Daniel Kim ‘09 has been awarded a Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans up to $90,000 towards study in medicine at Yale. He is one of 30 winners in a national competition that attracted more than 1,200 applicants.
These awards are of special note because they honor and support young New Americans: immigrants and children of immigrants.
Each year the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship Program recognizes, honors and supports 30 New Americans who seem best positioned to use their graduate training in this country to prepare them to make distinctive contributions to American life.
The son of Korean immigrants, Kim moved to California with his parents when he was 7. His grandfather was a farmer, and his father was the first in his family to get a college education. Growing up in Silicon Valley, Kim admired his father’s meticulous approach to his work as a semiconductor engineer.
Kim entered his undergraduate career at Harvard determined to make a difference in health care. He served as co-president of both Harvard College Red Cross and Team HBV, a group that educates the Asian and Pacific Islander community in Boston about the hepatitis B virus.
As his passion was taking shape, though, Kim took a leave of absence from school to take care of his father who was battling cancer.
Realizing that research was a crucial tool in improving patients’ lives, Kim met his father’s doctor and arranged to work in her laboratory. Though he hadn’t previously done biomedical research, he was soon overseeing a study repurposing the antifungal agent itraconazole as a targeted therapy for skin cancer.
After his father’s health returned, Kim went back to Harvard with renewed ambition. Kim is applying to joint M.D./Ph.D. programs and looking forward to a career as a physician-scientist involved in the fight against cancer. Heartiest congratulations on the award!
This story originally appeared in the spring 2014 Harker Quarterly.
Harker alumna and broadcast journalist Tiffany Liou ’08 doesn’t know the meaning of a “typical day at the office.” And she wouldn’t have it any other way.
Life on the job as a news reporter/ producer is always an adventure for Liou, who just two years ago graduated from Santa Clara University’s Leavey School of Business and soon after landed a job as the overnight assignment editor at the Oakland-based KTVU (channel 2).
It was at the Fox affiliate (serving San Francisco and the greater Bay Area) that Liou honed her journalistic talents by finding story ideas, researching, interviewing and fact-checking. She quickly put those skills to use by going behind the scenes, providing back-up research, which aided in such breaking stories as the deadly San Mateo limousine fire and the controversial Zimmerman trial and protests.
“I used to listen to scanners overnight and make beat calls to every police station in the Bay Area. I would find breaking news that would air first thing on the morning show. I gathered all the facts of a story and gave information to our writers, producers and reporters. Being part of the assignment desk sharpened my news judgment. It taught me how to be a thorough investigator and reporter. And, working with the pros at KTVU taught me how to be a better writer and speaker,” recalled Liou.
After a year and a half at KTVU, Liou was recruited to work as a reporter/producer at KTVE/KARD, an NBC affiliate in Louisiana. She wrote and stacked stories (ordering them based on themes and segues) for the three-hour morning show, as well as covered stories in the field for the station, whose signal can be seen in 18 counties throughout Arkansas and Louisiana.
While a great career move, Liou concedes that relocating to Louisiana wasn’t easy. “I spent 23 years in the Bay Area. I’m born and bred Californian, and it’s true … you can’t take the California out of me. But I look at it as a temporary adventure. It’s a lot slower paced, the food is fried and delicious, and Southern hospitality is very comforting,” she said.
Still, her ultimate goal is to return to the Bay Area as a reporter. (Just at HQ press time, Liou started a new job in Iowa. See related story for details of her eventful first day!)
Liou first got bitten by the reporting bug after graduating from Harker, while simultaneously attending Santa Clara University (studying business and communication) and Ohlone College in Fremont, where she was part of the school’s television broadcasting program.
At Ohlone, Liou gained practical, hands-on experience working for The Ohlone Network News, which is broadcast live on a local Comcast channel and is run entirely by students.
While in college she also did a marketing internship at KGO-TV, an ABC-owned and operated television station in San Francisco. There, much of her time was spent doing Nielsen analysis about the news broadcasts. “That’s when I realized I wanted to be the one delivering the news and not analyzing it,” she said.
