Beyond Barnard Advisory Council

Danielle Chang '94

I am a Cultural Entrepreneur. For the past quarter of a century, I have been lucky to work across cultural industries – including art, media, fashion and food  – to incubate and develop brands into innovative companies.

In 2009, I founded LUCKYRICE, an experiential and content production company that shines a spotlight on Asian culture through the universally appetizing lens of food and drink. From our home base in NYC, the LUCKYRICE Festival has since expanded to 8 US markets and is currently incubating new business units.

As a brand, LUCKYRICE markets Asian pop culture to a broad, global audience through our media platform. In 2015, we launched Lucky Chow, a national PBS series I host. We are currently in production for Season 5, which will be broadcast nationally on PBS and internationally through National Geographic. My first book, Lucky Rice: Stories and Recipes from Night Markets, Feasts and Family Tables (Clarkson Potter) was published in 2016.

Prior to starting LUCKYRICE, I was the CEO of Vivienne Tam, a fashion and lifestyle company.

As an entrepreneur, I was the founder and publisher of Simplycity, a venture-backed, global women’s lifestyle media company and print magazine. Other businesses I have founded include Xiao Bao Chinese, a Chinese language and cultural learning school in partnership with the Museum of the Chinese in America, and ArtWalk Art Tours of SoHo.

I began my career at The New York Times after graduating from Barnard College with a degree in art history. After earning my master’s degree in Critical Theory from Columbia University, I was a Professor of Contemporary Art History at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). In the mid 90’s, I curated exhibitions by emerging artists and was a Director of the Andrea Rosen and Jeffrey Deitch galleries.

My international experience includes working in Hong Kong for Goldman Sachs and as the US Head of the French creative advertising agency Assouline.

Wanda Cole Frieman '94

Wanda Cole-Frieman is a strategic partner to executive leaders leveraging 25+ years of human capital experience enabling companies to accomplish business goals through people. Her broad industry experience ranging from financial services, high tech, retained executive search, and healthcare enable her to build impactful strategic practices in talent attraction, succession planning, and engagement always with the focus on the best possible service for the end user.  She is a thought leader on the future of work and has tested and implemented practices to ensure employee wellness to drive team engagement. Ms. Cole-Frieman currently is the SVP, Talent Acquisition for CommonSpirit Health.

Believing that giving back to the community is important, Ms. Cole-Frieman has extensive non-profit board experience. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for Breast Cancer Prevention Partners, Running for a Better Oakland, and volunteers to support her alumnae association in various capacities.  She formerly served on several independent school boards leading development and succession planning for Head of School leadership.  Ms. Cole-Frieman was named by the San Francisco Business Times as a Most Influential Woman in Bay Area Business in 2021.

Ms. Cole-Frieman holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Barnard College, Columbia University.  She is married and is the proud mother of twins in their first year of college.  She enjoys travel, entertaining and being outdoors – currently training to climb Mt. Shasta in June.

Sarah Harrelson P'26

Bio TK

 

Michelle Jung '91

Michelle Jung, a labor and employment attorney and executive with over 20 years of legal and management experience in various sectors, including utilities, energy, asset management, real estate, and education.

Michelle is the managing partner of Rogers & Jung, LLC, a boutique law firm. The firm is a trusted partner to its employer and individual clients on their civil litigation and employment law matters. Additionally, Michelle is founder of the Saige Group, LLC, a consulting firm that positions employers to “think forward” in developing their employee and HR strategies in recruiting, retention, shared services, diversity, ethics, and legal compliance.

Before launching Rogers & Jung and Saige Group, Michelle served various executive and senior roles at SUEZ and United Water overseeing strategy, sustainability, HR, internal audit, ethics, compliance, business development, crisis management, innovation, and stakeholder partnerships. For seven years, Michelle was the Head of Labor and Employee Relations, the first female and minority leader to serve as the company’s chief negotiator with 24 unions across North America.

Prior to 2008, Michelle was the Director of Labor Relations for the NYC Department of Education, DSF. Before her employment at the NYC Department of Education, she served as Assistant Counsel for the Waterfront Commission of NY Harbor.

