Last week, Forbes’ Steven Savage published a story featuring Tara Chandra ’06’s company, Here We Flo, as one of three women-run companies selling plant-based consumer products to help reduce the use of plastics. Chandra and co-founder Susan Allen established Here We Flo, a feminine hygiene product company, in 2017 after meeting while pursuing master’s degrees at the London School of Economics. Here We Flo launched in the United States in 2020 and currently has three product lines.
On Saturday, three outstanding alumni – Alex Abarca ’09, Daniza Rodriguez ’13 and Amanda (Polzin) Sullivan ’06 – were inducted into the Harker Athletic Hall of Fame, along with the entire roster of the 2007-08 girls varsity volleyball team, one of Harker athletics’ greatest success stories. Sullivan and former volleyball team member Candace Silva-Martin ’09 were unable to attend in-person and Zoomed into the ceremony from home.
A highly prolific scorer, Abarca was a four-time boys varsity basketball MVP for the Eagles and posted more than 1,700 points. In his junior year, he was named the Private School Athletic League MVP. As a senior he was named to the WBAL First Team, a San Jose Mercury News Athlete of the Week, declared Harker Athlete of the Year and received the Eagle Award, which is given to athletes who demonstrate extraordinary dedication and enthusiasm, expressed in their willingness to help their teammates, act as role models and offer their maximum effort to every task. He graduated in 2013 with a bachelor’s degree in business management economics from UC Santa Cruz, where he also played basketball. Abarca now lives in San Jose and works as an accounting manager at AEye Inc., and is married and a father to a 7-month-old son.
In addition to being named co-MVP of the girls varsity basketball team in her senior year, Amanda Sullivan (née Polzin) received an honorable mention for the All-West Bay Athletic League Team. While performing as a key member of the team, Sullivan — who was born with amniotic band syndrome — also dedicated her time to serving student athletes with disabilities. She began volunteering with the Special Olympics, which eventually led to her winning the top prize in the San Jose Sports Authority’s REACH (Recognizing Excellence, Adversity, Courage and Hard Work) Youth Scholarship Program, an annual award given to Bay Area high school student athletes who have met significant challenges in order to achieve in both athletics and academics. She went on to study human development in college and found a fulfilling career in social work. Sullivan currently resides in North Carolina and is married with two children.
Daniza Rodriguez set a number of records in her time as a member of the girls varsity basketball team. She at one point held the record for most career points (1,214), most points in a season (511) and the best start to a season for any Harker athletics team (11-1). She received many accolades over the course of her upper school career, receiving Harker’s Female Athlete of the Year award in her sophomore and junior years, winning the Eagle Award in her junior and senior years and being named the WBAL Skyline League MVP and to the Skyline League First Team All League. She went on to play women’s basketball at Whittier College and has since returned to San Jose, where she works as a space planner at Cushman & Wakefield. In 2018, she assumed the role of coach for the girls varsity basketball team, which had a historic season that included a first-ever league title win and an appearance in the CCS finals.
The 2007 girls volleyball team remains one of the most successful teams in Harker’s athletic history. The team’s historic 38-5 run included a 12-0 league record, a win at the Maui Classic tournament and the first appearance Central Coast Section ranking ever achieved by a Harker athletics team. The season culminated in an appearance at the state finals against Santa Fe Valley Christian, in which the Eagles fell short but nevertheless left a permanent impression with their phenomenal talent, work ethic and record-setting performances. Featuring no fewer than three Harker Athletics hall of famers — Tanya Schmidt ’08, Kristina Bither ’09 and Candace Silva-Martin ’09 — and coached by decorated Harker veteran Theresa “Smitty” Smith, this team stands as one of the deepest in Harker athletic history to ever take any field or court. Due to their contributions not only to the team’s success but to this landmark chapter in Harker’s athletic legacy, all members of the team were recognized with this special induction.
