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Click for information on each alumnus.
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Felicia Sullivan, CBA '97 |
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Felicia C. Sullivan, CBA '97 is a New York based writer with an MFA from Columbia
University. A two-time Pushcart Prize nominee and a Best American notable,
her work has been published in dozens of literary journals, anthologies
and magazines. Sullivan is the author of the critically acclaimed memoir,
The Sky Isn't Visible from Here (Algonquin Books, 2008), which has been
featured in The Washington Post, USA Today, Newsday, Elle, Vanity Fair,
among many other publications. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
About the Book: Felicia Sullivan’s volatile, beautiful, deceitful, drug-addicted mother disappeared on the night Sullivan graduated from college, and has not been seen or heard from in the ten years since. Sullivan, who grew up on the tough streets of Brooklyn in the 1980s, now looks back on her childhood—lived among drug dealers, users, and substitute fathers. Sullivan became her mother’s keeper, taking her to the hospital when she overdosed, withstanding her narcissistic rages, succumbing to the abuse or indifference of so-called stepfathers, and always wondering why her mother would never reveal the truth about the father she’d never met.
Ashamed of her past, Sullivan invented a persona to show the world. Yet despite her Ivy League education and numerous accomplishments, she, like her mother, eventually succumbed to alcohol and drug abuse. She wrote The Sky Isn’t Visible from Here, a testament to the resilience of the human spirit, when she realized it was time to kill her own creation.
Mike Yam is a rising young talent with the ability to work as a radio and television host, anchor, and play-by-play announcer.
Since 2006, Mike Yam has been the co-host of The Mike and Murray Show, heard daily on Sirius Satellite Radio, and also hosts NBA Radio’s Full Court Press. Previously, he was a host of the The Phil Jackson Show. Additionally, Mike can be heard on ESPN Radio as the host of Fantasy Focus. Outside of his radio work, Mike serves as the anchor for NBA-TV’s Game Night and the host of Fantasy Hoops.
Before ascending to his current posts, Yam was the host of The Desk on Sirius and an anchor at College Sports Television (CSTV) where he provided daily sports updates for the network.
Yam started his broadcasting career at WFUV hosting One on One, (New York's longest- running sports call-in show) and covering the New York Knicks and Mets, where he followed in the footsteps of many great broadcasters who got started at WFUV. Following his run at WFUV, Yam worked as a correspondent for FOX Sports before coming to Sirius Satellite Radio.
Yam is a graduate of Fordham University, and the recipient of the Marty Glickman Award for Excellence in Play-by-Play Broadcasting.
Mike currently resides in New Jersey.
Since leaving Fordham and WFUV (where he broadcast Rams football and basketball, and covered the New York Rangers), Andrew has been a regular on SIRIUS NFL Radio since summer 2005. In 2006, his role expanded to become the weekend co-host of The Olympic Desk and co-host of Wimbledon All-Access. Currently he splits hosting duties on The SIRIUS Sports Action News Desk with fellow Fordham alumnus Mike Yam.
Away from SIRIUS, Andrew has been the Internet play-by-play voice of the US Open (since 2002) and Roland Garros (since 2005), and covered various US Davis/Fed Cup ties for the Tennis Radio Network. During the 2003-04 NBA season, he was heard on pre-game, halftime and post-game coverage of New Jersey Nets basketball on WOR Radio.
On a personal side, he married the former Kate Jaray on April 27, 2007.
Amanda Farinacci has been a reporter with NY1, New York’s 24-hour news channel, since joining them as an intern in August of 2000. On September 11th, 2001 Amanda was among the first NY1'ers on the scene at the World Trade Center. She has since become NY1's 9/11 point person because of her close connection to the many families affected by the tragedy. She was a researcher for New York Tonight since the show began in the days after the attacks, and that has allowed her to provide extensive coverage of the rebuilding efforts, from the initial days of the tragedy to the final report of the 9/11 Commission.
She has since broken numerous stories for NY1, including several exclusive stories about the Fire Department, its incident command system and how it has changed in a post-9/11 world.
Amanda has also covered the Port Authority, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and the Office of Emergency Management. She has currently taken her skills to Staten Island where she has become NY1’s primary reporter for that borough.
In 2001, Dana Power was offered a contract by the Ford modeling agency in New York, where she represented leading designers such as Coach, Kenneth Cole, and Calvin Klein. She appeared in several national publications, billboard, and internet campaigns, including the covers of Parade, Newsday, and Brides magazines. She also made live appearances on national TV shows, including The Academy Awards, The Today Show, and Good Morning America. In 2006, Dana appeared on the sixth season of the Sopranos and various other indie film projects. Since then she has moved to Los Angeles to further her acting career. Dana trains at the Lesley Kahn Studio in Los Angeles.