Michelle’s commitment to corporate social responsibility has led her to support organizations such as the Hackensack Meridian Health, YWCA, Wharton/UPenn Initiative for Global Environmental Leadership (IGEL), Girl Scouts of America, Ridgewood Soccer Association, and Ridgewood Performing Arts Center. Michelle is a former Board of Trustee for Hackensack University Medical Center Foundation, Wharton/UPenn Initiative for Global Environmental Leadership and YWCA of Bergen County.

A graduate of St. John’s University, School of Law, Michelle was admitted to practice law in New York in 1998 and has a B.A. in History from Barnard College, Columbia University.

Sumaiya Khalique '09

Sumaiya Khalique, Esq. is the founder and Principal Attorney at Khalique Law PLLC. She represents clients in New York City, New York and throughout the U.S. She also represents U.S. citizens living abroad and international clients filing for business visas. Her full-service immigration practice includes asylum, business immigration, family immigration, removal defense, and naturalization.

Ms. Khalique has a Bachelor’s Degree in Anthropology from Barnard College, Columbia University. She has a Juris Doctor degree from Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University. Her law career began in the United States and Sydney, Australia, in matters of criminal law. In New York, she gained experience at the Nassau County Legal Aid Society and the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office. She also obtained international criminal law experience in Australia; she worked with disadvantaged and underprivileged youth at the highly reputed Shopfront Youth Legal Center in Sydney, and assisted international Barrister Peter D. Lange with criminal appeal cases before the New South Wales Supreme Court. Prior to founding her own practice, Ms. Khalique worked at two immigration law firms, including as an Associate at the Smotritsky Law Group, where she obtained extensive experience in removal defense before the Immigration Courts and developed the business immigration department.

Ms. Khalique is admitted to practice in the state of New York and has 10 years of extensive experience and knowledge of immigration law. She speaks Bengali and Spanish. Ms. Khalique is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. As an immigrant herself, Ms. Khalique is a zealous advocate for her clients, taking the time to understand the unique situation every client faces, and coming up with creative legal solutions to help them achieve results. 

Terri Liftin '90

Terri Ambron Liftin is a Senior Vice President and Head of the Private Real Estate legal team at Cohen & Steers, Inc.  Prior to joining Cohen & Steers, Terri was the Chief Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at Raith Capital Partners, a private investment firm that focuses on real estate investing.  Before Raith, she was a Managing Director and Chief Compliance Officer at Siguler Guff & Company, a multi-strategy private investment firm.  

Terri started her legal career as an associate at Clifford Chance and as a senior associate at K&L Gates.  Terri moved in-house after starting her family, first in the legal department of WestLB and then at a global asset management joint venture between WestLB and BNY Mellon, where she served as Chief US Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer.  Earlier in her career, she was an Economic Analyst at the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey.

Terri has a JD from Brooklyn Law School, an MA in Economics from New York University, and an AB from Barnard College.  She is a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and serves on the Finance Committee of the Cosmopolitan Club.  Terri lives in New York City with her husband and two sons. 

Jaclyn Loo '05

Jaclyn Loo is an experienced digital marketer who loves connecting untapped consumer insights to new business opportunities. Jackie currently helps lead global product marketing initiatives at Google, developing Pixel smartphone portfolio products from initial positioning through launch, lifecycle management and long-term growth. Known for her endless positivity and inclusive leadership style, Jackie also has extensive experience in ads marketing, industry thought leadership, product management and sales.

Originally from Honolulu, Jackie has a Bachelor of Arts from Barnard College and a Masters of Business Administration from the MIT Sloan School of Management. She is currently on the Alumni Leadership Council for Forté Foundation, a nonprofit which supports women throughout their MBA journeys and beyond, and previously served on the President’s Advisory Council on Technology (PACT) for Barnard College. When not spending time with her family, Jackie likes to advise others on career opportunities, marketing and angel investing.

Jyoti Menon '01

Jyoti is a product management, strategy, and development professional with 20 years of experience in delivering next-generation financial services products. Jyoti has developed strategy and led execution for large-scale, global products through her ability to define vision, collaborate across multiple teams, and work through changing environments and priorities. Jyoti is currently Vice President at Bread Financial, she is responsible for product strategy and delivery of the Bread Financial mobile app as well as the digital lending platform (split pay, installment loans, personal loans) and their public site.

