Emily Vasquez ’06 joined Catalyze on the Saturday afternoon of the 2022 Morehead-Cain Alumni Forum in Chapel Hill this past October. Earlier that morning, she delivered a SEVEN Talk entitled, “The Social Life,” to over 500 Forum attendees. During this episode, recorded on campus in the Pit, Emily shares with scholar host Elias Guedira ’25 about her ethnography research in Mexico and its parallels to the U.S. healthcare system. Her work investigates how the development of a national human genome has exacerbated social inequalities.Emily is a Bridge to the Faculty Postdoctoral Fellow in the department of sociology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she teaches courses on the sociology of health and medicine and on race and ethnicity in scientific and medical practice. Her research examines how social inequalities are entangled with and reinforced through the production of medical knowledge and technologies. Emily’s work has been published in the journals Engaging Science, Technology, and Society; American Anthropologist; Perspectives on Science; and Medicine, Anthropology, Theory, among others. Watch Emily’s SEVEN Talk from the 2022 Alumni Forum.Music creditsThe intro music is by Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul. The ending song is “We Bubbles,” by Freedom Trail Studio (YouTube Audio Library).How to listenOn your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed.Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [email protected].

Laura Saavedra Forero ’25 and Eleanor Bolton ’25 joined Catalyze with scholar co-host Elias Guedira ’26 from the Scholar Media Team to talk about their call to activism for disability rights on the campus of UNC–Chapel Hill. The two also share about how Morehead-Cain Alumni can support disabled college students at Carolina through their advocacy, expertise, and other resources. Laura and Megan Murphy (UNC–Chapel Hill ’23) were elected co-presidents of the UNC Campus Y for the 2022–2023 academic year this past spring. Eleanor serves as the co-chair of the Disabilities Advocacy Committee for the social justice hub.Music creditsThe intro music is by Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul. The ending song is by Nicholas Byrne ’19. Follow Nicholas @art.sandcrafts on Instagram.How to listenOn your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed.Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [email protected].

The year of 2022 has been a remarkable one for Janora McDuffie-Ryan ’99, an actress, voiceover artist, and host. The alumna catches up with Catalyze about the past eight months, which have included movie deals, hosting Kia’s launch event in Phoenix for their first-ever electric vehicle, attending Pride Celebrations at the White House and Vice President Harris’s residence, announcing the Institute for Responsible Citizenship’s 20th anniversary celebration at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., and, of course, serving as the first African American and openly gay female announcer for the 94th Academy Awards. As a diehard Tar Heel fan, Janora also includes in her personal highlight reel for 2022 watching Coach K lose his last game and cheering on the UNC men’s basketball team at the Final Four championship game in New Orleans. Go Heels!Janora sat down with Catalyze in August at her home in downtown Long Beach, California, following her return from a movie set in Atlanta. (The alumna will be in a Disney comedy and Christmas special starring none other than Ludacris!) We met up before an ‘Unleashing the Network’ event with Morehead-Cains at the home of Alec Hudnut ’87 that Janora organized with Ellie Teller ’18.We talked about the illusion of “making it” in Los Angeles and elsewhere, what it was like to be behind the mic in Dolby Theatre for the Oscars, and Janora’s early career days, when she decided to leave the corporate world of consulting to chase her dreams in entertainment on the West Coast. Janora will serve as the emcee for the 2022 Morehead-Cain Alumni Forum this October. More about JanoraJanora has appeared in television shows such as Grey’s Anatomy, Criminal Minds, and This is Us, among others. Her portfolio also includes films, podcasts, and video games, and she’s represented companies as a speaker, moderator, interviewer, and host. The alumna is also the managing partner of Cashmere and Gold Entertainment, an events and entertainment company, along with her wife. The two lead boat tours, including wine and cigar experiences, along Long Beach Marina.Learn more about Janora.Music creditsThe intro music for this episode is by scholar Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul. How to listenOn your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed.Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [email protected].

Trial lawyer Jerry Blackwell ’84 sat down with Catalyze hosts Sarah O’Carroll and Benny Klein ’24 to share his story of joining the prosecution team, some of the strategies behind the case, and what it was like to deliver the closing remarks of the trial.Jerry has been nominated by President Biden to become a federal judge for the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota. The alumnus is the founding partner, CEO, and chairman of Blackwell Burke P.A. Listen to the episode.“You were told . . . that Mr. Floyd died because his heart was too big,” Blackwell said to the jury on April 20, 2021. “And now, having seen all the evidence and having heard all the evidence, you know the truth, and the truth of the matter is that the reason George Floyd is dead is because Mr. Chauvin’s heart was too small,” he said.Jerry will deliver the keynote address at the 2022 Morehead-Cain Alumni Forum this October. Listen to his Alumni Speaker Series talk from fall 2021. Read more about Jerry’s work on the trial.Music creditsThe intro music for this episode is by Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul. This episode also includes the song, “Jazz Mango,” by Joey Pecoraro. How to listenOn your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed.Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [email protected].

Brad Rathgeber ’01 is the head of school and CEO of One Schoolhouse, a “partner to independent schools that envisions and embodies what’s next in education, online learning, and professional development.” The alumnus talks with host Benny Klein ’24 of the Scholar Media Team about working with three other Morehead-Cains as a rising second-year college student for a nonprofit scholarship program in Zimbabwe (co-founded by Galahad Clark ’99 and Jeff Pike ’99), teaching and coaching at Holton-Arms School in Washington, D.C., and how his time at the school for girls formed the groundwork for building his own company. Brad talks about the difference between online learning and “emergency learning,” and how he approaches an inclusive framework to education through identity-affirming classes.“A great coach helps someone see something in themselves that they don’t yet see, and then helps them find a pathway to get there.” —Brad Rathgeber ’01 Music creditsThe intro and ending music for this episode is by scholar Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul. The music featured mid-episode is by scholars Asher Wexler ’25 and Emmaus Holder ’23, with voice-over by scholar Tucker Stillman ’25. How to listenOn your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed.Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [email protected].

