7. Jake Karam

Toronto, Ontario, Canada · Arts and Sciences

jkaram@6thavenue.ca

Tell us about what you're doing with your life.

I am currently living in Toronto with my wife and enjoying being settled in Canada.  After Cornell, I spent a number of years in New York and earned my MBA from the Johnson School.  About 10 years ago, I started an online poker company focusing on the Eastern European market that required me living in some pretty interesting places in Europe.  Subsequently, a group of us bought a manufacturing company outside Toronto where I spend my time these days stressing over waterproofing products.  Socially, I couldn't ask for a better environment so I consider myself pretty lucky.

How has your time at Cornell influenced you since you graduated?

I find that there is a big difference between Canadians and Americans and their approach to entrepreneurship and risk. The people and the environment at Cornell helped shape my attitude towards taking bigger chances and thinking more creatively than I would have normally.

    How has your time at Cornell influenced you since you graduated?

Playing hockey had the biggest impact on my experience at Cornell but getting into Sphinx Head the spring of my junior year was one of my most memorable moments.  I found that whole experience to be very rewarding because it was outside of what I was comfortable with at the time.

What random or surprising encounters with Cornell or Cornellians have you experienced since you left?
I was living in Malta and I was invited to this magazine launch party at a massive outdoor club. The people at the party were excited about a DJ who was being flown in to play that night and in walks this kid who couldn't have been more than 20 years old. We ended up have a drink together it turns out he came to Malta straight from Cornell.  It is amazing how small a world it can be.

19. Kosha Brightwell Massal

Toronto, Canada · Industrial and Labor Relations

Name at Cornell
Kosha Brightwell

krbrightwell@yahoo.com


Tell us about what you're doing with your life.
I'm an in-house lawyer for a pharmaceutical company.  I negotiate agreements with our customers- which are the  entities that actually purchase products-  like wholesalers and distributors.

Which Cornell classmates do you keep in touch with?
Too many to name!  My very best friends are Cornell alumni-- we've stood up at each others' weddings, share parenting advice, travel together, give career advice, are god-parents to each others' kids.  They are my family. 

How has your time at Cornell influenced you since you graduated?
Cornell made my current life possible.  I was a poor kid from a bad neighborhood and I was able to start experiencing the world. I lived in Akwe:kon, language house, and Ujamaa. I studied abroad.  I gave rowing crew a try.  I worked for the public service center, the Olin archives and Sibley library.  I'm now married to a Frenchman, have visited more than 20 countries on four continents, speak 3 languages, sew, ice skate & ski--and I'm nowhere near done learning, exploring and "becoming."

What does being a Cornell alumnus mean to you?
I always think of Cornell as the "blue collar Ivy."  It begins with Ezra Cornell's stated intention to found a University where any man can study any subject and follows through with the true embodiment and realization of that intention. From admitting African-Americans from very the first years of the University to continuing to study and support veterinary medicine, agriculture, textiles, hospitality management.  I'm very proud to be an alum of an institution with such an egalitarian legacy.

31. Andrea Forgacs

Montreal, Canada · Arts and Sciences

andreaforgacs@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andrea.forgacs.75

Tell us about what you're doing with your life.
I've been living in Montreal, Canada for the past three years with

my husband, son (9), and daughter (6) and now a third one on the way, due March 1! My husband and I met in Cambodia during a backpacking trip after I finished grad school. He's French, and before Montreal, we spent almost 10 years in France. That's where I got into the travel industry, working for a travel management company in Paris and then for a hotel chain in London. Here in Montreal, I am a marketing strategist for a loyalty marketing company that has its roots in the travel sector.

What is your favorite memory of your time at Cornell?
Junior and senior year, I lived in an off-campus house with nine amazing women, whom I still count among my closest friends today. The list of experiences we shared (and continue to share) goes on and on, and they're definitely among my fondest memories of my time at Cornell. Other favorite moments include working in the Browsing Library and sneaking into Okenshield's, locking myself up in the stacks to write my papers, after-hours at a certain fraternity, the summer I spent in Ithaca and of course, the gorgeous gorges.

What random or surprising encounters with Cornell or Cornellians have you experienced since you left?
When I was living in Paris, my advisor, David Grossvogel came to spend a semester there. Together with the local Cornell Club, I got to host him for a dinner at my house... nearly 10 years after we parted ways. Not only was I honored to welcome him into my home, I also met a great group of fellow alumni, some of whom I'm still in touch with.

What does being a Cornell alumnus mean to you?
It's hard to articulate this one... I am incredibly proud of being part of the Cornell family and still feel very connected to the School. Part of the reason for this is that my Cornell crew are among my best friends in the world, even after all these years. I've returned to Ithaca many times since graduation, and even took a family vacation there one summer when I was still living in Europe (is it ever too early to start the college visits?). Not-so-secretly, I hope at least one, if not all of my children end up studying at Cornell!