Prior to Bread, Jyoti was Director and Head of Digital Wallets/eCommerce, Bill Payments, and Funding at Citi. She managed relationships and led strategy for multiple digital wallet partnerships, and owned Citi's bill payments and consumer-centric funds transfer product and strategy.

Jyoti started her career in digital product management as a member of the Global Corporate Services team at American Express, where she focused on building robust mobile travel and expense solutions for corporate travelers. In prior roles, she launched global marketing tools, redesigned client reporting solutions, and has owned and developed key partnerships.

Jyoti is a Trustee on Barnard College’s Board of Trustees. She also serves on the Board of the Shanti Bhavan school in India that aims to bring children and their families out of poverty through a world-class education.

Jyoti holds a Master’s in International Affairs from the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs and a bachelor’s degree from Barnard College, Columbia University.

Margaret Morton '82

Margaret is the senior program advisor for the Mellon Foundation’s Presidential Initiatives: Imagining Freedom, the Monuments Project, and Puerto Rico. She collaborates closely with the Presidential Initiatives staff and grantees on all aspects of the office’s grantmaking, with a focus on enhancing grantee and field engagement, supporting strategic clarity, and ensuring informed learning and impact.

Margaret has supported public funding and grantmaking for the Arts and other forms of creative expression for 20 years. Most recently, she led the Ford Foundation’s Creativity and Free Expression program investments in the Arts, media and journalism in the United States, and documentary film across the U.S. and nine international regions. Margaret also stewarded New York City’s public funding for the Arts and cultural sector, as general counsel and deputy commissioner, where she devised new grantmaking frameworks and creative solutions for affordable space for artists.

Prior to her work in philanthropy, Margaret served as counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution and as legislative counsel to New York City’s Deputy Mayor for Criminal Justice, in roles that advanced civil rights legislation, criminal justice reforms and alternatives to incarceration.

Margaret’s passion for the Arts is marked by prior service on the Art Law Committee of the New York City Bar Association; board membership on the Theater Development Fund; and recently, as an Advisor to SMU’s Data Arts center, which provides evidence based insights on the U.S. arts and cultural sector.

Margaret earned her juris doctorate from Georgetown University Law Center and her bachelor of arts degree from Barnard College, majoring in American History and Dance.

Hilary Rieger '14

Hillary Rieger, LCGC is a pediatric and adult genetic counselor. She works in academic medicine with a team of clinicians evaluating patients who have a personal or family history of medical concerns suggestive of a genetic condition. She uses new and emerging technologies to evaluate genomic data and implement personalized healthcare surveillance. Hillary began working in the field of genetics in her final year at Barnard through an internship at the Seaver Autism Center at Mount Sinai and transitioned to a research coordinator position after graduating. In this role, she formalized and facilitated internships for undergraduate students and had the honor of mentoring other Barnard students.

Hillary then pursued concurrent masters degrees in Genetic Counseling and Medical Humanities and Bioethics at Northwestern University. In addition to her clinical work, she serves on a clinical ethics committee and is a board member for the Accreditation Council for Genetic Counseling (ACGC). At her current institution, she established a multi-specialty internship program for individuals interested in pursuing careers in genetics. Additionally, Hillary has worked closely with Facing History and Ourselves, a global education nonprofit that works to ingrain social justice in childhood and adolescent education, and the Basser Center, a comprehensive center for the research, treatment, and prevention of BRCA-related cancers. She considers herself a lifelong student with a passion for mentorship and fostering the growth and success of others.

Jennifer Risi '98

Jennifer Risi is the President and Founder of The Sway Effect, an integrated marketing and communications network. 
Jennifer is a seasoned communications executive with 20 years of experience. Her clients are CEOs and Heads of State the world over. She specializes in international reputation, strategic global media relations, CEO positioning, and crisis communications. She is also an expert in nation branding – having led award-winning global campaigns for Mexico, Colombia, USA, and Indonesia.  
 
