2010's
Hugo Sierra '10 (MA '15)
Hugo graduated in May 2020 with a Doctoral of Education in Leadership Organization in the College of Education from Concordia University Irvine. Due to the pandemic, his graduation was postponed for a later date.
Signe Hilton-Engle '10
Signe Engle was recently promoted to Vice President, Client Services at Aquarius Sports and Entertainment in the Washington, D.C. market. She had previously served as one of the agency Directors since 2016, when joining Aquarius after seven seasons with the Washington Redskins.
Jessica Hooper Anthony '10
After six years of dating, Jessica finally tied the knot with her now husband, Mike Anthony, in the Russian River in June 2019! Her Phi Sigma Sigma sorority sister, Michelle Medeiros Chang '09, joined them with lots of other Chapman alumni.
Tyler Holtman '10
Tyler Holtman, Dodge College of Film Undergraduate Alumni '10, was the Post Production Coordinator on the upcoming "Space Jam: A New Legacy" movie, starring LeBron James and Bugs Bunny. In theaters and HBO Max on July 16th. Tyler was thrilled to be working with the legendary Looney Tunes for over two years on the project.
Al Raitt ’10
Al graduated from Chapman in 2010 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Television and Broadcast Journalism. In November 2021, he brought in to launch his third Major League Soccer experience after LAFC and Austin FC. Al helped the club set the MLS record for attendance with 74,479 fans at the inaugural match on March 5th at Charlotte FC.
Tyler Hadzinsky '11
Upon the conclusion of the St. Louis Cardinals Postseason run and earning his MBA from Washington University in St. Louis, Tyler was promoted to Asst. Director of Scouting for the St. Louis Cardinals. Tyler also helped draft fellow Chapman Baseball Alumni RHP Tyler Peck to the St. Louis Cardinals in the 28th Round of the 2019 MLB Draft. https://www.ktlo.com/2019/11/05/cardinals-announce-contract-extensions-for-mozeliak-girsch-and-shildt/
Jamie Martin ’11
Jamie won her third Emmy for editing RuPaul’s Drag Race.
Christina Trocco ’11
In Salt Lake City, Utah on February 23rd, 2022, Christina was bestowed the Utah Business 40 Under 40 award by Utah Business.
Sarah Faulkner '12
Sarah Faulkner recently completed her Ph.D. in English with a Certificate in Textual and Digital Studies at the University of Washington in Seattle.
Alex Monaco '12
Is now a daily sports podcast host on FOX Sport's, Colin Cowherd's podcast network.
Links to Podcast:
Article:
Jeff Kuhns (LLM '13)
Jeff was accepted as a member of the Leadership Florida Connect Class XI, the premier statewide leadership institute for educating, engaging, and inspiring Florida’s top emerging leaders under age 40 with a goal of addressing key issues and opportunities that are specific to Florida.
Amanda Witte '12
Derek Witte '12 & Amanda Nieto '12 were married at Belmond Villa San Michele in Florence, Italy on 10/10/16 in front of 30 of their closest family and friends. Ashley Nieto '15 was in the wedding party. The couple now live in Boca Raton, Florida
Sarah Faulkner '12
Sarah wrote the intoduction to a collectors editon of Mary Shelley's classic novel Frankenstien that will be released May 11, 2021 (in the U.S.). Sarah also finished her PhD in English from the University of Washington in June 2020. Sarah thanks the English faculty at Chapman greatly for their contibution to her current successes!
Megan Demshki ‘12 (JD ‘15)
Megan recently helped attain a settlement worth more than $11 million in favor of a motorcyclist who was left a quadriplegic in the wake of a 2015 automobile accident that, according to a lawsuit, was caused by an unlicensed campaign worker employed by a state assemblyman from Riverside County.
Ryan Bengford '12
Ryan's film “The Work is Hard and Not Done: Being Black in the Valley” was chosen for the Phoenix Film Festival's Official Selection 2021 and won The Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Television and Political Journalism for 12 News, KPNX (Phoenix, AZ), by USC Annenberg Lear Center. The film will be screening at the Phoenix Film Festival this August 2021.
Paolo Leon '13
Architectural services firm AO announced the bolstering of its leadership team with the addition of Paolo Leon, AIA, NCARB, principal and director of AO’s Global Design studio which specializes in planning and designing international and domestic retail outlets. Paolo Leon is a licensed architect with experience that spans across retail, mixed-use, residential, education and civic projects. Notably, he worked on the renovation of the Woodbridge Village Center in Irvine, Calif., modernizing and breathing new life into the outdoor retail center through place making amenities and entertainment uses.