34. Leslie Nicholson

Toronto, Canada · Arts and Sciences

Name at Cornell
Leslie Davis

davisles@rogers.com

Tell us about what you're doing with your life.

I live in Toronto with my husband and three daughters.  We moved here ten years ago from New York , and now I cannot imagine living anywhere else.  Canadians often ask me how I manage the winters when they find out I am originally from Atlanta and I tell them that four years in Ithaca more than prepared me for this!

 After my third child was born, I chose to step down from full time work in financial services, and accepted the opportunity to become a partner in a small giftware company, Signature Keepsakes.  The majority of our customers are brides and grooms.  Most of the brides are lovely, but our customer service department could tell you stories about some real life Bridezillas out there!  In my free time, I ski with my family, jog with friends, and volunteer as a board member of a children's charity.

What was your favorite class at Cornell, or the one you found the most useful?
The class that I enjoyed the most at Cornell was Close Relationships Across the Lifespan (Professor Cindy Hazan, Human Ecology).  Professor Hazan's teachings and research still resonate as my relationships mature with Cornell friends, with my husband and children, and with my parents.  The most useful classes turned out to be French.  Who knew that I would move to Canada and my kids would learn French from age five?  My seven year old is already correcting my pronunciation!

What is your favorite memory of your time at Cornell?
Of my many memorable Cornell experiences, ones that stand out are Fun in the Sun on the Arts Quad each fall, spending the summer at Cornell in '93, semester abroad in Paris, and of course wines class.  A rite of passage for Cornell students, it felt like a long, long wait before I was able to take wines in the spring of my senior year.

What advice would you give to a student starting at Cornell this year?
Since stepping onto campus freshman year, I have been in awe of the intelligence and drive of our Cornell classmates.  I would want to tell the incoming class of students that they will be surrounded by the most impressive group of people they may ever meet, and to let themselves be inspired by those who surround them.

62. Aneesh and Anna Dalvi

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada · Engineering

Names at Cornell
Aneesh Dalvi and Anna Rosen

anna@knitandknag.com and aneeshd@rogers.com

Twitter: @knitandknag
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/annadalvi

Tell us about what you're doing with your life.
Aneesh is the V.P. of Applied Research at iDirect. He's been working in the satellite communications industry since we moved up to Ottawa in 1998.

Anna designs knitting patterns and has published two books (the third one is due out 2014), teaches classes on knitwear design, and publishes patterns (www.knitandknag.com). And as you think it's quite a shift from engineering to knitting—do consider that everything is math.

We have three children (grades 8, 5, and 3) who keep us busy. Between hockey, jiujitsu, piano, and school there's hardly a quiet moment.

What was your favorite class at Cornell, or the one you found the most useful?
Aneesh:
It's hard to pick one favourite... the thing I liked best about Cornell was being able to take different classes from different departments even if they weren't directly related to my degree. Freshman Writing Seminars and Wines were fun. Playing with superconductors in intro. chemistry was really cool, although not particularly useful. Signals and Systems in EE was probably the most useful for my career.

What advice would you give to a student starting at Cornell this year?
Anna: 
Go out and get involved in the special projects Cornell offers outside the required courses. I learned the basic tools in the regular courses, but I had a chance to apply them and expand on them in settings like the Hybrid Electric Vehicle team, or in the Robotics Lab.

What extracurricular activity or hobby from your time at Cornell was the most meaningful?
Aneesh:
We both worked on the Hybrid Electric Vehicle project, at a time when no one knew what an HEV was. It was a great experience to design and build a car from scratch, and we had a lot of fun while doing it. I suppose it was technically a class, but it really ended up becoming part of your social life as well. Many of us from those teams still keep in touch.

How has your time at Cornell influenced you since you graduated?
Anna:
At the Cornell Engineering School, we were encouraged to question WHY things worked, not just memorize a formula. It leads to a deeper understanding of things, and encourages further experimentation. My first book (Shaping Shawls) is an exploration of shapes in knitwear, and uses applied math to explain why knit lace shawls are constructed the way they are. It aims to give the reader the tools required to design their own and play with construction, not just blindly follow the steps—similar to what we learned at Cornell.

If you could change anything about your Cornell experience, what would it be?
Aneesh:
I often wish I had been able to take more advantage of the all things that were going on at Cornell. See more visiting speakers, go to more concerts, try more activities, play more sports, things like that. But I think that no matter how many things you did, there were probably a hundred other things that looked interesting that you would have wanted to do as well.

What extracurricular activity or hobby from your time at Cornell was the most meaningful?
Anna:
The HEV team - we built a hybrid electric vehicle and took it to CA to compete in the Clean Air Road rally. While it was nominally a class (3 credits), it really consumed most of our waking hours. We made some wonderful friends, and learned to apply the engineering skills learned in class. It taught us to be curious and never leave well enough alone.