer in California. Cori is now the Executive Director of the Western Center on Law & Poverty and an avid surfer.Cori lived in Thayer and Dunster House. She was a History & Literature of Latin America concentrator. She is from Southern California and lives in Los Angeles.
Transcribe →Harvard College 2000 Podcast: Ming Hsu Chen
Feb 1900:51:44Tap to summarizeMing Hsu Chen talks about her goal to become the first Asian American Thurgood Marshall, but pivoted to create a career with her main interests: ethnicity, religion and faith, law, civil rights, and immigration. Ming is a Professor at the University of California Law School and runs the Center for Race, Immigration, Citizenship, and Equality (RICE). Ming also recently co-hosted the Harvard Asian American Alumni Alliance's (H4A) first west coast summit last October.Check out Ming’s books and her TEDx talk:Sacred Places, Civic Purposes: Should Government Help Faith-Based Charity?Pursuing Citizenship in the Enforcement EraTEDx TalkMing lived in Holworthy and Lowell House. She was a joint social studies and religion concentrator. She is originally from Boston and Southern California and lives in the SF Bay Area.
Transcribe →Harvard College 2000 Podcast: Nathaniel Ekman
Feb 1200:42:33Tap to summarizeToday, Eileen interviews Nathaniel Ekman, one of The Paths We’ve Traveled speakers at reunion. Nathaniel opens up about his mental health struggles while at Harvard, being diagnosed with bipolar disorder at age 21, and living an authentic, hope-filled life ever since. He talks about his work with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), reflects on lessons from his “dark days and brighter ones,” including the gift of empathy, and speaks about how mental health care in the U.S. has changed since we were in college—and how it can still improve. He also shares his advice for discovering, as he did, “the beauty in the beast” we might meet along life’s way. At Harvard, Nathaniel lived in Weld Hall and Lowell House, and did a special concentration in Urban Studies.
Transcribe →Harvard College 2000 Podcast: Kyle Clayton
Feb 500:56:40Tap to summarizeKyle talks about pivoting from pre-med to technology, with an interesting role in technology at City Harvest, a food rescue organization in NYC (after a cool stint using ad tech for important issues). He’s a chess aficionado (and played outside of of ABP), a former PTA leader, a black belt in karate, and does crosswords regularly. Kyle lived in Weld and Mather and was a Biochemistry concentrator. He is from Southern California and lives in New York City.
Transcribe →Harvard College 2000 Podcast: Kim McManama O'Brien
Jan 2900:32:48Tap to summarizeCongrats to Kim on her new book, Mentality Wins, that came out this week! Kim has a couple of irons in the fire- in addition to being an author, she runs a group mental health practice, Unlimited Resilience, for athletes, by athletes AND created Athletes Better Together, a peer mentoring program for teen athletes.You would not be surprised that she herself was an athlete- hockey was a huge part of her life at Harvard.Kim lived in Weld and Leverett and concentrated in Economics. She is from Westwood, MA and now lives in Walpole, MA.
Transcribe →Harvard College 2000 Podcast: Judith Danovitch
Jan 2100:50:57Tap to summarizeJudith talks about how shopping period changed her career trajectory to stay in school forever and become a psychology professor at the University of Louisville. Judith’s research in child development and information sources, with a current focus on technology. Judith went to Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School and quickly helped mobilize alumni after the mass shooting there. See Judith in the famous psychology video, read Judith’s op-eds, and the KID lab.Judith was in Canaday A and Dunster House. She concentrated in psychology and is originally from Coral Springs, Florida and now lives in Kentucky.
Transcribe →Harvard College 2000 Podcast: Jeannie Lang Rosenthal & Brian Rosenthal
Jan 1500:56:18Tap to summarizeToday we have another couple interview! From their meetcute early freshman year, to their years abroad, in California, and now back in Jeannie’s hometown, Brian and Jeannie have had quite a ride together. Jeannie started Let’s Get Ready with a few Harvard classmates sophomore year, and Brian has pursued a number of passions, including starting his own company and working at Facebook, all the while, they’ve been each other’s number one supporters.Jeannie lived in Straus and Lowell and concentrated in History.Brian lived in Lionel and PfoHo and concentrated in Computer Science (dual degree Masters).
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Harvard College 2000 Podcast: Nisha Agarwal
Jan 28, 2025Tap to summarizeNisha is our final Chief Marshal candidate (vote by 1/31!). Nisha is a lawyer who pivoted into public service work focusing on health care and immigration rights. Nisha worked in the NYC Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs and was an advisor for the Health Department. She also started Cities for Action, a group of cities working together to support immigrant groups. Nisha is on the board of the Action Lab, Climate Museum, and Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden. Nisha lived in Pennypacker and Adams and was a Social Studies concentrator.
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