Alumni

10 Cal Alumnae You Should Know (Cal Alumni Association)

September 2, 2020

Zahra Noorbakhsh ’06 is revolutionizing comedy by embracing diversity and her unconventional story. Through comedy, she makes a point to counter the assumptions audiences tend to make of her as a woman, a Muslim person of color, and an LGBTQ individual. Noorbakhsh’s work offers a perspective and narrative that are not customarily encountered in comedy. She is the co-host of the #GoodMuslimBadMuslim podcast, which explores the American Muslim female experience. In 2019, both performances of her stand-up comedy special, On Behalf of All Muslims, were sold out. As a senior...

https://alumni.berkeley.edu/announcements/caa-announcements/10-cal-alumnae-you-s…

Alumni Spotlight: Elissa S. Lee (Dance Minor, 2015)

December 20, 2019

After graduating from UC Berkeley in 2015, Elissa Lee began studying occupational therapy at USC, and researching chronic care management in medically underserved populations at the Lifestyle Redesign for Chronic Conditions lab. For her work, she was named a Student Innovator by the Gehr Family Center for Health Systems Science.

Elissa writes for the Center for Health Journalism, and covers mental health and social good at Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation. Prior to graduate school, she served as program coordinator for the Clinton Foundation’s Too Small to Fail...

'Berkeley Dance Project 2020' explores community and belonging in showcase of diverse styles and voices

January 23, 2020

UC Berkeley's Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies presents Berkeley Dance Project 2020 at 8 p.m. on Feb. 20–22 and Feb. 27–29 in The Playhouse at Zellerbach Hall. The dance concert features an all-student cast performing new works by Bay Area choreographers Erik Lee, Latanya d. Tigner and Lisa Wymore, as well as works created by students and dance groups at UC Berkeley.

This year, Berkeley Dance Project takes on the overarching theme of community. The wide-ranging showcase features dances that examine the connecting and isolating capacities of...

SPEAK: Discovering the Power and Ability to Take Action (In Dance)

December 1, 2019

TDPS alumna and staff member Megan Lowe reflects on the empowering and action-oriented dimensions of dancemaking.

https://dancersgroup.org/2019/12/speak-discovering-the-power-and-ability-to-take…

Madam Ambassador: The unusual trip from Barbados to Berkeley to Brazil (Berkeley News)

July 18, 2019

For Tonika Sealy-Thompson, the road to becoming Barbados’ ambassador to Brazil runs straight through UC Berkeley.

The post had been open since August 2017, and there were hints that Sealy-Thompson was on the short list for the job. Late last year, Mia Amor Mottley, Barbados’ recently elected prime minister and the first woman to hold that position, appointed Sealy-Thompson to the role.

At 42, Sealy-Thompson is Barbados’ youngest-serving woman ambassador and one of the youngest ambassadors to Brazil. She credits her time at Berkeley as being integral to her readiness to take...

https://news.berkeley.edu/2019/07/18/madam-ambassador-the-slightly-weird-trip-fr…