Nick Andersen ’12 is a podcast producer for GBH Boston, the primary PBS member station in Boston. Nick shares with host Benny Klein ’24 of the Scholar Media Team about his work on the PBS MASTERPIECE series. Before joining GBH, the producer worked for WBUR, Boston’s NPR news station, and NPR’s On Point show.The alumnus is also the senior producer for Ministry of Ideas, a “small show about big ideas.” The Harvard Divinity School series is dedicated to investigating and illuminating the ideas that shape our society.As a Morehead-Cain Scholar, Nick wrote for the Daily Tar Heel, the University of North Carolina’s student-run newspaper. He earned degrees in history and journalism. Music creditsThe intro and ending music for this episode is by scholar Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul.The music featured mid-episode is by scholars Asher Wexler ’25 and Emmaus Holder ’23, with voice-over by scholar Tucker Stillman ’25.How to listenOn your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed. Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [email protected].

Jamie DeMent Holcomb ’01 stopped by the Foundation in March 2022 to speak with host Benny Klein ’24 of the Scholar Media Team during her campaign for North Carolina Senate (District 23). Jamie shares about growing up in Franklin County, North Carolina; watching the Duke vs. UNC game during her final selection weekend; spotting Brad Pitt and Quentin Tarantino on the Universal Studios set, and her love of science museums. Jamie is CEO of the Kidzu Children’s Museum in Chapel Hill, where she seeks to increase access to science for youth in fun and engaging ways. The alumna is also a managing partner at the North Carolina Venture Capital Fund, a firm that invests in innovative startups throughout the state and Southeast writ large.Music creditsThe intro and ending music for this episode is by scholar Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul. The music featured mid-episode is by scholars Asher Wexler ’25 and Emmaus Holder ’23, with voice-over by scholar Tucker Stillman ’25. How to listenOn your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed.Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [email protected].

Tucker Stillman ’25 from the Morehead-Cain Scholar Media Team shares about the latest stories from the team. First up, a series on self-starters by Sarah Chocron ’25 and Ria Patel ’25 features Morehead-Cains who took the initiative to fill gaps within their communities. The first edition highlights Isabella Grandic ’25 and her startup Boob Blurb, a card-game-turned-social-movement inspired by women’s liberation, women’s health and wellness, and women’s rights. Up next is Mercy Adekola ’25 of Nails Have Mercy, an affordable Gel-X nail business that caters to the budgets and tastes of college students at Carolina.The series wraps with Scott Diekema ’19 and his story of co-founding the Meantime Coffee Co., a cozy coffee spot nestled within the UNC Campus Y, the University’s largest advocacy and public service student organization.Secondly, Tucker shares about a feature from Laurelle Maubert ’25 on Lily Roberts ’12, the managing director of the Center for American Progress. Lily shared about misconceptions surrounding the “Great Resignation,” why women are being driven out of the workforce, and how the federal government can continue to reduce poverty rates during COVID-19.Lastly, Tucker highlights his own piece with Brad Ives ’86 about the entrepreneur’s social enterprise, Credo ESG Solutions, based in Durham, North Carolina. Credo is an advisory firm that provides forward-thinking environmental, social, and governance (ESG) solutions to private equity firms and their portfolio companies.Music creditsThe music for this episode was produced and contributed by Asher Wexler ’25 and Emmaus Holder ’23.About the Morehead-Cain Scholar Media TeamThe Morehead-Cain Scholar Media Team is an extracurricular program and internship run by the Foundation’s communications team. Scholars of all backgrounds and class years collaborate to produce multimedia content on the topics and issues they’re passionate about, as well as support Morehead-Cain’s institutional communications. Members cover the following beats, tied to Morehead-Cain’s departments: selections and recruitment, the scholar experience, development, and alumni engagement. Scholar-generated content is distributed across all of Morehead-Cain’s channels, including social media (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube), the Catalyze podcast, email newsletters, and the website (moreheadcain.org). The team’s audience comprises more than 3,300 scholars and alumni and their constituents. Current members of the team for spring 2022 include Sarah Chocron ’25, William Dahl ’25, Benny Klein ’24, Laurelle Maubert ’25, Cate Miller ’25, Ria Patel ’25, Lia Salvatierra ’24, and Tucker Stillman ’25. The team is led by Sarah O’Carroll, Content Manager of the Morehead-Cain Foundation.If you’re interested in learning more about the Scholar Media Team, contact the communications team. Participation is a semester-long commitment.How to listenOn your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed.Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [email protected].

Bradley Opere ’17 is the co-founder of FarmMoja, an agriculture social enterprise in Nairobi, Kenya. Bradley joined Catalyze to share about what got him interested in the agriculture industry, how FarmMoja is working to rehabilitate land and support smallholder farmers, and why it was important for the alumnus to return to Africa after graduating as a Morehead-Cain Scholar. For his day job, Bradley is now a consultant at Dalberg. Prior to joining the global consulting firm, he was a young leadership fellow at McKinsey & Company. The entrepreneur co-wrote an article with McKinsey colleagues in the spring of 2020 about the impact of COVID-19 on Africa’s food systems and what governments and private actors can do to respond. As an undergraduate student at UNC–Chapel Hill, the alumnus was the first student from Africa to be elected student body president.  