Mayrin M. Antón, majored in business with a concentration in marketing; specializing in communications and media management with the G.L.O.B.E. Program. While attending Fordham, Mayrin was no stranger to leadership positions and going above and beyond. She was a recipient of the Hispanic College Fund Scholarship, INROADS Directors’ Scholarship Award, and was a certified advanced business Spanish student from the Chamber of Commerce at Madrid University of Alcalá. She was also named to the Dean’s List. She has interned at many firms including The Estēe Lauder Companies, the Law Offices of Diamond, Cardo, King, and the Community Assistance Unit of New York.
While at Fordham, Mayrin was active in Campus Ministry as an acolyte, Eucharistic minister, lector, cantor, and alto for the folk choir. She was a member of CSTEP and received the CSTEP Excellence in Leadership and CSTEP Scholar awards. In addition, she received a community service medal, and was the Vice President of Special Projects for the G.L.O.B.E. Club - which she still participates in as an alumni ambassador.
Mayrin will be postponing law school and an MBA while she gains more work experience as a Junior Negotiator/Buyer for Mediaedge:CIA, the first global communications planning and implementation agency. They are under Group M, which is in turn under WPP. This premier communications agency owns Young & Rubicam and Ogilvy & Mather. Her new and exciting job entails planning and buying media for big clients (i.e. - Paramount Pictures, IKEA, Campbell’s Soup), aiding with marketing research, direct marketing, and broadcast decision-making.
Fordham was a second home to Mayrin and she is currently giving back by proudly serving on the Fordham Young Alumni Committee.
Entering his third season as the radio play-by-play announcer for the Lakers, Spero Dedes continues a long line of sports broadcasting excellence produced by Fordham University’s WFUV Radio that began with the legendary voice of the Dodgers Vin Scully in the late 1940s. At the age of 27, he has already called games for three of the four major television networks, as well as the nation’s premier radio network.
Dedes came to the Lakers from the YES Network, where he served as the voice of the network’s collegiate sports coverage (football and basketball), as the fill-in play-by-play announcer on New Jersey Nets’ telecasts and as a studio host for Yankees and Nets pre and post game shows.
In addition to his roles at YES in 2004-2005, Dedes handled NBA TV’s first round playoff play-by-play duties from 2003-2005 while also hosting NBA TV’s “Hardwood Classics” and the “Insiders” - a nightly, live, 60-minute interview program dealing with everything NBA.
His extensive resume includes serving as the play-by-play voice on CBS’ coverage of NCAA men’s college basketball and Westwood One’s coverage of NCAA football and basketball. Dedes has also called NFL action on FOX and in August of 2004, was in Athens as a reporter / play-by-play announcer on NBC’s coverage of the 2004 Summer Olympics.
Dedes began his broadcasting career at WFAN Radio in New York where he handled 20/20 updates and served as the Jets’ beat reporter. Also in 2001, he worked as the radio voice of the Arena Football League’s New Jersey Gladiators.
The Paramus, New Jersey native was the inaugural recipient of the Marty Glickman Award, given to the Fordham announcer who best exemplifies the standards set by the late sports broadcasting icon.
Rich McLaughlin is the Program Director for Alt Nation and Left of Center, two radio stations heard on Sirius Satellite Radio. He has been with Sirius since 2001, helping create several of the company's radio stations before its national launch in 2002. He also assisted in bringing BBC Radio 1 to the Sirius platform, and now serves as the liaison between the two companies. Rich hosts a weekly music show on Left of Center called Cooking with Pappy, and has interviewed artists ranging from Yoko Ono to The Beastie Boys to Courtney Love. Rich was recently married to Sarah Gibbons (FCRH ’00), and lives in NYC.
Tara Good is currently employed at the Middle East Policy Council in Washington D.C. as an Assistant Editor for the Middle East Policy Journal. She is also a contributing writer for the online magazine Bustedhalo.com. She received her master’s degree from New York University in Performance Studies and her undergraduate degree from Fordham University at Lincoln Center in Performance and International/Inter-cultural Studies. Her research interests include comparative study of Christianity and Islam in the Levant, transnationalism, ritual, identity formation, political theology and the performance of religiosity as cultural agency. She has studied with the following theater companies: The Moscow Art Theater (Moscow, Russia), The Workcenter of Jerzy Grotowski (Pontedera, Italy), and Yuyachkani (Lima, Peru). As a recipient of the highly competitive State Department’s “Critical Language Scholarship” she spent the summer of 2007 in Jordan studying Arabic.
