Alumni News | 04/01/2024

By: Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation

March 2024 Accolades

Carly Collette Steidl (2013) just started her dream job as a First Officer at United Airlines on the Boeing 737. She is also a pilot for the Air Force Reserves.

Lillian Yu (2007) was a writer for the new movie Kung Fu Panda 4 that came out March 8.

Medical Mythbuster Joel Bervell (2013) was featured on the Kelly Clarkson Show. Learn more about Joel in The SIP episode Improving Healthcare with Heart and Intention with Joel, Anthoney, Athena, and Kaitlyn.

Rebecca Homkes (2001), a strategy specialist, CEO, executive advisor, a Lecturer at the London Business School, Faculty at Duke Corporate Executive Education, and a former fellow at the London School of Economics Centre for Economic Performance, can now add author to her resume. Her new book, Survive, Reset, Thrive is about how to face uncertainty head-on and not just survive it, but thrive.

Survive, Reset, Thrive is a playbook for leaders derived from the author’s first-hand experience working with executive teams across industries and geographies. Drawing from over a decade of rich real-world experience, you’ll learn how to navigate the most complex strategic situations with a simple, executable approach. Rebecca Homkes explains how proactively to stabilize your business to withstand and grow through market shocks, reset your strategy to take account of new realities and thrive with sustainable high-performance through uncertainty.

Caitlin Cavannaugh (2010) plays “Joelle” in the Amazon Prime series American Rust starring Jeff Daniels. The second season started last week. The show is not appropriate for kids, but she hopes her fellow Coke Scholars will watch!

Lawrence (Larry) Jia (2019) was selected as a Schwarzman Scholar. As such, he’ll be spending August 2024 to June 2025 in Beijing, China. He’d love to connect with any Coke Scholars in the area!

“Lawrence Jia studies a double major in Applied Mathematics and Economics and Philosophy at Harvard College. He co-founded two nonprofits, Harvard College Economics Labs and Money Matters to Students. He also served as captain of the Harvard Fed Challenge Team, president of the Harvard Economics Review, vice president of the Harvard Mountaineering Club, and student deacon at Harvard Memorial Church. Previously, he conducted research at Yale Law School, Harvard Business School, the World Bank, and the Federal Reserve. He has interned at Permira, KKR, and Microsoft Economics. Lawrence’s efforts focus on the prevention and mitigation of financial crises. Lawrence is from the United States.” – from the Schwarzman Scholar website.

Saad Amer (2012) received a 2024 Young Leader Award from Eco-Age’s Green Carpet Fashion Awards for his work in climate, sustainability and ESG.

From Eco-Age’s website:
Saad Amer is a leading climate activist and environmental justice expert. He is the Founder of Justice Environment, a consultancy that works with governments, businesses and nonprofits on climate change, sustainability and the just transition. He served as an Expert Reviewer for the IPCC and is a consultant to the United Nations. He was named most influential voice in ESG by WWD and was named Forbes 30 under 30 for social impact.

As one of the country’s most prolific voting rights organizers, Saad has reached millions of voters and created campaigns featuring the likes of Vice President Al Gore, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Taylor Swift. He helped secure $6.5 billion dollars for the National Parks, has researched the impacts of climate change on the ground in the Indian Himalayas, co-created Harvard University’s inaugural Sustainability Plan, and discovered a new hybrid species in French Polynesia.

Saad has written for National Geographic, PBS and the World Bank, has spoken at the United Nations, US Department of State and TEDx, and has been profiled by Vogue, Nature and the New York Times. He went to Harvard University where he studied Environmental Science and Public Policy and was a Fellow at Yale University’s Public Voices on the Climate Crisis with The OpEd Project.

Rania Zuri Furaha (2023) was featured on national CBS Evening News for authoring a resolution that was passed by the U.S. Senate to designate National Early Childhood Literacy Awareness Day.