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November 2020 Connections

Coke Scholars Friendsgiving

Coke Scholars brought their favorite beverage and met virtually for some inspiring words and meaningful discussions with their Coke Scholars family at the Alumni Advisory Board’s first Friendsgiving events.

Friendsgiving Night 1
Friendsgiving Night 2

Virtual #CokeScholarsPro Classes

Led by Coke Scholars for Coke Scholars

Angela Harrell (1991) led Diversity, Equity & Inclusion 101 for Practitioners and Laypeople.
Courtney Lynn (1996), Justin Pasqueriello (1997), and Ali Hartman (2001) led Chosen Family: A Conversation About Love, Advocacy, Foster Care and Adoption.
Stephen Massey (1996) led Voting in 2020: Corporate Leadership to Strengthen our Democracy.
Erica Tuggle (2001) led Cooking with Erica: Food, Love and Self Care.

Coke Scholars Coke Breaks

An Alumni Advisory Board initiative, Coke Scholars Coke Breaks randomly pairs 2 Scholars for a 15 minute chat each month.

Chantelle George (2006) and Ayush Noori (2020) had a great time connecting for their November Coke Break.

The SIP Podcast: Season 2 and Instagram Lives

The SIP is BACK!

In the first episode of season 2, Chantelle George (2006) interviews Derrius Quarles (2009) about becoming the Million Dollar Scholar, the hurdles and rewards of entrepreneurship, and how he’s financially empowering Black communities through his latest social enterprise, BREAUXCapital.

The host of season 2, Ericka Jones (2011) went live on Instagram with Derrius to take questions and further discuss his initiatives.

Steven Olikara (2008) founded the Millennial Action Project with an audacious mission: activate young leaders to bridge the partisan divide and transform American politics.

In episode 2, Sue Suh (1992) and Steven talk Jazz and how it relates to politics, bond over the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress, and discuss how to be true to yourself when others try to put you in a box.

Sue and Steven went live on our Instagram just days after election day to talk further about his quest to rehumanize politics and he showcased his musical talent, too!

The third episode is a mini Coke Scholars reunion!

Kevin Shen interviews fellow 2000 Scholar Lillian Singh, who shares her journey growing up in south central Los Angeles to getting a masters degree from Stanford University. Lillian reflects on how a key investment from the USC Leslie and William McMorrow Neighborhood Academic Initiative in the 6th grade completely changed the trajectory of her life, and how she’s determined to build similar bridges for more people of color.

Kevin and Lillian also discuss the Black Lives Matter movement, the intersectionality between race and economics, and their intriguing and different answers to the same essay question in their sociology class at Stanford.

Kevin and Lillian also went live on our Instagram to talk about the effects of gentrification, how they learned the projected results of the presidential election while recording their podcast, and more.