Reflecting back to her time at Harker, Liou said she wasn’t directly involved in journalism, but was part of other extracurricular activities like the Spirit Club, student council and Junior State of America (JSA), all of which likely paved the way for her future career in broadcast journalism.
“During the weekly school meetings, I was always that girl from Spirit Club standing at the front giving announcements. I would emcee events like homecoming,” she explained.
“Being part of so many different clubs and sports was amazing, and I honestly don’t think I could have had that experience at any other school. I was able to study, play basketball and golf, and be part of all these different clubs. I wouldn’t be where I am today without Harker,” she affirmed.
Liou fondly recalled how, before getting that first breakthrough TV reporting job, she would shadow reporters at KTVU and shoot stand-ups, essentially working as if her stories would really air.
“Sometimes I would just bring my DSLR [digital single-lens reflex camera] and go out to an event and cover it. All of these mock stories actually built up my news reel, which is what got me my first job!” said Liou, adding that reporting is her passion and she will “go anywhere at any time to cover a story.”
Liou Survives Emergency Plane Landing En Route to New Reporting Job
Just as this issue was going to press, we learned that Liou, on her way to a new job as a reporter at KWQC-TV in Davenport, Iowa, was on board American Eagle flight 3400, which was forced to make an emergency landing after pilots reported smoke in the cockpit.
The plane, with 45 passengers and a crew of three, landed safely in Greenville, Texas, just 15 minutes into the flight. A failed electrical component is suspected of causing the smoke.
“The bond I share with the other passengers and three American Airline crew members is different than I have ever felt before,” said Liou, recalling that “reporter mode” kicked in after she and her fellow passengers had landed safely.
At that time she sent a single tweet about the incident which went viral, prompting the Today show, CNN and NBC Dallas to contact her for an eyewitness account. “And that’s when I went from being a scared and helpless passenger to being a reporter,” she said.
This story originally appeared in the spring 2014 Harker Quarterly.
Three Harker grads made Forbes magazine’s coveted “30 Under 30” lists, which showcase young movers and shakers working in various fields.
Sharing the spotlight with notable young celebrities such as snowboarder Shaun White, actress Olivia Wilde and activist Shiza Shahid are three talented Harker grads: Neil Mehta ’02, Surbhi Sarna ’03 and Ilya Sukhar ’03. The third-annual issue was released Jan. 6.
To compile the prestigious lists, Forbes consulted with experts in 15 industries to select the top 30 in each category, totaling some 450 individuals (all under 30 years of age) who are making things happen. The magazine started working on the project in the fall, by choosing the categories and assembling the panel of judges.
A leading source for reliable business news and financial information, Forbes is well known for its listings and rankings. On the cover of its “30 Under 30″ issue, it calls the individuals who made the lists “450 game-changers in 15 industries who are building tomorrow – today.”
Here is a look at the three Harker alumni who made the “it” lists:
Neil Mehta ‘02, Founder of Greenoaks Capital
Neil Mehta ’02 is the managing director of Greenoaks Capital Management LLC, a global principal investment firm dealing in private equity, venture capital, real estate and public market opportunities.
Prior to that, 29-year-old Mehta was a senior investment professional at Orient Property Group Ltd., a Hong Kong-based real estate investment and development firm financed by D.E. Shaw, a premier $20 billion global hedge fund and investment firm based in New York.
Forbes listed Mehta in its finance category, crediting him with managing some $600 million, investing in industries ranging from e-commerce to insurance. The magazine also noted that he “hit home runs” with early investments in a Palo Alto-based software company called Palantir and a South Korea-based e-commerce company named Coupang.
“I owe a lot to my colleagues, friends and family. We still have a long way to go at Greenoaks, though,” said Mehta, adding that he was proud and impressed to see so many Harker alumni on the list.