Ying Hua ’10 is a portfolio manager at Balyasny Asset Management, a hedge fund with $15 billion of assets under management. On this episode, Ying breaks down the two approaches to investing (fundamental and quantitative) and gives personal finance advice for college students. She also shares how to embrace volatility and risk in your career. Prior to joining Balyasny in 2020, Ying was an analyst at Citadel for four years and an equity research associate at Goldman Sachs before that. She studied economics at Carolina and later received a master’s degree in data science from the University of California at Berkeley. The intro music for this episode is by scholar Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul.How to listenOn your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed.Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [email protected].

Our next Catalyze guest is Ying Hua ’10, a portfolio manager at Balyasny Asset Management in San Francisco. Ahead of releasing her full episode, we’re sharing 60 seconds of her advice for college students interested in pursuing a career in finance. Listen before your next interview, or if you just need a pep talk. Music credits: “Outside the Box,” by Patrick Patrikios. 

Catalyze is honored to have Dr. Brandi Brimmer on the series to talk about her first year so far at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, her background in African American social and political history, and her current and upcoming research projects.Dr. Brimmer, an associate professor in the Department of African, African American, and Diaspora Studies (AAAD), is one of three Morehead-Cain Alumni Professors teaching at UNC–Chapel Hill. She joined the Morehead-Cain and Carolina communities in summer 2021 from Spelman College in Atlanta, where she was an associate professor of history and a Mellon-HBCU Fellow through the National Humanities Center. She received her bachelor’s degree in history from Spelman and her master’s in African American Studies and Ph.D. in U.S. history from the University of California, Los Angeles. To hear more from Dr. Brimmer, join her online event on Wednesday, February 23, entitled “Weeping No More: Black Women’s Battles for Civil War Pensions in the Post-Emancipation South.” Her talk is informed by her book, Claiming Union Widowhood: Race, Respectability, and Poverty in the Post-Emancipation South (Duke University Press, 2020). Learn more about The Road Back to Chapel Hill online event series. Music creditsThis episode features music by scholar Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul. The ending song is “Lights,” by TrackTribe.How to listenOn your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed.Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [email protected].

For MLK Day, scholar host Benny Klein ’24 interviews Wendell McCain ’92, the son of activist Franklin McCain of the Greensboro Four. Wendell shares about what it was like to grow up around one of the leaders of the civil rights movement and the lessons he learned from his father about pursuing justice. He also talks about his journey through the financial world and how he’s found ways to support and uplift those around him. Wendell is the chair and CEO of Onset Capital Partners, a global asset management firm based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The alumnus received his bachelor’s degree in economics from UNC–Chapel Hill, followed by an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. This is the first episode hosted by Benny Klein ’24 and produced by Lia Salvatierra ’24 of the Morehead-Cain Scholar Media Team. In his new series, Benny speaks with Morehead-Cain Alumni about how they’ve been able to balance their career aspirations while creating a positive impact on the world. Music creditsThis episode features songs by Nicholas Byrne ’19 of Arts + Crafts and Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul. How to listenOn your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed.Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [email protected].

Rob Gourley ’18 is a documentary producer, cinematographer, and video editor based in Chico, California. During the pandemic, the alumnus was working for the Los Angeles Times as a video producer when an opportunity came up to work for PBS on a NOVA series about electric airplanes. What was intended to be a sabbatical turned into the launch of Rob’s career into freelance.Rob shares with Catalyze about his decision to take a big risk, his aspirations to make a documentary about wildfires, and how he became one of the first videographers for the show Doug to the Rescue.Music creditsThis episode features songs by Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul, and Nicholas Byrne ’19 of Arts + Crafts. 

Upon his return from the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, Billy Pizer ’90 joined Catalyze to analyze the major announcements made and new global carbon market rules. The economist also shares his thoughts on the role of technologies backing cryptocurrencies in emissions reporting and payments. Billy is the vice president for research and policy engagement for Resources for the Future, a nonprofit research institution based in Washington, D.C. The alumnus worked in the U.S. Department of the Treasury as deputy assistant secretary for environment and energy.Billy received his bachelor’s degree in physics as a Morehead-Cain Scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He earned a combined master’s and PhD in economics from Harvard University in 1996.(Photo by William Bossen via Unsplash)Music creditsThis episode features intro music by scholar Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, millions of women have dropped out of the workforce, and many have yet to rejoin. Ursula Dimmling Mead ’02 has been studying what women want at work for the bulk of her career. She built a tool to help women make data-informed decisions about where to apply (and where to avoid applying).Ursula is the founder and CEO of InHerSight, the largest company-reviews platform for women. The alumna joined Catalyze to share how the pandemic has changed the ways in which women seek and conduct work, how companies can become more women-friendly and attract female talent, and strategies for women to find their best workplace fit. Catalyze is also joined by Anna Pickens ’23, who interned at InHerSight during summer 2021. Music CreditsThis episode features songs by Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul, and Nicholas Byrne ’19 of Arts + Crafts. How to listenOn your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed.Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [email protected].

Seth Shelden ’98 is the United Nations liaison for the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). The coalition was awarded the Nobel Peace Price in 2017 for its work to bring about the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). The TPNW outlaws the use, testing, development, production, possession, and transfer of nuclear weapons, and it outlines how countries can destroy their own stockpiles. It also stipulates victim assistance, environmental remediation, and other humanitarian efforts as part of each participating country’s obligations.Seth is also a partner in the law firm of Farkas & Neurman, an adjunct professor at the City University of New York School of Law, and vice president of Ground UP Productions. The alumnus received his bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a major in international studies (with concentrations in economics and peace, war, and defense). He earned his J.D. from University of California, Berkeley, School of Law in 2002.Seth offers insights on Biden’s projected nuclear arms policy, how U.S. universities serve as research and development pipelines, and what anyone can do to divest from companies involved in building and maintaining nuclear weapons. ICAN reports, resources, and other references mentioned in the episode:Complicit: 2020 global nuclear weapons spendingSchools of Mass Destruction: American Universities in the U.S. Nuclear Weapons ComplexTake the University Pledge Don’t Bank on the Bomb projectCities Appeal (#ICANSAVEMYCITY) The Doomsday Clock Follow ICAN on Twitter,  Facebook, and Instagram. You can follow Seth on Twitter.Episode CreditsThe intro music for this episode is by Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul. The outro song, “On the Island,” is by the artist Godmode. 