New York native, Nicole Stavrinos has been making strides in the television arena since graduating. Currently, Nicole serves as the host and producer of Text Me Now which is broadcasted live to 50,000 viewers in Lansing, Michigan. However, before Nicole assumed her current role her journey started out the City University of London after graduation to begin working in their International News Program but landed a spot in radio instead.
Not one to be discouraged from her dream of working in television, Nicole returned to the United States to pursue an opportunity that arose in Lansing, Michigan to write for the local newspaper. Nicole was able to have a weekly column in the Lansing State Journal where she profiled a different bar or nightclub every week and she also contributed to the Journal’s companion entertainment weekly, NOISE.
During this busy time, Nicole decided to try again for a television spot for a new television show called Text Me Now. This television show was formulated by two Norwegian producers and a Los Angeles producer to use as a test for a new genre of television using a live texting and chat format. The show is presently broadcasted live seven nights a week from 12:00am to 6:00am in Lansing.
When asked what experience at Fordham helped prepare her for her career in television Nicole replies “Professor Joseph Dembo of the Communications and Media Studies Department. He was the most inspiring, confidence-building influence in my academic life.” Nicole’s eventual goal is to become “The Queen of All Media” and continue her already exciting career in television and producing.
Matthew Clement has been making strides in the financial planning world for the past few years. He is presently the youngest licensed financial planner with Financial Network Investment Corporation in Rockland County, often placing among the “Top 25” in the region.
Recently he was selected by the Rockland Economic Development Council for its “Forty Under 40 Award”—awarded to forty business leaders who are making a mark while still under the age of 40. Two years ago, he took on the role of Executive Director of the Greater Haverstraw Chamber of Commerce, which is presently the most active Chamber of Commerce in Rockland. Matthew says that a highlight of his career is “making a direct impact on the financial success of families and businesses in Rockland.”
Matthew credits his family for much of his success, “The first few years in business would have been virtually impossible without the support of family, and becoming a well-rounded and objective person would have been impossible without the support of good friends.” He grew up with a large extended family that encouraged him to attend Fordham University. The ideals he learned at Fordham, “led to my appreciation of all areas of personal and professional development.”
Matthew’s clients are his first priority, but he has managed to do quite a bit with his ‘free time.’ In 2005, he enrolled in Fordham’s Executive Certificate Program in Financial Planning. After completing the program in May 2006, he sat for and passed the CFP Exam that July. After fulfilling the education, ethics, and work requirements of the CFP Board, he received his Certified Financial Planner™ designation in October.
For fun, Matthew runs marathons, and while he has completed just four of them, he recently set a personal goal to run “sixty Marathons by the age of ninety.”
His long-term vision is to partner with other financial professionals to create the most successful full-service wealth management and employee benefits firm in the Hudson Valley…and we’re confident he will remember Fordham once he does it!
Matthew Clement was featured in the in the Rockland County Forty Under 40 Program. The Journal News published the special supplement on Wednesday, 27 September 2007.
Chelle Cordero, FCLC '1975 .
Van Hughes, a Virginia native, has been putting his degree in theatre to work since his graduation. Having worked in television, film, radio and on the stage, one can tell that this Fordham graduate is on the road to success.
Van began his post-Fordham acting career as an extra in Spike Lee's film The Inside Man where he appeared in the film's initial bank robbery scene. He also has appeared in national Verizon and Comedy Central television commercials, in addition to over 10 national radio commercials.
Van took his talent to the stage and was a member of the Las Vegas company of the musical Hairspray, where he played Sketch, one of the singing-dancing teens in the American Bandstand-esque local Baltimore television show, as well as understudying the male lead, Link. Van's latest project is a recurring role on the CBS soap opera As the World Turns, where he portrays Gil, a local teen who likes to stir up trouble. He also played a principal role in Law and Order: Criminal Intent as Hank, the jock-like bully to the episode's guest star.
In addition to his acting career, Van is also pursuing his musical talents and is currently working on his second original album. "Music is my passion," said Hughes. "I love just sitting down with a pen, paper, guitar, and my laptop and seeing what I can come up with."
Van is continuing to audition for new roles. "Auditioning is the actor's full-time job -- regardless if he's working or not. It's always about the next (hopefully) bigger thing," said Hughes.
What else is on the agenda for Hughes? Be sure to look out for him in the upcoming new musical Catch Me If You Can, which is slated to open on Broadway next year.
Lorianne Lacey, FCLC ' 05
Young Alumni Committee Member
If you or someone you know would like to be placed in the Young Alumni Spotlight, please click here.
Any questions or suggestions? Please contact Joe Fifield at fifield@fordham.edu or by phone at (212) 636-7068.
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