On Nov. 5, the Harker Investment Club and Harker DECA co-hosted alumnus Amit Mukherjee ‘06, who spoke to students over Zoom about his journey from Harker to venture capital and his job as an investment partner at New Enterprise Associates. He discussed how his experiences at Harker and Princeton helped him in his career, and walked students through what his job as a venture capital partner entails by sharing his process of investing in the company Masterclass.
He moved on to highlight his failures in school and as a partner at NEA, sharing his advice on how to stay confident and grow from such experiences through journaling and meditation.
“How he revealed the failures that are hidden behind successes was meaningful to me, and it really reinforced the advice he was giving,” said Alexa Lowe, grade 11. “I also really liked the journaling and meditation aspect of the presentation, which was especially relevant because of the assembly we had about those topics a couple weeks ago.”
This story originally appeared in the Fall/Winter 2019 issue of Harker Magazine.
When someone asks for a volunteer, Roshni Mehra ’06 is often the first person to raise her hand. Her journey from finance to philanthropy was a result of her decision to pursue her passion and willingness to be open to every opportunity that came her way.
Whether it was in Cheryl Cavanaugh’s English class at Harker, where she learned how the power of someone’s passion can ignite your own, or working with disadvantaged students through PIMCO Foundation’s Tools for Tomorrow program, Mehra wasn’t afraid to follow her heart to find what’s right. Mehra attended Harker’s upper school and then went on to the University of California, Irvine, to pursue business economics and international studies. While she was in college, she interned at Merrill Lynch for two years and then joined asset management firm PIMCO upon graduation.
Being the youngest person ever hired and the only woman on the team, she was hungry to learn, working from 3 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day on the trade floor. While she harnessed many skills while working in finance, it was never her passion. The problem was, she didn’t know what her passion actually was – that is, until she got involved in PIMCO’s Women’s Leadership Network and the PIMCO Foundation.
“Due to my early work hours and the late evening afterschool programs I was volunteering with, I started to stretch myself too thin,” Mehra said. “I soon realized that my favorite part of my job was taking place after work. That’s when I knew there was a problem.”
She took the bold step to quit her job at PIMCO and do a year of service and exploration. As a part of this soulsearching mission, she had two goals for the year: first, to build an educational foundation in the nonprofit world, and second, to get as much experiential knowledge as possible doing pro bono work.
She took classes through Stanford University and Coursera.Being on campus, Mehra soon became involved with Stanford’s Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society (Stanford PACS), which develops and shares knowledge to improve philanthropy, strengthen civil society and effect social change. “I said yes to every opportunity that came my way,” said Mehra with a bright smile on her face.
But she didn’t stop there. She also volunteered for a locally based, internationally aimed nonprofit called Home of Hope, which advances education for girls in India. In typical Mehra fashion, she joined its board of directors, became the executive director of the English Empowerment Program and director of the Youth Chapter, and even launched a social venture called Mentors Without Borders, which was featured on NBC Bay Area.
“I discovered I was most passionate about creating a lasting impact and igniting empowerment through mentorship and education,” she said. “I knew I needed to be a part of an impact-driven organization.” She’s doing just that at Stanford Graduate School of Business as the associate director of development marketing and communications, where her job doesn’t feel like work because it is so aligned with her passion and desire to have a positive impact in the world.
In addition to creating meaningful impact reports for donors, Mehra also volunteers as a pre-major advisor for Stanford undergraduate students, serving as a mentor and life coach for a cohort of 15-plus freshman and sophomore students as they navigate the transition from high school to college. But that’s not the only way she gives back. She volunteers with a group that brings therapy dogs to campus every month for students, faculty and staff to de-stress.
“Having hired Roshni 4 1/2 years ago, I subsequently promoted her into several other positions. Her capacity to take on increased responsibility has grown consistently,” said Susan Chung, director of development marketing and communications at Stanford Graduate School of Business. “What I appreciate most about Roshni is her approach to getting things done. Whether that be within our immediate team or across departments, her positive impact is grounded in seeking to understand issues and opportunities from multiple perspectives.”