Catalyze is joined by Geoff Milliner, the COO of the Chattanooga Enterprise Center and a 2021 Civic Collaboration host for Morehead-Cain, and Montez Thomas, assistant director of scholar advising at Morehead-Cain. This episode is the second in a two-part series on the Civic Collaboration program. The Enterprise Center tasked their team of Morehead-Cain Scholars to explore the impact of “smart city” investments and technologies on quality of life, as well as its intersection with social determinants of health. The center is a nonprofit devoted to establishing Chattanooga as a hub of innovation and entrepreneurship. More than a dozen teams of scholars participated in this year’s Civic Collaboration program. Rising second-year scholars investigated their designated communities’ challenges and opportunities and proposed meaningful solutions. Learn more about the 2021 Civic Collaboration program. Becoming a Civic Collaboration host for Morehead-CainHosts propose a problem or issue for scholars to address together, provide guidance and mentorship, and share information and resources pertinent to the projects. The Morehead-Cain Scholarship provides each scholar with a cost-of-living stipend and transportation to and from the host city (hosts are not expected to provide financial assistance to scholars).To learn more about partnering with Morehead-Cain for future Civic Collaboration projects, contact Montez Thomas or visit our website.Music CreditsThis episode features songs by Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul, and Nicholas Byrne ’19 of Arts + Crafts. How to listenOn your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed.Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [email protected].

Catalyze is joined by Liz Kistin Keller ’04 of the City of Albuquerque’s Office of the Mayor and a 2021 Civic Collaboration host for Morehead-Cain. This episode is the first in a two-part series on the Civic Collaboration program. The Office of the Mayor tasked their team of Morehead-Cain Scholars to explore the online user experiences of the 50+ population in order to improve their access to internet-based services provided by local government. More than a dozen teams of scholars participated across the country in this year’s Civic Collaboration program. Rising second-year scholars investigated their designated communities’ challenges and opportunities and proposed meaningful solutions. Learn more about the 2021 Civic Collaboration program. Becoming a Civic Collaboration host for Morehead-CainHosts propose a problem or issue for scholars to address together, provide guidance and mentorship, and share information and resources pertinent to the projects. The Morehead-Cain Scholarship provides each scholar with a cost-of-living stipend and transportation to and from the host city (hosts are not expected to provide financial assistance to scholars).To learn more about partnering with Morehead-Cain for future Civic Collaboration projects, contact Montez Thomas or visit our website.Music CreditsThis episode features songs by Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul, and Nicholas Byrne ’19 of Arts + Crafts. How to listenOn your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed.Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [email protected].

Catalyze is back for the fall season, and we have a lot to share about. RSVP for this semester’s events: Find your class-year decade event with Morehead-Cain President Chris Bradford.Learn more about the (Mini) Forum’s events, beginning the week of November 15th and leading up to our Day of Giving.Music creditsThe music for this episode is by scholar Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul.How to listenOn your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed.Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [email protected].

We’re launching our fall season with J. R. Ching ’01, the chief financial officer for Yoma Strategic Holdings. We asked J. R. to join the show to help us understand the military coup in Myanmar and to hear how his company has managed the ongoing crisis as the Delta variant continues to surge throughout the country. CreditsThe music for this episode was produced and contributed by Nicholas Byrne ’19 of Arts + Crafts.Nicholas is a producer, guitarist, and singer, and a graduate student at the Parsons School of Design in NYC. The alumnus earned his bachelor’s degree from the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media with a minor in music. Follow Nicholas @art.sandcrafts on Instagram or on Spotify.This episode also featured intro music by Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul. An audio clip of protests used in this episode was contributed by YouTube user Bendobrown. You can watch the full video here.How to listenOn your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed.Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [email protected].

Catalyze invited Nicholas Byrne ’19 of Arts + Crafts back to the series to talk about his latest music projects, and because we thought you might want to learn more about the artist behind the music that’s featured on the show. We first brought Nicholas to Catalyze in October 2020 as the producer, guitarist, and singer was road-tripping across the country with Eric Lee ’18 and Sam Lowe ’20. Nicholas spoke with us from Smithonia, an unincorporated community about 20 minutes outside Athens, Georgia. He shared about his collaborations with Sam (whose music project is called Sacra Monet) and singer-songwriter and guitarist Audrey Walsh (UNC-Chapel Hill Class of 2023), a DJ at Carolina’s student-run radio station, WXYC 89.3 FM. Nicholas also talked about how AI-powered tools will advance digital music production, how a “shake-up” in the creative landscape of social media platforms could shift dollars back into the hands of content creators, takeaways about manipulating sound and light from Berlin’s music scene, and a new opportunity on the horizon in New York City.More about the musicSam is a graduate student at Stanford University pursuing a master’s degree in computer science with minors in cognitive science and music. Follow the alumnus at @sacra.monet on Instagram or on Spotify. Nicholas earned his bachelor’s degree from the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media with a minor in music. In addition to his music, Nicholas works on freelance video assignments and digital advertising and social media campaigns. In spring 2021, the alumnus was accepted into the MFA program in lighting design at the Parsons School of Design in New York City.Follow Nicholas @art.sandcrafts on Instagram or on Spotify.This episode also featured music by Jake Wilson (UNC-Chapel Hill Class of 2020) of Untldsnd.Note: This interview was conducted over the internet for a video recording. You can view the video teaser for this episode on Morehead-Cain’s Youtube or Instagram page. How to listenOn your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed.Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [email protected].