Leon sits on the board of directors of the Orange County chapter of The American Institute of Architects (AIAOC), where he also serves as director of emerging professionals. Outside of the office, Leon has a passion for promoting positive changes in the community through education. He sits on the board of directors of Think Together, a nonprofit that works with school districts and local communities to implement and scale innovative academic solutions that address the needs of children throughout California and is co-chair of Think Together’s Friends of Shalimar Committee. Leon earned his Bachelor of Architecture from University of Southern California and holds a Master of Business Administration from Chapman University.
Anthony Jacobsmeyer '13
On September 21, 2019, Jacob married his Chapman Sweetheart, Wendy Acquazzino ('15) at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, DC! In the wedding party were fellow Chapman alum Hannah Roberts ('15), Doug McDaniel ('13), Sam Knee ('11), and Travis Culver ('11). In attendance were 23 Chapman alums who helped them dance the night away.
Cameron Chittok '13
Cameron signed a three-book publishing deal with Random House Graphic for a middle-grade graphic novel series titled Mapmakers. The series will be illustrated by artist Amanda Castillo and publication is planned for 2022.
Lyz Reblin-Renshaw '13
Started while at Chapman, "Ludonarrative Synchronicity in the BioShock Trilogy," published in November 2020, presents a new methodology, ludonarrative synchronicity, to analyze the interplay between narrative and gameplay in video games.
Anna Lisa Lukes '13
Launched company: The Lukes Network, LLC for Marketing and Sustainability Consulting in Aliso Viejo, CA : On February 9, 2021, The Lukes Network hosted TasteMakers: Conversations with Entrepreneurs in Food, Wine, Art and Travel and featured Chef Rob Wilson, owner and chef of Glasspar restaurant at the Dana Point Harbor. CEO and Chapman MBA alumna, Anna Lisa Lukes, interviewed Chef Rob, who took her and the audience on his entrepreneurship journey, including raising funds from 40 partners to open Glasspar.
Steve Kanter '13
Steven Kanter Released a indie comedy film "The End of Us" : A couple breaks up yet the pandemic keeps them quarantined together. However when one of them starts courting another person, the other must try and win their heart back.
Film was accepted at major film festival South By Southwest (SXSW) festival premieres on 03/16/2021 film is one of 8 in competition and will be considered for the Jury awards.
Steve Kanter produced,wrote and co-Directed with Henry Loevner.
Alex Odesmith '13
Alex won an Academy Award for editing in the live action short film winner, Two Distant Strangers. Fellow Alumni David Markun '13 and Colin Lupe '14 were both on the camera team for the film, and Lupe was an additional editor. Odesmith, Markun and Lupe also teamed together to work on a Netflix series called We Are The Champions, which was just nominated for two Sports Emmys. Markun and Lupe were both on the camera team, and Odesmith and Lupe were part of the edit team.
Clay Thomas '13
Clay has become an Assistant Teaching Professor at Iowa State University and was hired to create a Healthcare Management major for the Ivy College of Business at Iowa State University as well. He thanks the sociology faculty at Chapman for setting him on the right path and giving him excellent mentorship.
Meera Kharbanda’13
Meera started a private school in San Clemente, California in 2021 with two other Chapman Alumni!
Cameron Chittock ’13
Cameron recently published a book called Mapmakers and the Lost Magic. The book is the first in a trilogy of middle grade graphic novels with the next installments set to debut in 2023 and 2024!
Rose Fruci '14
Rose Fruci '14 and Tyler Anthony '14 were married November 7, 2020 in San Jose, CA. Tansu Philip '16 was their officiant and Lauren Fruci '17 was their maid of honor.
Brendan Le '14
Brendan was named an Honors Attorney at the USPS in Long Beach, CA. Brendan earned his JD from Loyola Law School Los Angeles in 2019.
Jessica Belz '14
This past Super Bowl marked a huge accomplishment in Jessica's career being part of the making of the NFL's Next 100 Super Bowl LIV Commercial. From pitch to delivery, it's been an entire year seeing this project come to life. This was the most ambitious commercial the NFL has taken on while also including a live integration portion into the broadcast. It has resulted in such a remarkable success. This commercial is historic with it highlighting the 100 years of the NFL and looking forward to the future of the next 100 years
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbkafMhmvMo
Michelle (Lanthier) Nahmias '14
Michelle married Brendan Nahmias ('12) on February 22, 2020 in Pacific Palisades, CA. They met through an on-campus club at Chapman in 2010. Their bridal party included Chapman alumni Derek Dolechek ('12), Dan Duran ('13), Carly Juarez ('14) and Samantha Morgenstern (JD '14).
