17. Alie Shaper

New Suffolk, New York · Engineering

ashaper@brooklynoenology.com
Twitter:  @@AlieShaper, @bklynoenology
Facebook: facebook.com/AlieShaper, facebook.com/BrooklynOenology


Tell us about what you're doing with your life.
I am living my passion and dreams!  I'm the proprietor and winemaker of Brooklyn Oenology (aka BOE), my winery I started in 2006.  BOE is the tree that grew from the seed of taking that Intro to Wines class in senior year.  My love for wine, and specifically for NY wines, started there. BOE's wines are made entirely from grapes grown in New York, and we feature contemporary works by Brooklyn-based artists on their labels. 

I started the company from scratch after working as a manufacturing engineer for 10 years, and part- and full-time in the wine industry for six years while still engineering.  I admit, I spend a lot of time working; so far my winery and staff is my family, the wines my children - but I love it every day.

What was your favorite class at Cornell, or the one you found the most useful?
Of course the Wines class was my very favorite - but one that was incredibly useful and still shapes my thinking today was ORIE 5100, Design of Manufacturing Systems.  Not only did I love my professor, the now retired Jack Muckstadt, but his course is why I became an entrepreneur. It was the foundation of how to consider the build of a consumer-goods based company, and it taught me how to think in order to create an efficient business. It's also a discipline of thinking that I've applied everywhere in my life.

If you could change anything about your Cornell experience, what would it be?
Hah, hindsight is always 20-20, isn't it?  Well, seven semesters into my engineering degree I considered changing to a Hotelie after taking the Wines class... but then reconsidered when I thought of the repercussions from my folks if I even floated that idea with them. I think I took the exact path I was meant to take, and my engineering degree prepared me well for taking on a manufacturing business. 

The only thing I might have done differently might have been to take more time to graduate, maybe take a semester off to have traveled, or ease the course load.

What does being a Cornell alumnus mean to you?
Being a part of a large family, that extends well beyond my graduating class. Anywhere, anytime I meet another Cornellian, there is an instant connection and innate understanding of one another. I think it has to do with the fact that we all went through the same forms of hell: hard work, hard winter, and a lot of walking.

18. Scott Lajoie

Mashpee, Massachusetts (Cape Cod) · Agriculture and Life Sciences

scottlajoie@hotmail.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/ScottMLajoie
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scott.lajoie.1


Tell us about what you're doing with your life.I live and work on Cape Cod with my wife of nearly 10 years, Wendy, and three children, Willow, 7, Miles, 5, and Sawyer, 1. After a career in magazines, in which I worked for publications as disparate as Forbes magazine in the Bay Area during the dot-com boom and Cape Cod Magazine, I now write and edit for the International Fund for Animal Welfare, a global non-profit located here on Cape Cod. I do some freelance articles from time to time for some local publications, from the Boston Globe to the Cape Cod Times, and I tutor local students to prepare for the SATs. I am on the board of the Cornell Club of Cape Cod and the Class of 1995 Council. I have for years participated in CAAAN as well.

Which Cornell classmates do you keep in touch with? 
I keep in touch with former roommates Steve Miller, Dean Bowles, Steve Paul, and Jen (Pierson) Logan, as well as Dave Grubman, Mith Niles, and a slew of Big Red Band and Cornell Daily Sun friends.

How has your time at Cornell influenced you since you graduated? 
Any time I put a lot of effort into an endeavor, I am reminded how it pales in comparison the hard work I put into everything I did at Cornell.

What extracurricular activity or hobby from your time at Cornell was the most meaningful? 
The Cornell Daily Sun was definitely that for me. I wouldn't be where I am today if I hadn't had that learning experience. It's as if my career started three years sooner.

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.

20. Lindsay Monge

San Juan Capistrano, California · Hotel Administration

oarpride@gmail.com

Tell us about what you're doing with your life.
I am currently the SVP-Treasurer at Sunstone Hotel Investors, Inc.

(NYSE:SHO), where I work along with six other Cornell Hotel School alums. I currently live in San Juan Capistrano with my amazing wife, Ali, and my two awesome boys (who will be turning 7 & 5 shortly). I am the Den Leader for my oldest son's Tiger Cub Scouts Den. Since the boys are such great travelers, my wife and I make travel plans every year to introduce them to new cities around the world and the experiences each city has to offer. I also travel back to the Cornell Campus every year to recruit four summer interns for Sunstone's annual summer internship program. Always great to be back on campus!

What is your favorite memory of your time at Cornell?
Many great memories of my time at Cornell, but the two memories that rise to the top are those morning lightweight crew practices when we were able to see the sun rise up & over the campus and spending the summer after my sophomore year on campus taking classes, relaxing and having a lot of fun.

What advice would you give to a student starting at Cornell this year?
Savor every moment of your time at Cornell and immerse yourself within as many experiences as you can. Take professors (no matter the subject) rather than just taking classes.

What extracurricular activity or hobby from your time at Cornell was the most meaningful?
The four years I spent on the Lightweight Crew Team was the most meaningful experience for me. It instilled a strong sense of determination, self-motivation and teamwork that continues with me today. The memories from many of the practices and races remain fresh in my head even through today.