Surbhi Sarna ’03, Founder of nVision Medical
Surbhi Sarna ’03 was last year’s alumni speaker at Harker’s eighth annual Research Symposium, which drew more than 400 attendees. There, she shared the story of how she suffered from painful ovarian cysts in her early teens, which caused her to later become determined to create better conditions in the field of female health.
To this end, the 28-year-old founded the venture-backed nVision Medical in 2009 to develop technology to help gynecologists more quickly detect ovarian cancer. To date, her company has raised some $4.5 million from Catalyst Health Ventures, Draper Associates and Astia, a group that assists female entrepreneurs.
“It is a great honor to be chosen as one of Forbes’ ‘30 Under 30.’ I know Harker has a lot to do with my drive to be an entrepreneur, and I’m grateful for all of the teachers who inspired me while I was there,” she said of her placement in the medical category.
Ilya Sukhar ’03, Co-Founder and CEO of Parse
Ilya Sukhar ’03 made the news several months ago when Facebook acquired his company, Parse, of which he served as co-founder and CEO. Currently, Sukhar runs the Parse business at Facebook, where he also works on platform products.
“There’s a lot of people I really admire on that list, so it’s a nice honor for me to be included,” reported 28-year-old Sukhar, adding, “I got back to work pretty quickly, though.”
Sukhar, who is listed in the tech category, said he got the idea for Parse after he experienced the pains of building a mobile app. According to Forbes, he has since turned Parse into a critical service for mobile developers that now provides the back-end infrastructure for more than 180,000 apps, including those built by Ferrari, The Food Network and Sesame Street. Facebook bought Parse in April 2013 in a deal reportedly valued at $85 million.
Sukhar delivered this year’s alumni address at the Harker Research Symposium. To read more about Sukhar and his work, see http:// news.harker.org/entrepreneurial- alumni-forge-their-own-career-paths/ where he is featured in a previous HNO story.
To view the Forbes “30 Under 30” lists, see http://www.forbes.com/lists/.
This story originally appeared in the spring 2014 Harker Quarterly.
Students from Harker’s Class of 2010 up through its most recent graduates returned to campus for Home for the Holidays. The informal, intimate gathering was held on the upper school campus on an afternoon in early January.
The annual event is timed to welcome college-age alumni, who are back in town for their winter breaks, back to campus for a reunion with each another, faculty and staff. Participants at this year’s gathering, held in the festively decorated Nichols Hall atrium, enjoyed refreshments and catching up with one another.
Sonia Sidhu ’13 said she enjoyed coming to the Home for the Holidays event and reuniting with her Harker community. “The people here are wonderful!” she said.
MaryEllis Deacon, director of alumni relations, said alumni are always welcome back on campus, any time of the year. “They will always be a part of the Harker community,” noted Deacon.
Late last month, Bradley Stoll, mathematics department chair, was named the recipient of an Inspirational Teacher Award from MIT. Alumna Lorraine Wong ’13 nominated Stoll for the award, saying of him, “I am immensely grateful that you believed in me in math, and more importantly, in life, and that you are not afraid to share your belief that being a kind human is more important than getting the best grades in a class.”
Stoll expressed gratitude at being nominated and said he was honored by Wong’s sentiments. “Lorraine’s nomination will be a constant reminder to me that I need to see and treat each student as an individual and not compartmentalize them by their grades,” he said “that I need to be compassionate, that sometimes I need to be their teacher, sometimes I need to be their friend.”
UPDATE: Videos of the keynote speakers, breakout sessions and the panel discussion from this year’s Research Symposium are now available on YouTube.
Science enthusiasts from across the Harker community gathered at the upper school campus on March 29 for this year’s Harker Research Symposium. In the nearly 10 years since its founding, the research symposium has provided lovers of scientific research with an eventful day in which students, parents, faculty and staff meet to share their enthusiasm, see the results of student research and hear from notable members of the scientific community.