For this special segment of Catalyze, Emile Charles ’24 shares the most impactful aspects of his international gap year, pandemic disruptions included. The scholar interned at a children’s hospital in Cape Town, South Africa; visited his father’s Caribbean home in St. George’s, Grenada; worked on a global public health collaboration between the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Malawi Ministry of Health; and organized Black Lives Matter protests in Chapel Hill. Gap year scholars Taylor Shinal ’25, Mark Finamore ’25, Asher Wexler ’25, and Noah Gottlieb ’25 also sent in audio diaries from their current corners of the world. You’ll be taken to a Tanzanian safari, a Slovenian market, an ancient Egyptian tomb, a Scottish seacoast, and a ski slope in Utah.Music creditsThe music for this episode was produced and contributed by Nicholas Byrne ’19 of Arts + Crafts and singer-songwriter and guitarist Audrey Walsh, a sophomore at UNC-Chapel Hill and a DJ at student-run WXYC 89.3 FM. Based in Athens, Georgia, Nicholas is a producer, guitarist, and singer. The alumnus earned his bachelor’s degree from the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media with a minor in music. In addition to his music, Nicholas works on freelance video assignments and digital advertising and social media campaigns. Follow Nicholas @art.sandcrafts on Instagram or on Spotify.This episode also featured intro music by Scott Hallyburton '22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul.How to listenOn your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed.Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [email protected].

The road that brought Chris Bradford to Chapel Hill began in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and included stops in New Haven, Connecticut; Palo Alto, California; Oundle, England; and Johannesburg, South Africa. Chris spoke with Morehead-Cain from his home in Johannesburg to share his story of founding African Leadership Academy (ALA), his personal mission (which he says is to “build platforms that enable individuals to reimagine what’s possible for themselves and their societies”), and his vision for Morehead-Cain as the incoming president.Chris, CEO and co-founder of ALA, will succeed Executive Director Chuck Lovelace ’77, who leaves this summer after 37 years with the Foundation. Learn more about Chris.How to listenOn your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed. Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [email protected] credits The intro music is by Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul.The music for the ending is by Nicholas Byrne ’19. Follow Nicholas @art.sandcrafts on Instagram. 

Amber Koonce ’12 is a civil rights attorney at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Amber shares how her Morehead-Cain summers working at a women’s correctional center in Ghana and at a young boys’ correctional center in Scotland helped inform her vocation to defend human rights and civil rights in representing incarcerated people, particularly people who’ve been incarcerated as children. Following the alumna’s graduation from Carolina and before entering Yale Law School, Amber worked as a juvenile justice policy analyst at the Humanitarian Legal Assistance Foundation in the Philippines on a Luce scholarship. After earning a JD, she clerked on the U.S. federal judiciary for the Honorable William Fletcher on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.Amber is also a social entrepreneur and the founder of BeautyGap, a nonprofit that supports the development of girls worldwide by distributing dolls of color. Since 2009, BeautyGap has distributed Black and brown dolls to girls in orphanages throughout Ghana, Kenya, Haiti, and the Philippines. How to listenOn your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed. Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [email protected] credits The intro music is by Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul.The music for the mid-episode break and ending is by Nicholas Byrne ’19. Follow Nicholas @art.sandcrafts on Instagram. 

When reporters and public relations professionals come calling, Karen Stevenson ’79 knows what to expect: They are going to ask her about being “the first.”As a high school senior, Karen became the first African American woman to receive the Morehead-Cain Scholarship as part of the inaugural group of female Morehead-Cain Scholars. In 1979, the alumna made national headlines as the first woman from the University and the first African American woman from the United States to receive the Rhodes Scholarship.On this episode, Karen shares her thoughts about the renown she's received for being "the first" of so many accomplishments; how she approaches her work as a U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Central District of California; and how she's maintaining a sense of equilibrium during the pandemic. The Los Angeles-based alumna will deliver the keynote address during Morehead-Cain’s Virtual Final Selection Weekend on February 26.How to listenOn your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed. Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [email protected] credits The intro music is by Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul. The music for the mid-episode break and ending is by Nicholas Byrne ’19. Follow Nicholas @art.sandcrafts on Instagram. 

Andrew Patterson ’06 is the vice president of partnerships and strategy at Greenfly, Inc., a software platform that helps organizations build their communities through brand advocacy. Andrew shares about Greenfly’s role in connecting major sports leagues to fans through more authentic and personalized game coverage; successful strategies that the Biden campaign and 2020 Democratic National Convention Committee implemented through the technology; and what any organization can do to empower their communities to be co-creators and ambassadors. Before joining Greenfly, Andrew was the senior director of new media at MLB. If you’re interested in learning more about Andrew, you can view his SEVEN Talk from the 2018 Alumni Forum.Connect with a mentor Andrew is also currently a Morehead-Cain Mentor. The Morehead-Cain Mentoring Program is designed to leverage the power of the Morehead-Cain network by cultivating connections between scholars and alumni, and providing structure and support to these relationships so they can develop based on shared values and interests. All rising juniors and seniors are eligible to participate.How to listenOn your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed. Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [email protected] credits The intro music is by Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul. The music for the mid-episode break and ending is by Nicholas Byrne ’19. Listen to the full song, “Loosen Up” on Spotify or follow Nicholas @art.sandcrafts on Instagram. 

