People & Profiles
A U.S. Marine veteran and former logistics officer, Matthew Vacca didn’t think twice about taking a break from his full-time job and heading straight into a conflict zone.
After learning to DJ during quarantine, Karen Valencia ’15 broke into Chicago’s nightlife scene, bringing reggaeton beats to some of the trendiest clubs. She shares how Northwestern shaped her worldview, what she loves most about DJing and more.
Mimi Scheffler Gordon ’94 dreamt of working in Africa one day when she visited for the first time as a Northwestern undergrad. Nearly three decades later, she’s spearheading a sustainability project in Kenyan communities, building up local economies with an unlikely partner: local bees.
Northwestern alum Aspen Buckingham ’23 and senior economics major Steven Jiang are the creators of Intervallic, a new video game changing the way aspiring musicians can practice their skills. Both musicians, Buckingham and Jiang are making practice into entertainment.
Sheinelle Jones, co-host of the “3rd Hour of Today,” is one of a handful of Black women helming a national TV broadcast. And she thinks it’s important for people to see her full self: accomplished, Black, a woman, a mother, a daughter, a wife, a volunteer, a pray-er, a proud Midwesterner, and a human who embraces joy, who sometimes falters, sometimes loses her nerve — but persists nonetheless.
Armed with a love for Shakespeare and a degree in languages and literature, I graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2009 amid the Great Recession. I applied to doctoral programs in English, thinking, “I am going to be a professor!” Never mind the warnings that the job market for college educators was collapsing, with more PhD graduates than tenure-track positions.
Snorkeling, tightrope walking, woodworking and competitive whistling — you won’t believe what Northwestern community members are up to outside of the classroom and office!
It appeared the NU Club of Switzerland might disintegrate amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but Barbara Pereira Rübel ’93 MBA refused to allow it. As President of the club, Rübel has worked tirelessly alongside a dedicated board to bolster membership, plan events and form partnerships with other organizations.
In her 19 years in the U.S. Postal Service law department, Michelle Ochs Windmueller has argued cases before federal judges and educated attorneys across the country.
Lauren Dandridge Gaines ’04 is co-founder and principal of Chromatic, a Los Angeles–based lighting design firm working at the intersection of architecture and social justice.