The Nichols Hall atrium was once again the epicenter of activity for the event, with exhibitors from companies such as Google, NVidia and the South Asian Heart Center providing information to passersby and holding tech demos. SeaLife Aquarium Maintenance, stationed in front of the atrium’s aquarium, gave attendees the opportunity to observe and touch starfish and other forms of aquatic life. Tesla Motors also had a presence, giving people a chance to test drive one of their award-winning electric cars. Over at the rotunda, Brian Tuan, grade 12, demonstrated a 3-D printer to a steady stream of onlookers as it constructed such objects as a toy car and a plastic model of Batman’s head.
Nichols Hall auditorium and classrooms hosted formal talks by Harker students known as breakout sessions, where students gave detailed presentations on their research projects. Some of these, such as senior Vikas Bhetanabhotla’s project on the identification of the Milky Way’s satellite galaxys and Zareen Choudhury’s investigation of the chemical makeup of stars, earned recognition in prestigious contests such as the Siemens Competition and Intel Science Talent Search. At the gym, middle and upper school students had poster presentations set up showing the results of research they had performed. Students were on hand to answer questions about their research projects, impressing those in attendance with both the depth of the research and their presentation skills.
Morning keynote speaker Claire Max, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at University of California, Santa Cruz, shared her work on adaptive optics with a capacity crowd in the auditorium. Using informative photos and videos, Max showed how turbulence in space can obscure telescopes’ view of the stars. Adaptive optics corrects this distortion using mirrors and laser technology. This technology, she explained, can be used to enhance images of planets and find out where black holes ended up as galaxies collided. It has also been used to enhance images of the human eye, which she demonstrated with close-up videos of blood cells traveling through capillaries.
Two alumni were featured as speakers at this year’s symposium. The first, Ilya Sukhar ’03, shared some of the lessons he learned (including some misconceptions he had during his years as a Harker student) in entrepreneurship as the founder and CEO of Parse, which was acquired by Facebook in 2013. Parse, which still operates independently, enables developers to more easily create mobile apps for multiple platforms. Nikhil Parthasarathy ’11, speaking during a special lunchtime event at Manzanita Hall, discussed his current exploits as an undergraduate at Stanford University, which included exciting work in artificial intelligence. He addressed Harker’s current students, telling them they may end up taking many paths, arriving somewhere they might not have anticipated.
Khan Academy founder Salman Khan was the star of the afternoon, packing both the auditorium and the gym, where all of the keynote addresses were simulcast. Khan talked about how what began as a hobby in 2004 – tutoring his cousin in math – turned into one of the world’s most popular online learning resources, used by more than six million unique visitors each month. During the extended question-and-answer session, Khan was kind enough to move from Nichols Hall to the gym for those who were unable to view his talk in person.
The day ended with a panel discussion featuring upper school science department chair Anita Chetty, science teacher Chris Spenner, Harker parent Manish Gupta (Aarzu, grade 6; Anika, grade 12), junior Jason Chu and seniors Bhetanabhotla, Stephanie Chen, Choudhury, Anika Gupta, Sreyas Misra and Vikram Sundar. The panel discussed the various options offered by Harker’s research program and included student testimonials on their experiences conducting research at Harker.
During the holiday season, Harker alumni got together for several fun happenings, including a 10-year reunion, informal soccer game and the ever-popular Santa’s Winter Wonderland event. Enjoy this special winter photo montage slideshow recalling several holiday alumni events!
Class of 2003 Holds Fun 10-Year Reunion
Nearly 70 alumni from the Class of 2003 got together for a casual 10-year reunion just before Harker’s winter break. The event took place at the Village Bistro on Santana Row. A good time was had by all!
Alumni Victorious in Soccer Game Held Over Winter Break
More than a dozen graduates from the classes of 2010, 2012 and 2013 had a blast playing soccer in a fun, informal game, held during Harker’s winter break, which pitted the alumni against the boys varsity soccer team. The alumni emerged victorious with a final score of 7-4.