Erin Wainwright '14
On May 1st, 2020, Dr. Erin Wainwright earned her Doctor of Medicine degree from Florida Atlantic University. She begins pediatric residency training at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, next month
Matt Landsman '14
Matt was awarded a screenwriting grant from The Moving Picture Institute for his screenplay which he began at Chapman, "The Right Hand of God." Afterwards he founded a production company, Sweet Nightmares, with his friend and noted multi-media artist Polaris Castillo through which they produced several award winning short films which screened at festivals nationwide. His nautical short film "Sea Monsters" took home best short film at a number of intentional fests. While working on his own films, Matt also served as 2nd AD/Unit Production Manager for In Searching (Lionsgate, 2019) and second unit director for the award-winning Florida produced feature, Monty Comes Back. Matt managed the behind the scenes editorial production for major films such as Blade Runner 2049, Logan, X-Men Apocalypse and the second season of Stranger Things. He also grew his digital marketing skillset for film and television projects working on major campaigns for Redbull, Petco, Netflix, HBO and more. Currently Matt is the lead editor and creative executive at the Loop Club marketing agency after working as a full-time unionized editor for the last 3 years. He is still actively pursuing genre-based screenwriting and pitching projects to networks including AMC and Amazon.
Erika Talbott’14
The year 2021 was a busy one for alumna, Erika Talbott. She achieved a new milestone by graduating from Palo Alto University in the fall of 2021, earning her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology. Erika is working as a Psychology Resident at the Boise VA Medical Center in Idaho serving veterans. She would like to extend her sincerest gratitude to Dr. Steven Schandler and her Chapman professors for their guidance along her journey towards earning a PhD.
Erika also got married in October to Nathan Talbott and had a couple of Chapman alumni, Bridget Naiman and Kenneth Schneider, in her wedding party. The photo above is of Erika and her Maid of Honor, Bridget Naiman, both from the Chapman class of 2014!
Marie Cheng '15
Marie is a participant in the Producers Guild of America Master of Diversity Workshop 2020 with her adult-animated TV project EVERYBODY SCREAMS AT ME.
Raag Seshi '15
Raag was recently nominated for the best pop production track for an album i had produced in London
Samantha Summers '15
Samantha recently started a new job at Whirlpool Corporation on their Government Relations team, where she will be analyzing state and federal policy and how it impacts the company.
Miranda Wall '15
Miranda is working for the County of San Luis Obispo as a Disaster Service Worker, utilizing my communications degree to work on a team to recruit, onboard and train over 400 medical and non-medical volunteers to staff the Cal Poly Alternate Care Site (CPACS). The CPACS is currently set up to take with 165 beds to for COVID positive patients once hospitals are full and is one best facilities in the state. It has been a challenging, but awesome experience.
Daniel (Shipley) Emmet '15
Powerhouse tenor Daniel Emmet, whose meteoric rise from finalist on the NBC series, has led to Las Vegas headliner performances, to solo concerts with prestigious orchestras, to numerous national TV appearances, will release a new single, “The People,” Oct. 30. As a finalist on season 13 of “America’s Got Talent (AGT),” Emmet is best known for taking on the “impossible challenge,” levied by judge Simon Cowell --- to learn a new song in Italian in one hour, then perform it live on national television.
Emmet’s first single, a cover of Il Divo’s “Passerà,” debuted at #2 on the iTunes classical chart. He headlined his own show, “All That I Am,” for an exclusive run at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. He appeared on the first season of the CW network’s hit summer series, “The Big Stage;” debuted his solo symphonic concert tour with the Irving Symphony Orchestra and performed the National Anthem for Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League, Rock ‘N’ Roll Marathon Series and the Top Rank Heavyweight Boxing Championship on ESPN+.
www.danielemmet.com Facebook.com/DanielEmmetMusic Twitter:@danielemmet Instagram: @Danielemmet
Samantha Sullivan '15
Samantha Sullivan ('15), daughter of trustee Stan Sullivan, welcomed her first child, Maclane Robert Sullivan, with her husband, Brandon. Maclane was born on November 30 in Billings, MT.
Chris Watkins '15 (MS '19, PHD '20)
Chris was promoted to Junior Data Scientist for Farmer's Insurance, publishing his first paper on "Pitcher Effectiveness: A step forward for in game analytics and pitcher evaluation." http://libjournals.unca.edu/OJS/index.php/mas/article/view/10
Jillian Strong '16
Jillian earned her Master of Arts- Higher Education, Student Affairs from University of Redlands in 2020.