Jennifer was named to Observer’s Power 50.  She was also inducted into the 2019 PRWeek Hall of Femme and has been named a PR News Top Women in PR multiple times, including 2022 in the Entrepreneur category. She has also won multiple awards for her corporate reputation and nation branding campaigns from PRovoke, PRWeek, PRNews and Cannes Lions.  Most recently, she won PRovoke Media 2023 Executive Communications Campaign of the Year for Appian’s CEO Matt Calkins.

Jennifer also led a cross-agency team and was awarded the UN Foundation’s Global Leadership Award for Common Ground’s LXL campaign. Notably, The Sway Effect was named 2021 PRovoke Media’s New Agency of the Year.
 
She is a champion for diversity – often writing and speaking on key issues as well as mentoring and sponsoring next-generation talent 

She is also a member of the 4A’s Foundation Board and Unsilenced Board of Director.  She serves as an ongoing advisor to UN Women and is an alumna of Barnard College, Columbia University.
 
Jennifer lives in New York City with her dog Sam.

Scott Roberts P'23

I am passionate about driving growth within new and existing products and businesses, leading high performing teams, and supporting and inspiring my team members to grow and transform themselves and their careers. I am grateful for the opportunities I have had to be a founding team member, investor, advisor, and team member of many successful, high-growth organizations and ventures.

I am currently the Vice President and Global Head of Business Development. The role of my team is to create and scale partnerships and programs that enable LinkedIn product teams and businesses to maximize the value that LinkedIn delivers to its members and customers. We help create ecosystem strategies, execute partnerships, and program manage these partnerships and programs.

As a member of the Product Executive team, I participate in all product and strategy reviews, and I have been a close collaborator with the Corporate Development team and have been involved in nearly every acquisition LinkedIn has done over the past thirteen years.

As an investor, I have enjoyed working with and supporting passionate entrepreneurs and have made several private investments including: Rakuten, TraceLink, Ripple, Oura, Wealthfront, NerdWallet and Sokanu.

Divya Sawhney '08

Divya Sawhney is the Chief Strategy Officer at Penguin Random House. In her role, she is responsible for helping to define, develop and execute on Penguin Random House’s global strategic growth priorities in partnership with global and local leadership teams. In this capacity, she collaborates with publishing, sales, marketing, operations, and finance teams across Penguin Random House countries to identify and evaluate growth opportunities and mobilize around key initiatives. Divya is a member of both the Penguin Random House U.S. Leadership Team and the Global Executive Committee.

She has been instrumental in defining the company’s strategic direction through key growth initiatives, such as working with our publishers globally on multi-year growth plans, consulting on global content acquisitions, spearheading the creation of new capabilities to manage and leverage new technology, scaling the company’s approach to the audio business across content and production, and launching data acceleration projects around the world. She has also led regional growth initiatives to leverage PRH’s content across our businesses and shape PRH’s presence in emerging markets such as China. Divya is a passionate supporter of Children’s publishing and has been instrumental in shaping PRH’s children’s global strategy, helping to execute key PRH acquisitions in this space and scaling them.

Prior to joining PRH in 2014, Divya was at Scholastic, where she held several roles across Publishing, Foreign Rights, and Cross-Company sales and analytics as well as co-authored two books. She began her career working in literary agencies in New York and London.

Divya received her MBA from The Wharton School at The University of Pennsylvania with a focus on Strategic Management and Marketing Operations in 2014 and a BA in English at Barnard College in 2008.  At Barnard, she was a Senior Interviewer in Admissions, a Writing Fellow, President of Dimensions, a South Asian activist organization, member of the former Mcintosh Activity Council and held a myriad of roles on campus in Admissions and the office of Public Relations. She lives with her husband and daughter in New York City.

Sharon Soforenko '86

Sharon Appel Soforenko is a strategy executive with expertise in helping organizations create and deliver high quality healthcare services for all population segments. As a Founding Ambassador of Smart Job, LLC, Sharon is part of a team committed to supporting entrepreneurs and companies successfully build solutions for innovation in the disability market with the goal of creating employment opportunities for persons with disabilities. In addition, Sharon is an Advisory Board Member to the Moonshot Disability Accelerator Initiative, which aims to become a global hub for building a thriving disability innovation ecosystem. Sharon’s commitment to the disability community also extends to volunteering for various non-profit organizations, including the National Federation of the Blind and Together Achieving Dreams Foundation.

Previously, Sharon was a Vice President of Strategy and Development at Centene Corporation, a leading health insurance company. At Centene, Sharon led strategic and business planning functions for government health care programs in the Federal Services division. These programs included the Department of Defense TRICARE Program and the Department of Veterans Affairs Patient Centered Community Care/Choice Program.

Prior to joining Centene, Sharon led corporate planning and business development for all clinical service areas at Suburban Hospital/Johns Hopkins Medicine. She was instrumental in developing Suburban Hospital’s first open heart surgery program in conjunction with Johns Hopkins and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health. Sharon received her BA from Barnard College where she majored in Economics and MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Sharon is married with two daughters and lives in Virginia. Sharon’s Barnard connection begins with her mother, Phyllis Appel (class of 1959); continues with her sisters, Amy Appel Frid and Nancy Appel (classes of 1985 and 1988, respectively); and now includes her youngerdaughter, Rebecca Soforenko (class of 2023).

Jamienne Studley '72

Jamienne S. Studley, President of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges since 2018, has worked across higher education, public service, civil rights and non-profit management to advance equity, student success, and public engagement. She is known for listening, collaborating, and building bridges to build effective organizations and achieve policy change.

While serving as deputy undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Education (2013-2016) she helped guide its work to advance student success and accountability through the College Scorecard, accreditor policy and dashboards, the “engines of opportunity” initiative, and K-16 community partnerships. During this time, she also served as acting undersecretary and assistant secretary for postsecondary education. Earlier she was a member and chair of the Department’s National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI) and deputy and then acting general counsel.

As President of Skidmore College, Ms. Studley focused on promoting equity access and success; student research, public service, and international opportunities; and public policy and the value of liberal education. She was Associate Dean & Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School, where she helped create a model public interest loan forgiveness program; professor of practice at Mills College; and adjunct faculty at UC Berkeley and Stanford Law Schools. She also served on the Association of American Colleges & Universities board and Harvard Law School Visiting Committee, and as National Policy Advisor for Beyond 12.

Ms. Studley’s nonprofit experience includes CEO and now President Emerita of Public Advocates Inc., and executive director of CARAL-North and the National Association for Law Placement. She was also an attorney with Weil, Gotshal & Manges and Bergson, Borkland, Margolis & Adler in Washington, DC. She now serves on the boards of KQED and the Foundation for Student Success. Her many volunteer activities have included chair of the San Francisco Ethics Commission and Connecticut Women’s Education and Legal Fund; co-chair, California Civil Rights Coalition; co-founder, Washington Area Women’s Foundation and Collectors of Wood Art; and board member, SF Education Fund, Mills College, American Craft Council, and Museum of Craft and Design (SF).

She is a graduate of Barnard College (magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) and Harvard Law School. She received an Honorary Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) from SUNY, the State University of New York, at SUNY Cobleskill in 2018.

Alyss Vavricka '12

 

Janice Wang '98

 

Lareina Yee '95

Lareina focuses on advancing technology and diversity outcomes. As a core leader of the Technology, Media & Telecommunications Practice, she has over 20 years of experience shaping the strategies of technology companies. In leading McKinsey’s Technology Council, Lareina examines new technologies and their potential impact on our economy, business, and society. Her most recent published work on these subjects includes the annual “McKinsey Technology Trends Outlook”, “The economic potential of generative AI”, “What every CEO should know about generative AI,” and “Generative AI and the future of HR.”

Lareina is also a leading expert on gender and diversity, serving as McKinsey’s first Chief Diversity Officer. Nearly ten years ago she co-founded Women in the Workplace, an annual research partnership with LeanIn.org that reports annually on the state of women in corporate America. She has coauthored a significant body of research on diversity, including Race in the workplace: The frontline experience, and Delivering through diversity.

In addition to her work with McKinsey, Lareina serves on the board of the San Francisco Ballet and on the advisory councils of the Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford University and the Beyond Barnard program at Columbia University.