Once again, Santa’s Winter Wonderland brought together alumni and their families. The special annual holiday celebration was held in early December on the lower school campus for Harker alumni, faculty, staff and their families. A highlight of the beloved pre-Christmas event was watching children take turns sitting on Santa’s lap and having pictures taken with him, which were then printed out for them to keep. The children also had fun playing games and doing arts and crafts.
From working in television and film to creating vehicles for YouTube and video streaming, many of Harker’s alumni thrive in the fast-paced, quickly evolving world of visual media. Their artistic outlets may differ, yet, at the end of the day, most are driven by the same internal force: the desire to communicate. Read on as three Harker graduates share the ins and outs of pursuing a career somewhat off the beaten path, but well on the road to providing a satisfying outlet for creativity and expressive pursuit.
Matt Wolf ’96
Documentary Filmmaker Matt Wolf was thrilled to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship for his recent film “Teenage,” a historical documentary about the pre-history of teenagers based on a book by the acclaimed British writer and cultural critic Jon Savage. The film, which looks at youth culture from the early 1900s to 1945, followed his previous work, “Wild Combination,” which aired on the Sundance Channel and is still available on DVD via Amazon, Netflix and iTunes.
“Wild Combination” is a feature-length documentary about the late Arthur Russell, a musician who mastered everything from the cello to the perfect disco beat in unimaginable ways. “Wild Combination” garnered positive critical attention and helped kick start Wolf’s career.
“It was a surprise. I wasn’t really tapped into the film industry. So I was fortunate to get positive critical attention and distribution for that film,” recalled Wolf, who grew up in San Jose and attended New York University’s film school, where he met many of his current key collaborators. He still resides in New York and credits Harker with helping prepare him for the rigors of both film school and filmmaking.
“Harker was really academically challenging, and prepared me for the kind of intensive research I do in my work today,” he said. While “Wild Combination” helped Wolf get his foot in the film industry’s door, it was his documentary “Teenage” that really took off and helped him gain a larger audience. “Teenage” is what Wolf calls “a different kind of historical film.
“I was struck by the unconventional way [Jon Savage’s book] treated the history of youth from the early 20th century. The film was much larger in scale than anything I had made before, so it was a growing experience for me as well,” he said. With his struggling artist days behind him, Wolf advises others interested in pursuing a career in film to finish what they start, especially when it’s a self-initiated or independent project.
“There are a lot of obstacles to completing these kinds of projects, but finishing is the key to having a creative career,” he advised. Wolf is currently making a documentary about children’s book illustrator and Eloise co-creator Hilary Knight, as well as a documentary project for the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Karan Lodha ’04
Creator at Human Hangouts Since graduating from Harvard College in 2008, Karan Lodha ’04 has forged a satisfying career as a digital media professional working for a variety of companies. He most recently stepped out on his own, as creator and producer of an innovative Web series called “Human Hangouts,” showcasing candid conversations with individuals from all walks of life.
The conversations seek to help viewers understand their own humanity by examining both life and career choices. Lodha creates his show using a technological program from Google+ called Hangouts, which allows users to start or join a video chat. He posts his guest interviews to YouTube, where viewers can subscribe to his channel. “All of us at one point or another question who we are and why we’ve chosen the paths we’re on, and these interviews illuminate that what can seem like a linear process is often a collection of adventurous accidents,” said Lodha, who for a time lived in Los Angeles and has since returned to the Bay Area.
He spent several months in Los Angeles consulting with production companies and learning from industry innovators to get a firm grasp on the emerging trends in media and entertainment. His previous experience in visual media includes serving as a development intern at Voltage Pictures; working as head of business development at Kamcord; being a creator at The Sports Odyssey; becoming a strategic partner/manager at Google TV Ads; and serving as a digital programming intern at MTV Networks.