21. Stephen Church

San Salvador, El Salvador · Agriculture and Life Sciences

schurch32@gmail.com

Tell us about what you're doing with your life.
After graduating from Cornell, I joined the Peace Corps and served as a Volunteer in southern Ecuador. I met my wife Katy there, and we married towards the end of my service. After Peace Corps, we came to the US so I could work on a master's degree in development economics. In 2001, our son Joshua was born, and soon after we moved to Washington, DC, where I worked for an international development organization for two years before heading back to Ecuador. By the time Joshua was in kindergarten, we thought it was time to lay down some roots somewhere in the US, and we settled (at least temporarily) in Tampa, Florida, where I worked in international education for seven years. Eventually the travel itch came back, and we are overseas again with Peace Corps, but this time in El Salvador where I am Director of Programming and Training.

What is your favorite memory of your time at Cornell?
I have lots of great memories from my time at Cornell, but my favorite comes from the night before graduation. Holland Foote and I were spending one last night with friends at the Royal Palm Tavern, and we had heard that it was tradition to sing the alma mater sometime before closing. Last call came and went but no alma mater, so when the lights came on and the bouncers started herding people out, we began to sing (shout?) the alma mater, and before we got to "waves of blue," the whole place was singing. It still gives me goosebumps!

What random or surprising encounters with Cornell or Cornellians have you experienced since you left?
When I arrived in Ecuador for training as a Peace Corps Volunteer, I met Jenny Weisent, a fellow Cornellian from the CALS Class of 1995. Despite studying in the same college for all four years and having quite a few friends in common, we had never met! Sometimes the world can be a strange place...

What does being a Cornell alumnus mean to you?
Cornell has always been a part of my life. My parents both went to Cornell, my father spend much of his career there, and my sisters both went there, too. But being an alumnus of Cornell doesn't just give me another connection to my family, it connects me to a much bigger family that has made and continues to make so many positive contributions to the world. Go Big Red!

22. Dave McKew

San Francisco, California · Arts and Sciences

dave.mckew@gmail.com
Twitter: twitter.com/backawayslowly
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dave.mckew

Tell us about what you're doing with your life.
I'm the operations manager at a small software/web development company, but my passion, ever since my Cornell SKITS-O-PHRENICS days, has been writing, performing, directing, and producing stage comedy.  In the last decade, as part of a sketch comedy duo with Colin Benoit '98 (and on my own) I've done hundreds of performances in San Francisco and at comedy festivals all over North America, and even had a short film air on Comedy Central. Colin and I also created a two-man play where the two of us played all 27 roles in the show.  But the greatest accomplishment of my life came in 2011-2012 when, via nutrition and exercise, I lost 112 pounds in 365 days.  I've been pretty good at keeping my life interesting, I suppose!

What was your favorite class at Cornell, or the one you found the most useful?
Psyschology of Visual Communications with James Maas and 16mm Filmmaking with Marilyn Rivchin.  Maas' seminar was basically a photography class about designing effective pictures. Rivchin's class was whatever you made of it—I used it to learn storytelling.  Both classes taught me a lot about patience and connecting to an audience.

What extracurricular activity or hobby from your time at Cornell was the most meaningful?
No question that it was my three years as a charter member of the Cornell SKITS-O-PHRENICS, the now 22-year-old sketch comedy troupe!  It was during this time that I found my passion and realized that I was, first and foremost, a story-teller.  I learned a lot about teamwork, self-expression, group dynamics, compromise, and censorship... plus the really important stuff like how to eat a stick of butter on stage and where to get the best cheap plus-size dresses in Ithaca.

What random or surprising encounters with Cornell or Cornellians have you experienced since you left?
My Cornell nickname was "Madonna Dave."  Twice in the last decade, I've bumped into old classmates from freshman year who happened to ask me what I was up to WHILE I WAS HEADING TO A MADONNA CONCERT (via train/plane) and I had to sheepishly admit it.  "Some things never change," they said!  I swear, it's not the only thing I do, but I have seen 17 Madonna concerts. Another small world story: I did a show in SF a few months ago with a woman who, like me, lived in 227 Risley - many years after I did!

23. Niraj Shah

Boston, Massachusetts · Engineering

Twitter: twitter.com/nshah10

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

I live in Boston with my family (we have two kids, ages 10 and 8) and am one of the co-founders of Wayfair, which is a leading online retailer of home goods. I have been in Boston for about 20 years now and I now think of it as home!

What was your favorite class at Cornell, or the one you found the most useful?
The most useful class was the Entrepreneurship and Personal Enterprise class taught by Professor David BenDaniel in the Johnson School. The reason for this is that it led to Steve Conine and myself starting our first company together right after graduation in 1995. That company, Spinners, was based on the business plan which we wrote for that class as our class project.

Which Cornell classmates do you keep in touch with?
I keep in touch with a few but most closely with Steve Conine and Mike O'Hara, both Engineering '95. Steve, Mike and I have worked together for a long time. Steve and I are the co-founders of Wayfair which we started in 2002 and it is the third company we started together.

What advice would you give to a student starting at Cornell this year?
I would encourage that student to take advantage of all that the college offers—all types of classes, meet all types of people, all types of activities. The broad diversity is an amazing thing and I think students may not often take full advantage.