Holeka Inaba '16
Holeka was elected in the 2020 primary election as council member for Hawaii County Council, District 8. https://www.westhawaiitoday.com/2020/08/09/hawaii-news/incumbent-rebecca-villegas-easily-defeats-challenger-to-retain-county-council-seat/
Marina Petrich '16
Marina was promoted to Occupational Therapist in the Santee School District.
Eric Wong '16
Eric wrote and directed a podcast, which was co-produced and stars over a dozen Chapman grads from both Masters and Bachelors programs. It’s a true crime/comedy podcast called “THE HUNT?” and it is best described as “like Serial, but funny, and you actually find out who did it in the end.” Here are links to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher. The first four episodes are up now with new episodes every Tuesday until the season is completed at the end of the month.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hunt/id1527022731
https://open.spotify.com/show/3GBwyVgLd7IUMmm029ueuY
https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-hunt-4
Morgan Holcomb '16
Morgan has joined The Arts & Learning Conservatory as a Marketing Strategist to help Orange County students gain access to high-quality arts education. She is so excited to combine the training she received at the Argyros School of Business & Economics as well as the Chapman Theatre and English departments to show students how performing arts education can provide an important foundation for any professional career.
Evan Inglis '16
From August 2019, Evan deployed as a United States Peace Corps volunteer. He will be serving in Ukrainian-speaking and Russian-speaking areas of Ukraine. This is a two-year program to teach English and bring community development.
Jacob Moncrief '16
Jacob is proud to represent Chapman in the Forbes List of 30 under 30 for Social Media as the Senior Vice President for Mythical Entertainment. https://www.forbes.com/30-under-30/2021/social-media/?profile=jacob-moncrief
James Wimberley '16 (M.S. '19)
Wimberley Bluegrass Band, four siblings who are all Chapman alumni: Danielle Wimberley '16, James Wimberley '16 (M.S. '19), Mark Wimberley '16, and Michael Wimberley '16 (J.D. '20), released their sixth album "Where the West Begins" this month. Keeping it in the Chapman family, alumni Adam Borecki '12 and Scout Engbring '21 recorded, mixed, and mastered the album.
Melanie Duke '17
Melanie started a new job as Script and Story Coordinator at Sony Pictures Animation for "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse 2"
Francisco Lugo '17
When Francisco graduated from CU with a B.F.A in Graphic Design, he immediately started to pursue his life goal of writing and illustrating children's books. He recently launched his website "kikotales.com" and published the second edition of his first children's book, "Raya The Skunk." Raya is a little critter that dreams of being a circus clown one day.
Robert Schumaker '17
Robert, writing as Robert Julius, published his first poetry chapbook with Seven Kitchens Press. As a graduate of the Creative Writing BFA program, he would like to thank his many mentors: Dr. Anna Leahy, Prof. Mildred Lewis, Prof. Lisa Cupolo, and the Wilkinson English faculty.
Joshua Sarsfield '17 (M.A. '20)
Joshua Sarsfield '17 ( M.A. '20) & Danielle Pomeroy '18 (M.A. '19) were married on November 14, 2020 at St. Norbert Church in Orange. In attendance were alumni: Remy Bessolo '17, Katie Gilmour '17, Adlai Nissen '17, Matt Mead '20, Danielle Potop '17, and Charlie Werman '17.
Kerri Polizzi JD '17
On July 25, Kerri got engaged to boyfriend, Scott Kramer, at the Downtown Disney District. They are planning a wedding for 2022.
Joanna Nelius (MFA '17)
Joanna Nelius started a new job as a Staff Reporter with Gizmodo. Previously, she was a Hardware Writer with PC Gamer.
Sofia Seikaly '17
June 2020 Emmy Award for Newscast - Weekend - Larger Markets by The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences - Pacific Southwest Region
Madilyn Crossland ’17
Madilyn Crossland ‘17 (BM, Vocal Performance) sang during the Half Time Show for a New York Giants game. As a Musician 1st Class in the United States Navy Band, she has had the opportunity to sing for the MLB World Series, Kennedy Center Honors, PBS Holiday specials, and more. She regularly performs around the National Capital Region at locations such as the White House and the Pentagon, and has sung for the President and Vice President, as well as the Secretary of Defense, Secretary of the Navy, Chief of Naval Operations, and many other national and international dignitaries.