When he was a student at Harvard, he was the sports chair for The Harvard Crimson, the school’s daily newspaper. “I’ve been fortunate to work in digital media in an era when every year brings radical changes to the industry,” he said. “Continuing to do business as usual is no longer an option for players in this space. My experience with various companies has taught me the importance of not just staying abreast of the latest trends but also of trying to predict the next wave of possibilities.”
Lodha said he will be eternally grateful to his teachers at Harker for instilling a lifelong love of learning. “I still try to treat each day as if I’m sitting at a desk at 500 Saratoga Ave.,” he said.
Sean Doherty, Jr. ’09, Co-Founder, Wurl
Sean Doherty, Jr. ’09 was an undergraduate at Boston College when he and his father launched Wurl, a successful company that helps users integrate the world’s best online videos into their own apps, video services and websites.
Doherty worked remotely to help craft the company’s product and marketing strategies, and helped create Wurl’s ranking algorithm, “ChannelsRank.” He graduated this year from Boston College with a degree in management (with concentrations in information systems and marketing) and a minor in history. He continues to work at Wurl as an advisor, providing valuable insight into the trends and innovations of technology and media companies involved in broadband video delivery.
“We spent a lot of time [while I was in college] figuring out what our product would be, given the technology we had created. I traveled to New York a few times to meet with media companies, but most of the work I could mold to fit my schedule,” he recalled.
He said part of the secret behind his success at combining working at Wurl with his college studies was that Harker prepared him so well academically. Now, having successfully launched Wurl and graduated from college, Doherty has decided to start a new chapter in his life by pursuing another passion: the television and film business. He soon will be relocating to Los Angeles to seek work in TV and movie distribution and production. “I think it’s really important to follow your passions career-wise,” advised Doherty, who is excited about moving forward yet looks back fondly on his time at Harker, college and working at Wurl.
UPDATE: The San Jose Mercury News has a great write up on one Harker’s 30 Under 30 listees! Surbhi Sarna was interviewed on her medical devices development. Read the article, here!
Jan. 10, 2014 Several Harker alumni made Forbes magazine’s coveted “30 Under 30” lists, which showcase young movers and shakers working in various fields.
Sharing the spotlight with notable young celebrities such as snowboarder Shaun White, actress Olivia Wilde and activist Shiza Shahid are three talented Harker grads: Neil Mehta ’02, Surbhi Sarna ’03 and Ilya Sukhar ’03. The third-annual issue was released Jan. 6.
To compile the prestigious lists, Forbes consulted with experts in 15 industries to select the top 30 in each category, totaling some 450 individuals (all under 30 years of age) who are making things happen. The magazine started working on the project in the fall, by choosing the categories and assembling the panel of judges.
A leading source for reliable business news and financial information, Forbes is well known for its listings and rankings. On the cover of its “30 Under 30” issue, it calls the individuals who made the lists “450 game-changers in 15 industries who are building tomorrow – today.”
Below is a look at the three Harker alums who made the “it” lists:
Neil Mehta ’02, Founder of Greenoaks Capital
Neil Mehta ’02 is the managing director of Greenoaks Capital Management LLC, a global principal investment firm dealing in private equity, venture capital, real estate and public market opportunities.
Prior to that, 29-year-old Mehta was a senior investment professional at Orient Property Group Ltd., a Hong Kong-based real estate investment and development firm financed by D.E. Shaw, a premier $20 billion global hedge fund and investment firm based in New York.
Forbes listed Mehta in its finance category, crediting him with managing some $600 million, investing in industries ranging from ecommerce to insurance. The magazine also noted that he “hit home runs” with early investments in a Palo Alto-based software company called Palentir as well as a South Korea-based e-commerce company named Coupang.
“I owe a lot to my colleagues, friends and family. We still have long way to go at Greenoaks, though,” said Mehta, adding that he was proud and impressed to see so many Harker alumni on the list.
Surbhi Sarna ‘03, Founder of nVision Medical
Surbhi Sarna ’03 was this year’s alumni speaker at Harker’s eighth annual Research Symposium, which drew more than 400 attendees. There, she shared the story of how she suffered from painful ovarian cysts in her early teens, which caused her to later become determined to create better conditions in the field of female health.