Alan Murray ’77 is CEO of Fortune Media. Prior to joining the media organization in 2015, Alan served as president of the Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C. For nearly two decades, he held a number of roles at The Wall Street Journal, including deputy managing editor, executive editor online, and the Washington bureau chief. Alan also served as the Washington bureau chief at CNBC and as a cohost of the nightly show Capital Report.Alan will headline Morehead-Cain’s spring Virtual Alumni Speaker Series on Wednesday, January 27, at 4:00 p.m. (Eastern Time). The alumnus will talk about restoring trust in America. View the full slate of virtual events this spring on the Morehead-Cain Network.More about AlanFollowing his graduation from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Alan moved to Tennessee to edit the business and economics sections for the Chattanooga Times Free Press. (The alumnus was nominated for the Morehead-Cain Scholarship by the Chattanooga-based Baylor School.) In 1980, he began reporting for the Congressional Quarterly in Washington, D.C., and the Japan Economic Journal in Tokyo a year later, after earning a Luce Scholarship. Alan earned his undergraduate degree in English literature from Carolina and a master’s degree from the London School of Economics. In 2005, he completed the Stanford Executive Program (SEP) through the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Alan resides in Greenwich, Connecticut, with his wife, Lori. On your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed. Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [email protected] music for this episode is by scholar Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul. 

Sarah Mackenzie ’20 of Calgary, Alberta, has received the Rhodes Scholarship to pursue a fully funded postgraduate degree at the University of Oxford beginning this fall. The recent graduate is one of 11 Canadians selected to join the 2021 cohort, and she is the 51st Rhodes Scholar from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, according to the University’s announcement of the award on November 23.Sarah is the 32nd Morehead-Cain to receive the scholarship and one of just two Carolina students to receive it this year. The second awardee, Peter Andringa, graduated in 2020 with degrees in journalism and computer science.Established in 1902, the Rhodes is one of the oldest and most prestigious international scholarship programs. Scholars are selected based on academic excellence, character, leadership, and commitment to service.On your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed.Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [email protected] music for this episode is by scholar Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul. 

Our first guest for this episode is Tom Thriveni ’10, a comedy writer on The Late Late Show with James Corden on CBS. As a Morehead-Cain Scholar, he interned with Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, an opportunity offered by Jon Benson ’06 (Jon produced field segments on the show at the time). Following his graduation from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Tom began pursuing a career in investment banking. As he shared in a Virtual SEVEN Speaker Series event this past spring, it took a traumatic brain surgery to help him realize that he wasn’t following his passion.With support from Dave Bernath ’89, then the executive vice president of programming and multi-platform strategy for Comedy Central, Tom returned to late-night television in 2014. After two years as a researcher on CC’s The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, Tom moved to Los Angeles to be a writer’s assistant for James Corden. He rose to his current position in the fall of 2018.Our second guest is Lauren Gornto ’21, a business administration and management major at Carolina with minors in philosophy, politics, and economics (PPE) and music. The scholar is the music director of Tar Heel Voices, the University’s oldest co-ed a cappella group, and the co-founder of “ACTing Up,” a summer theater camp for children. In summer 2021, Lauren plans to join Insight Sourcing Group in Atlanta as a summer analyst in the consulting practice. Lauren is Tom’s mentee through the Morehead-Cain Mentoring Program; this is the scholar’s and alumnus’s second year participating together. The program strives to leverage the power of the Morehead-Cain network by cultivating connections between scholars and alumni, providing structure and support to these relationships so that they can develop based on shared values and interests. Scholars enroll annually beginning in April and all rising juniors and seniors may participate. You can learn more about the Morehead-Cain Mentoring Program by contacting Emily Olson, our alumni engagement manager, at [email protected]. On your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed.Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This episode closes out our fall season of the podcast. We’ve covered everything from politics and activism to tech startups, music, and meditation. Thank you for listening. You can let us know what you thought of the season or who you want to hear from in 2021 by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [email protected]. Until next time, stay safe.The music for this episode is by scholar Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul. 

We’re sharing a brief roundup from the 2020 General Election on November 3. We had a number of Morehead-Cain Alumni running for office; here’s how their races turned out. Ricky Hurtado ’11 was elected to North Carolina’s House of Representatives. The alumnus will represent District 63 in Raleigh. The Representative-elect will be the only Latino to serve in the current state legislature, according to the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee. Ricky is the co-executive director and co-founder of LatinxEd, an educational initiative that provides multi-year support to Latinx students and immigrant families seeking access to higher education in North Carolina. The alumnus is also an adjunct instructor in UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Education.Roy Cooper ’79 was reelected against his Republican challenger, Dan Forest, the state’s lieutenant governor.David Price ’61 was reelected to the U.S. House to represent North Carolina’s 4th Congressional District.Kristin Dutrow Baker ’85 of Concord secured her seat as a representative in North Carolina’s House of Representatives for District 82. This November’s election was the alumna’s first race for office.In other states, Jim Cooper ’75 was reelected to the U.S. House to represent Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District. The alumnus has served Davidson County since January 2003.In Kentucky, Doug Farnsley '73 was elected to the city council in Prospect.Tom Ciszek ’03 was one of 21 candidates for the Santa Monica City Council in California.Wayne Goodwin ’89 of Raleigh sought a third term for North Carolina Commissioner of Insurance (Wayne was defeated by incumbent Mike Causey).That’s it for our Morehead-Cain election roundup. We’ll be back on Tuesday, November 10, for our last episode of the season featuring Tom Thriveni ’10, a staff writer for The Late Late Show on CBS, and Lauren Gornto ’21. Special thanks to Nicholas Byrne ’19 for contributing music for this episode. Listen to the full song, “Loosen Up” on Spotify. On your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed.Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [email protected]: Representative-elect Ricky Hurtado ’11. Photo created and copyright owned by Andie Rea (permission to publish granted by photographer). 

