January 2024 Accolades
Yale’s website notes that Olivia, who hails from Oakland, California, spent the summer as a White House intern in the Office of the Vice President, where she served the vice president’s advance team, traveling throughout the country to help execute events. Last spring, she was appointed by New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker as the youngest member of the city’s Commission on Equal Opportunities, the oldest municipal civil rights agency in the United States. Before that, she served as Miss Connecticut Volunteer 2021, where she served as the first woman of color to hold a New England state title in the system’s history.
A second-year law student at Texas A&M University School of Law, Cage’s legal education at A&M is focused around capital markets and private equity. He majored in public policy and energy technology at Texas Christian University, graduating summa cum laude in 2021.
Outside of pursuing his J.D., Cage is a passionate creator. He exited his first business, Sawyers Brands LLC, in 2022 and is currently the founder and managing partner of 903 Capital + Advisory, a rural Texas investment fund active in national franchise brands, core economic businesses, and consumer items. Philanthropically, Sawyers is the founder and executive director of Sawyers’ Salute to Service, a veterans nonprofit organization that assists post-service veterans on their path to better physical, mental, and spiritual health post-military service.
Rosita Najmi (2000) gave a Ted Talk on multilingual leadership. She would love to get your feedback on the concepts proposed in the talk. If interested, please fill out a brief survey here.
Rosita has worked at the intersection of global social, environmental, and economic development for more than twenty years. As Vice President, Rosita leads strategy, innovation, grantmaking, and measurement, evaluation, and learning (MEL) at The UPS Foundation. Before joining UPS, she led PayPal’s Global Social Innovation Team, which helped put the company’s operations, employees, and products to work for social, economic, and sustainable development. Prior to PayPal, Rosita was at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where she focused on increasing access to financial services for the 700 million people around the world living in extreme poverty.
Alumni News
August 2024 Accolades
Gabriel Nagel (2023) was selected as the Chairperson of the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s National Environmental Youth Advisory Council, making him the youngest Chairperson of an official U.S. federal advisory council.
August 2024 Connections
Coke Scholars connected all over the world last month, including in France, Italy, Germany, and South Africa.
July 2024 Accolades
2023 Scholars Reya Singh and Mandy Zhang created New Roots Financial, an organization dedicated to helping immigrants and refugees become financially literate, after they connected at the 2023 Coca-Cola Scholars Leadership Development Institute.