To this end, the 28-year-old founded the venture-backed nVision Medical in 2009 to develop technology to help gynecologists more quickly detect ovarian cancer. To date, her company has raised some $4.5 million from Catalyst Health Ventures, Draper Associates and Astia, a group that assists female entrepreneurs.
“It is a great honor to be chosen as one of Forbes “30 Under 30.” I know Harker has a lot do to with my drive to be an entrepreneur and I’m grateful for all of the teachers that inspired me while I was there,” she said of her placement in the medical category.
Ilya Sukhar ’03, Co-Founder and CEO of Parse
Ilya Sukhar ’03 made the news several months ago when Facebook acquired his company, Parse, of which he served as co-founder and CEO. Currently, Sukhar runs the Parse business at Facebook, where he also works on platform products.
“There’s a lot of people I really admire on that list, so it’s a nice honor for me to be included,” reported 28-year-old Sukhar, adding “I got back to work pretty quickly, though.”
Sukhar, who is listed in the tech category, said he got the idea for Parse after he experienced the pains of building a mobile app. According to Forbes, he has since turned Parse into a critical service for mobile developers that now provides the backend infrastructure for more than 180,000 apps, including those built by Ferrari, The Food Network and Sesame Street. Facebook bought Parse in April 2013 in a deal reportedly valued at $85 million.
This story originally appeared in the fall 2013 Harker Quarterly.
Thinking outside the box comes naturally to many of Harker’s alumni. Harker Quarterly recently caught up with several alumni who have chosen to chart their own career courses. From a winemaker to a mobile app builder and a sister/brother glow-in-the-dark apparel designing team, these forward thinking alumni all share one thing: the ability to make things happen.
Ryan Moreland ’98, Owner of Corvalle Winery
Ryan Moreland ’98 spent a great deal of time in his parent’s vineyard growing up in St. Helena. Among his favorite memories is sharing a glass of wine with family and friends seated around an old redwood plank table, surrounded by a canopy of trees. It was the memories he made in this spot, he said, that impacted his decision to become a winemaker.
While his family originally planted their vineyard as a hobby, Moreland turned it into a career and has made every single vintage from their vineyard since it first began producing fruit in 2007. He started Corvalle Winery the following year, when he was just 25 years old, after attending college at the University of California, San Diego, and obtaining a degree in environmental chemistry. Success followed soon after, and Corvalle today is a known competitor in the wine market.
“My parents had planted an acre of sauvignon blanc. I immediately was hooked, walking up and down the rows pruning the young vines as they stretched out onto the trellises,” recalled Moreland, who went on to work entry level positions at nearby wineries before deciding to focus solely on developing his own label.
The name Corvalle is derived from Latin, meaning “Soul of the Valley,” and is intended as a tribute to the community of Napa and its legacy of farming.
“I learned so many valuable skills that have helped me both as an entrepreneur and in my professional life. When I look back on my time at Harker, the first thing that comes to mind is my strong belief that, given adequate drive, an individual can accomplish any goal he or she dreams up. This belief is a product of the culture at Harker,” he said.
Moreland also believes in giving back. In addition to generously donating wine to Harker’s advancement events, he also is a supporter of the Danville D’Elegance foundation supporting Alzheimer’s research and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund.
Moreland has recently relocated to attend the prestigious Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania while simultaneously expanding his business to the East Coast market. Having just begun pre-term events at Wharton, Moreland is enjoying getting to know his fellow classmates. “I feel genuinely lucky to be able to participate in such an amazing program surrounded by this caliber of staff and fellow students. As one could imagine, my background is a bit unique here.”
Moreland said he is also enjoying sharing his love for wine in his new community and regularly returns to Napa to oversee winemaking activities at Corvalle.