We're sharing two episodes as a special miniseries on mindfulness to help you relieve some stress. The first is a 10-minute walking meditation that you can do indoors or outside (wherever you have at least 10 to 15 feet of space). This session is guided by wellness professional Jenny Cimaglia ’07. The following episode is a five-minute breathing exercise guided by the alumna.About Jenny Jenny Cimaglia ’07 is a yoga teacher and Reiki practitioner based in Westport, Connecticut. Following her graduation from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the alumna worked in cultural heritage preservation at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France, as a Fulbright Scholar and later in culture-tourism strategy in Hanoi, Vietnam, as a Luce Scholar. Jenny’s experiences in Vietnam introduced her to Confucianism and Buddhism and informed her interest in exploring religious studies. She received a Master’s of Buddhist Philosophy at the University of Hong Kong in 2011 as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar. She returned to the United States in 2012 to work as a special events and development coordinator for the David Lynch Foundation in New York City. Through the foundation, Jenny provided meditation classes to underserved populations, including veterans, victims of domestic violence, and elementary school students. Jenny began her training to become a yoga teacher in 2015 and studied massage therapy, health, and wellness through the Swedish Institute: A College of Health Sciences. The alumna’s dynamic teaching style brings together her academic expertise on Buddhism and her training in a collaborative theatre style called devised theatre, incorporating elements of nature into her classes. Jenny earned a degree in Classics and a minor in anthropology from UNC-Chapel Hill. On your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed.Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [email protected].

For the second episode in our miniseries on mindfulness, wellness professional Jenny Cimaglia ’07 guides a five-minute breathing exercise. All you need is a quiet space. The previous episode is a 10-minute walking meditation guided by Jenny.About Jenny Jenny Cimaglia ’07 is a yoga teacher and Reiki practitioner based in Westport, Connecticut. Following her graduation from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the alumna worked in cultural heritage preservation at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France, as a Fulbright Scholar and later in culture-tourism strategy in Hanoi, Vietnam, as a Luce Scholar. Her experiences in Vietnam introduced Jenny to Confucianism and Buddhism and informed her interest in exploring religious studies. She received a Master’s of Buddhist Philosophy at the University of Hong Kong in 2011 as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar. Jenny returned to the United States in 2012 to work as a special events and development coordinator for the David Lynch Foundation in New York City. Through the foundation, she provided meditation classes to underserved populations, including veterans, victims of domestic violence, and elementary school students. Jenny began her training to become a yoga teacher in 2015 and studied massage therapy, health, and wellness through the Swedish Institute: A College of Health Sciences. The alumna’s dynamic teaching style brings together her academic expertise on Buddhism and her training in a collaborative theatre style called devised theatre, incorporating elements of nature into her classes. Jenny earned a degree in Classics and a minor in anthropology from UNC-Chapel Hill. On your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed.Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [email protected].

Outside their Airbnb in Cheyenne, Wyoming, three Morehead-Cains shared about their adventures thus far in road tripping across the country with a U-Haul-turned-mobile-recording-unit. Eric Lee ’18, Nicholas Byrne ’19, and Sam Lowe ’20 had spent the last six months or so with seven other Tar Heels on a historic farm in Colbert, Georgia. The unincorporated community called Smithonia is about 20 minutes outside of Athens. Following Nicholas’s graduation in December 2019, the musician moved to the farm belonging to his grandparents, converted a former commissary into his own production studio, and invited his friends and fellow creatives to stay indefinitely. After collaborating throughout the spring and summer on music and other entrepreneurial and artistic pursuits to make the most of anxiety-ridden times in quarantine, the “Smithonia 10” have since scattered—all but the current trio, that is. Their mission for this trip is to get Eric back to his home base in San Francisco after taking the hiatus off work to recharge in rural Georgia.As a student at Carolina, Eric co-founded a microfinance initiative for entrepreneurs in the Triangle area called Build The Hill. He earned a degree from UNC-Chapel Hill in economics and minors in entrepreneurship and philosophy, politics, and economics. Prior to Covid, the alumnus was working as a business operations analyst in the Bay Area. Eric worked remotely half-way through the summer before deciding to take full advantage of time with friends during extraordinary circumstances. Sam will also be joining the West Coast community of Tar Heels to pursue a master’s degree in computer science from Stanford University beginning in January 2021. The alumnus was a computer science major with minors in cognitive science and music. As a scholar, he applied for and was awarded a Morehead-Cain Discovery Fund grant to visit Stanford’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA). As for Nicholas, he plans to continue focusing on his solo digital music project Arts + Crafts and on freelance video assignments. Throughout this year, he has worked on a number of digital advertising and social media campaigns for major Nashville-based artists including Luke Bryan, Sam Hunt, and Keith Urban. Nicholas and Sam also released an EP the day after recording this interview. Listen to “Slowe Byrne.”U-Haul sponsorshipDuring Sam’s junior year, he applied for and was awarded another Discovery Fund grant to rent a 15-foot U-Haul to use as a mobile recording studio. The recent graduate and Cameron Champion ’20 collaborated with musicians throughout the trip, eventually arriving in New Orleans, Louisiana. Before embarking on this fall’s road trip, Sam contacted U-Haul to pitch a partnership in documenting their journey to the West Coast. The company agreed to sponsor based on their previous success and content. You can follow along their road trip to California on Instagram:Follow “Haulin’ Sessions”Follow Nicholas @art.sandcraftsFollow Sam @sacra.monetFollow Eric @eric_zoneThe music for this episode, entitled “The Softest ‘Yo’ Ever Spoken,” is by Nicholas Byrne (Arts + Crafts) and Sam Lowe (Sacra Monet). On your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed.Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [email protected].