Zelie Dember-Slack ’17
Zelie was the producer and co-director of the film, Stratton Castle: The Tale of Jessie Golden Heart. It was released in November 2021. The film has been widely released on streaming platforms and was available in the theaters. Please watch the end credits for additional Chapman Alumni who worked on this feature film.
Nieman Gatus ’17
Nieman released an album and worked on a film in 2021. He was a songwriter for album 100, released in 2022 of January, and got over 40 million streams and 200K+ monthly listeners. He plans to release more music than ever in 2022. Nieman kicked off 2022 with a headlining show at The Constellation Room in the iconic Orange County music venue, The Observatory. The last time he performed there was at the end of 2018, and he made his comeback show in 2022 at this legendary venue favorite. The show was on January 14th, 2022.
Elissa Title '18
After two years in the making, Elissa has written, designed, and published a photography book of her travels. NEXT STOP EVERYWHERE
View online here: https://www.blurb.com/b/10151952-next-stop-everywhere
Scott Prusko '18
Scott was named Account Executive at Westbound Communications, a Public Relations and Advertising firm in Orange, CA
Noah Feinberg '18
Noah Feinberg '18 recently premiered a feature-length film he wrote at the Austin Film Festival this month—"Into The Dark: Pilgrim." It is a Thanksgiving horror film produced by Blumhouse Productions, where he began as an intern and currently works as an assistant, in partnership with Hulu as a part of their Into the Dark anthology series and will be available to view on Hulu November 1st.
Talia Fishbine '18
In December 2019, Talia graduated from University of Maryland, College Park with a master’s degree in English Language and Literature. She has also become the Assistant Director of Communications at an Independent school in Washington, DC suburbs in 2021.
Christine Hughes '18
I am the writer, producer and actor for the period piece short film, Unwavering. We are currently crowdfunding on Seed and Spark for the film until June 6th and hoping to shoot this summer. The story is inspired by real events and tells the fictional story of a Korean-American college student who fights to start an Ethnic Studies program on her campus in 1968. The themes of the film are very current and mirror recent events in the AAPI community.
Lovely Kaur’18
Lovely graduated from Chapman in 2018, recently got her masters at Pepperdine University in 2021, and is back working at Chapman! She’s working at Dodge College as a Student Support Coordinator!
Elaine Oldford ’18
Elaine graduated from Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine in 2022. She graduated with a Doctorate in Medicine (M.D.) degree and will complete her residency training in Internal Medicine at USC starting the summer of 2022!
Dominic Milan ’18
Dominic has been dominating the social media world. He became one of the largest Snapchat show producers reaching 80-100M views per month in May 2022 and won $1 million dollars on Snapchat spotlight for being a top creator. He is a TikTok creator with over 7M followers and has worked with Amazon, Spotify, LG, and Discovery. Dominic is verified on all of his accounts and also has his own online Netflix show that he hosts. The New York Times has published articles about Dominic’s social media success.
Emma Liegler '19
Emma graduated on Sunday, May 19th, 2019 with a degree in Public Relations & Advertising and started her first day as a receptionist at Untitled Entertainment, which represents over one thousand prestigious actors, writers, and directors, that very next day! Within one month, Emma was promoted to be an assistant to two high-ranking Talent Managers. She began attending events with clients, going to premieres, and networking with powerful industry players.
Chloe de Vries '20
Chloe was named the Marketing and Public Relations Manager for the Wisconsin Rapids Rafters, in Wisconsin Rapids, WI.
Natura De Pinto '20
Following graduation during the impending COVID-19 crisis, Natura decided to turn her love for collecting pre-loved and vintage clothing into a business called Dazed & Delirious. Dazed & Delirious is an e-commerce business that aims to provide a sustainable shopping alternative accessible to consumers worldwide. Since their launch in September 2020, they have more than quadrupled their inventory!
Mai Amalie Bak '20
This is news about Mai's thesis film, Etana, directed by Marian de Pontes. Marian and the film were recognized by the Horizon Award, which honors up-and-coming female filmmakers. Their key creative team is entirely made up of Chapman alumni of the class of 2020 and one current student:
Director/Writer: Marian de Pontes, Producer: Mai Amalie Bak, Cinematographer: Maomao Chen Editor: Olivia Wu, Sound: Mike Xu (current student), Production Designer: Dina Mustakim
Emma Fowler '20
Emma Fowler '20, a strategic communications grad, happened to be with her family at Maralago in Palm Beach, Florida, when she had the opportunity to make the acquaintance of the 45th President of the United States, Donald Trump. Not only was he gracious enough to take this photo, he also hand delivered a full lobster to the table.