Working on developing sales in both New York and Pennsylvania has proven a much different endeavor than in California due to the states’ specific legal framework regarding wine importation and distribution, but Moreland said he likes the challenge and opportunity to engage with so many eager and curious wine consumers outside of the Bay Area.
Moreland advises other alumni not to be afraid to follow their own interests. “If something sounds enjoyable and gets you excited then take the time to learn more about your passion!” he said.
Ilya Sukhar ’03, Co-Founder and CEO of Parse
Ilya Sukhar ’03 recently made the news when it was announced that Facebook acquired his company, Parse, of which he served as co-founder and CEO. Currently, Sukhar runs the Parse business at Facebook and also works on Facebook platform products.
“Parse helps companies of all kinds build mobile apps. When we were getting started in 2011, Facebook itself was undergoing a large internal shift to mobile. They took notice of what we were doing very early on and we started talking about how the two companies might work together. Those talks dragged on for a while so over the course of a couple years I got to know everyone there pretty well. Finally, when we were set to close our third round of funding, they came to us with a very compelling offer to join forces,” explained Sukhar.
Parse, a startup that developed a mobile platform for cloud integration, had been gaining an increasing amount of traction in its field even before the Facebook acquisition. The backend service for mobile users should help make Facebook more attractive to developers looking for a social networking site with whom to advertise. Sukhar said he is all about creating products that people love to use. Before his current headline-making endeavor, he was the first employee at Etacts (acquired by Salesforce), where he worked on all things product and engineering. Before that he was an early engineer at Ooyala and holds a B.S. and master’s degree in computer science from Cornell, where he did distributed systems research and graduated with honors.
“Harker’s competitive academic environment instilled in me the value of surrounding myself with smart and ambitious people. Optimizing my career for continuously learning from people smarter than myself has proven to be a good life strategy. I’d recommend it to anyone,” said Sukhar, adding that there is no safe path to success.
“You have to take risks, fail a lot, and keep going. Don’t get comfortable in your cushy job,” he concluded. “It’s tremendously rewarding to create a product that people love.”
Aamir ’11 and Elissa Patel ’08, co-founders of LUM Apparel
Brother and sister team Aamir and Elissa Patel took a surprisingly simple idea (glow-in-the-dark apparel) and turned it into a business with their launching of LUM Apparel.
Aamir Patel attended Harker until grade 6 and Elissa Patel graduated in ’08. They went into business together by breaking into the fashion industry with customizable glow-in-the-dark clothing where unique temporary designs can be “printed” onto tank tops or T-shirts using the light from cellphones and other devices.
The tanks and tees are treated with a special type of paint, allowing designs to be brightest during the first five minutes of being applied. They don’t fully fade until about 15 minutes later.
The Patels explained that customers can use the LED light from smartphones or a laser to draw messages on their shirts. They can even take photos from their phones or tablets and print them onto the LUM apparel.
“All you need to do is take your light source, press it up against the shirt, and then get creative. Designs can even be erased by swiping your hand across them while your light source is a few inches away,” they said, explaining that LUM was launched with help from Kickstarter, the world’s largest funding platform for creative ideas.
“When we first started LUM we had the door shut 100 times before one person finally agreed to help us out. We started out with $500 and turned it into $22,000 in 35 days. By the end of the year we should be on track to have a quarter million dollar evaluation. It doesn’t matter where you start or what happened in the past, it’s all about where you want to go,” said Aamir.
The Patels concede that working with a sibling can sometimes be hard. “We naturally get on each other’s nerves, but the great thing is we can always give it to each other straight. My sister has been supportive by guiding me with marketing advice. It’s great to have someone you can bounce ideas off of and get real feedback in return,” said Aamir.
The two are aspiring to become a high tech clothing line. As technology continues to get smaller, most devices are going to become wearable. Hence, their vision is to fully integrate existing and up-and-coming technologies into apparel. Their ultimate goal is to create fully customizable clothing where designs can be downloaded off a smart phone and displayed directly onto clothing.
“As long as you believe in yourself you will be successful,” they advised.