Kathleen Lopez (BSJ03) has been promoted to Partner at Weaver Schlenger LLP, a women-owned business immigration law firm based in San Francisco. Weaver Schlenger is excited to recognize Lopez’s extensive legal expertise, success in client management and contributions to the firm. Lopez brings her previous experience as a journalist to discern pertinent facts, tell compelling stories and advocate on behalf of her clients.
A Wall Street Journal reporting team with Medill alumni Deepa Seetharaman (BSJ08) and Emily Glazer (BSJ10) won a 2021 George Polk Award for Business Reporting for their series “Facebook Files.”
Long Island University gave further insight into the selection:
“Reporter Jeff Horwitz and the staff of the Wall Street Journal have won the Business Reporting award for “Facebook Files,” an explosive series documenting how Facebook (now Meta) ignored internal findings that company practices promoted anger, divisiveness and extremism; protected drug cartels, human traffickers and dictators; and endangered teenage girls susceptible to body-image concerns, anxiety and depression. Files Horwitz obtained from a whistleblower demonstrated that top executives rejected fixes they feared might reduce profitability or create political friction.”
Juliana Tafur’s newly released TEDx talk, “Listening Courageously Can Bridge What Divides Us”
How can we transform judgment to understanding? In a talk perfectly suited for our polarized times, Juliana Tafur invites us to listen courageously to create understanding across differences. As the director of “List(e)n”, an award-winning documentary inviting Americans in disagreement to connect on a human level, she encourages us to connect with people’s stories, to understand their lived experiences. She poignantly lays out some of the lessons from her filmmaking journey with the documentary that transformed her life – and her perceptions, from judgement to understanding.
She weaves in her identity as a Colombian-American woman, emboldening us to combat the “us vs. them” mentality that doesn’t serve us, but hurts us. As the creator of a movement to promote empathy and heart-centered dialogue, she lays out the conditions necessary for courageous listening. A powerful talk, inspiring us to go past the surface, to see people – not as issues or labels – but as multidimensional beings.
Watch and share here: https://www.ted.com/talks/juliana_tafur_listening_courageously_can_bridge_what_divides_us_feb_2022
Juliana Tafur was selected as a Obama Foundation Scholar for the 2021-2022 academic year at Columbia University. She will join 11 other rising leaders from the United States and around the world who are already making a difference in their communities.
Juliana was chosen for designing and implementing a listening methodology to inspire positive dialogue across differences and foster human connection, following the production of her award-winning documentary List(e)n.
Her film brings together Americans with opposing viewpoints and facilitates opportunities for them to connect across their differences. Inspired by the documentary, she created Listen Courageously, a workshop series providing tools for participants to engage in heart-centered dialogue.
She runs Story Powerhouse, a professional and social development organization that uses film to cultivate understanding. Her workshops have built bridges at corporate settings, academic institutions and non-profit organizations, guiding participants in empathic listening.
Debbie Cassell is senior associate director of marketing and communications for alumni relations and development at Northwestern University. In her spare time, she is president of the Evanston Community Tennis Association. Debbie also was producer of the Woman’s Club of Evanston’s 68th Annual Revue, “Singin’ in the Game,” an evening of musical comedy that raised funds for Girls Play Sports, a local nonprofit; Debbie wrote several song parodies—on topics such as commonly mispronounced words, sports bras and presidential tweets—for the benefit show, in addition to directing and performing.
Meribah Knight won a 2021 Peabody award for the second season of her podcast, The Promise. The series, reported and hosted by Meribah, tells the story of two neighborhood schools divided by race and economics: one almost entirely Black and low-income, the other almost all white and well off.
Meribah is a senior reporter/producer of special projects with Nashville Public Radio. She lives in Nashville with her husband, a photojournalist at the Tennessean, their 2-year-old son and the family’s five cats.
James Edwards hosted and reported the investigative podcast series Un(re)solved. Produced by FRONTLINE PBS, the series examines the U.S. government’s efforts to investigate dozens of cold case murders that date back to the civil rights era. Un(re)solved made its world premiere at the 2021 Tribeca Festival as a Narrative Nonfiction Official Selection in the Festival’s Competition Program.
Eve Chen is thrilled to join USA TODAY as a Consumer Travel reporter. She previously worked closely with USA TODAY, covering the nation’s top stories as a senior producer with Gannett’s Video Production Center. Eve serves as co-chair of Gannett’s Asian American employee resource group, Asian American Forward. She is honored to be part of AAJA’s Executive Leadership Program 2021 cohort.
After almost 17 years of service at HSBC Globally, rotated through the country, regional, and global leadership roles in marketing strategy, business development and most recently heading up global marketing analytics and customer channels analytics functions. Charlotte Tsou is joining the Prudential Financial CMO office as Head of Marketing Analytics and Insights. She will be leading the enterprise marketing analytics agenda, along with customer research and insights groups. Charlotte is keen to drive the customer obsession movement powered by advanced analytics and data-driven insights.
Collin Hansen was promoted in January 2021 to vice president of content and editor in chief of The Gospel Coalition (TGC), one of the largest Christian websites in the world. This year he also published Gospelbound: Living with Resolute Hope in an Anxious Age (Multnomah), written with TGC senior writer Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra (MSJ05).
His Gospelbound podcast in April 2021 featured an interview with Northwestern President Morton Schapiro and Gary Saul Morson, Lawrence B. Dumas Professor of the Arts and Humanities. In January 2022 he will begin teaching cultural apologetics as an adjunct professor at Beeson Divinity School of Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama.