10’s

Michael Beck ’10 married long time partner, Keiko Miyamori on May 9, 2021. The ceremony was performed by Rev. Earl Ikeda of the NY Buddhist Church on 105th and Riverside. Keiko is an artist based out of Brooklyn and Yokohama.

Adeline Medeiros ’11 recently became the executive director of The Children’s Storefront, a nonprofit organization in Harlem. The Children’s Storefront is a first-of-its-kind, free, learn-and-play community center where parents receive support to build their children’s brains in the first 1000 days of life. Through coaching focused on nurturance and following their baby’s cues, families are able to build a strong foundation for lifelong success.

Erinn Furey ’11 is director of programs at The OUT Foundation.

Zakiya Thomas ’11 is the new CEO of the ERA Coalition/Fund for Women’s Equality, which is comprised of more than 260 organizations across the country, providing education and advocacy on constitutional equality.

Amanda Babine ’12 was highlighted in City and State NY’s 2022 Nonprofit 40 Under 40.

Dr. Cassandra Lenza ’12 is the founder of Healing on Hudson LLC, a boutique therapy with clinicians treating anxiety, depression, trauma, eating disorders, and body image. The practice offers in-person and tele-health services, as well as a serene environment for healing with qualified professionals. In-person services are offered in Hoboken, and telehealth for NY and NJ is beginning to expand. Cassandra will also be opening a Jersey Shore location in Manasquan, NJ in Monmouth County Summer 2022.

Ravi Reddi ’13 was highlighted in City and State NY’s 2022 Nonprofit 40 Under 40.

Sean Citterio ’14 is a behavioral health officer for the New York Army National Guard Medical Command.

Brittany Lytle ’15 received her Doctorate in Public Health from Claremont Graduate University in the summer of 2021. Brittany started her new job as an assistant professor (tenure-track) for the Social Work Department at California Baptist University in August 2021. She proposed to her boyfriend on November 26, 2021, and they are planning for a July 2023 wedding. On January 1, 2022, she was promoted to director of BSW field education (alongside remaining an assistant professor) for the new Division of Social Work. Brittany is also the first author on a book series around mental health and self care. It is hoped that the first of the series will be published by the end of this year.

Marcos Funes Flores ’17 was granted tenure as a school social worker for the NYC Department of Education.

Briana Hilfer ’17 is a program development associate at NYC’s Department for the Aging (DFTA).

Qiaochu Nina Lin ’17 is working on her MBA at Georgetown University. She’ll be interning at Microsoft this summer.

Annie Walden-Newman ’17 was recently nominated for the Denver Public Schools (DPS) School Social Worker of the Year. Annie has been a licensed clinical social worker for DPS since receiving her dual master’s in social work (MSW) / master’s in public health (MPH) from Columbia in 2017.

Leila Ostad ’17 opened a private practice, Thriving Wellness Center, that specializes in adult and teen autism, ADHD and emotional regulation. The practice’s website thrivingwellnesscenter.com was recently awarded Top 80 Autism Blogs on the Internet by Feedspot.com.

Rachel Parodneck ’17 started her private practice, Rachel Parodneck LCSW PLLC, in November, 2021. Rachel is based in NY, specializing in addiction and infertility and sees all clients remotely.

Devon Ciampa ’18 has been working at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center for four years as a clinical social worker in pediatric oncology. She specializes in working with adolescent and young adult patients and is working on bridging the gap between pediatric and adult oncology in terms of survivorship. She was recently awarded the Compassionate Care Award of 2022 from the Sarcoma Foundation of America which will bring her back to NYC in the fall at the Foundation’s gala. In August, she will begin the DSW program at the University of Pennsylvania.

Karla I. Mansilla ’18 was recently promoted to federal field specialist supervisor for the Midwest region. She works for the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) under the Administration for Children and Families. She has worked for ORR for the last seven years in various roles, and is happy to be back in the field supervising federal field specialists who work with migrant and refugee children.

Tamieka Welsh ’18 is now an adjunct professor at New York University’s Silver School of Social Work.

Latisha Blackburn ’19 is the proud mother of a beautiful baby girl.

Henrietta Pertuz ’19 is a program director at Concerts in Motion, a nonprofit organization that brings personalized live music and engagement to older adults, veterans, individuals with disabilities, individuals with mental illness, individuals experiencing housing and food insecurity, and hospitalized patients of all ages.

Binah Malka (Jalzalla) Stinnett-Bloemhof ’19 was recently accepted to Yeshiva University’s PhD program for social welfare policy for the fall of 2022. Additionally, in May 2022, she launched a learning initiative project for Jewish women of color. The initiative is called JOC Women Learn, and the program was titled A Day of Learning. She is also the recipient of a research grant from Jews of Color Initiative (JoCI) to study Black Jewish Maternal Health.

Leva Talton ’19 is now a licensed clinical social worker after two years of being a registered intern in the state of Florida. Leva passed on the first attempt of her clinical licensure exam! She works for Universal Health Services, one of the largest healthcare providers in the country. More specifically, she is a therapist at Windmoor Healthcare in Clearwater, Florida where she works with active duty military patients who are seeking inpatient treatment for mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety, PTSD, and substance abuse. Leva is a veteran herself and has plenty of experience working with clients that suffer from a wide array of mental health disorders. This past January, she became certified in EMDR, the therapeutic modality that she uses the most with her patients, and she finds it highly effective. Additionally, she is building a private practice where she sees clients on evenings and weekends. Leva tells us, “My goal is to become fully independent by August, 2023. I graduated in 2019 from CSSW. Whenever people ask me about my experience at Columbia I tell them it was one of the best decisions I ever made… I look back on my experience at CSSW with great fondness.”