A performance by Sanya Shah ’22 will release this Friday, October 2, 2020, at 1 p.m. EDT through an online event hosted by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Department of Music and Arts Everywhere.Sanya (soprano) and UNC junior Lauren Ragsdale (mezzo-soprano) will perform the works of composers Florence Price and Betty Jackson King. Price became, in 1933, the first African American female composer whose work was played by a major orchestra. King was an African American pianist, singer, educator, conductor, and composer. This “Virtual First Fridays” series, founded by the department in collaboration with Arts Everywhere, is featuring music by underrepresented voices this semester. You can tune in to the free performance on October 2 through the department’s website or Facebook page, and it will be available anytime following the original air date.Sanya is a neuroscience and music major with a minor in chemistry. The scholar is working to launch a music medicine group through the Alpha Epsilon Delta Pre-Health Honor Society (AED) with the aim of providing patients with the healing benefits of music. The junior is also a member of the UNC Opera and the Carolina Ukulele Ensemble.On your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed.Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [email protected] music for this episode is by scholar Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul. 

Andrew Powell ’15 and Sasha Seymore ’15 (as well as UNC alumnus and former football player Tommy Hatton) are the co-founders of Learn to Win, a mobile learning platform that uses a content creation engine and data analytics suite to build and deliver training materials for instructors, coaches, and teachers of all kinds. The two alumni worked on building the startup as undergrads at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and later as master’s students on the West Coast.Learn to Win has collaborated with athletic departments at Carolina, as well as at the University of Michigan, University of Texas, and University of Notre Dame, among other universities, sports organizations, and government and enterprise clients. The company is also partnering with Special Olympics USA to train athletes for the 2022 Special Olympics World Winter Games in Kazan, Russia. The organization will use the platform to improve coaching instruction and competition preparation.Over the summer, Learn to Win hosted nine Morehead-Cain Scholars as interns: Olivia Bell ’22, Naomi Burns ’23, Luke Buxton ’21, Alexandria Chadwick ’21, Varun Jain ’21, Helen Johnston ’22 (who interned as part of a Women in Sports Tech fellowship), Krupa Patel ’22, Olivia Romine ’22, and Jackson Stone ’23. The current Learn to Win team includes Luke, a member of the marketing and design team, and Olivia (Romine), a strategic projects analyst who helped drive the Special Olympics USA parternship. In May of this year, Learn to Win hired Morgan Howell ’17 as the director of engineering and Jack Turner ’20 as a product manager and the People Operations Lead.On your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed.Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [email protected] music for this episode is by scholar Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul. 

To launch our fall season, we spoke with John Sides ’96, a professor and William R. Kenan, Jr. Chair in the Department of Political Science at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. His research focuses on comparative and American politics. The alumnus is co-author of the book, “Identity Crisis: The 2016 Presidential Campaign and the Battle for the Meaning of America.” John is also co-founder, former editor-in-chief, and publisher of The Monkey Cage via The Washington Post.Learn more about John’s work.This episode is the first of our two-part series on civic engagement. The following episode features activist Greear Webb ’23, the co-founder of Young Americans Protest (YAP!) and the NC Town Hall.On your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed.Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [email protected] music for this episode is by scholar Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul. 

For our second episode of our two-part series on civic engagement, we spoke with Greear Webb ’23 of Raleigh, co-founder of Young Americans Protest (YAP!) and the NC Town Hall. At Carolina, the scholar serves on the Commission on Campus Equality and Student Equity and as co-chair of the political action committee for the Black Student Movement (BSM) at UNC-Chapel Hill. This summer, Greear was selected by Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education to participate in the Making Caring Common program as a Voter Mobilization Ambassador. If you haven’t already, you’ll want to catch our previous episode on voting, featuring John Sides ’96, a political scientist at Vanderbilt University and a publisher for The Monkey Cage via The Washington Post.On your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed.Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [email protected] music for this episode is by scholar Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul. 

Before March of this year, Laurel Wamsley ’06 covered stories for NPR focusing on cities, technology, policy, and criminal justice. Now, the Washington, D.C.-based alumna covers the coronavirus which, of course, has impacted all aspects of society.In between filing stories, Laurel spoke with Morehead-Cain from her home in the Columbia Heights neighborhood to share what the past two months have been like, how NPR has changed its approach to reaching Americans, and her thoughts on the impact the pandemic will have on public trust in local media and national news organizations. Morehead-Cain has also been gathering stories from alumni on their efforts to help those most affected by COVID-19 outbreaks throughout the world, support health care workers, increase access to research, and so much more.Here are just a few of them: Norton Tennille, Jr. ’62, founder of the nonprofit South African Education and Environmental Project (SAEP), is raising funds to buy and deliver grocery packages and vouchers for families in Cape Town, South Africa.Natalie Feingold ’15, a global account executive at Flexport, is helping coordinate logistics surrounding the supply of emergency equipment to healthcare workers worldwide through the Frontline Responders Fund.Josh Lee ’04, the founder of Green Top Farms, is helping manage a program to feed food-insecure families by partnering with pantries and shelters in New York City.You can access the full list on the “COVID-19 Response” page on the Morehead-Cain Network. The intro music for this episode is by scholar Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul. The ending song, entitled “Morning Light,” is by Jakob Hamilton ’19, a keyboardist and composer. You can find more of his recordings on his YouTube channel.On your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed.Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [email protected].

These are strange times to be living in, but it’s also a very busy time for Morehead-Cain, so we wanted to get everyone up to speed.Last Thursday, we announced the Morehead-Cain Class of 2024. We want to wish a warm welcome to the 70 new scholars who are joining the Carolina community.This week, we’re launching our Virtual Morehead-Cain SEVEN Speaker Series, starting with Shilpi Somaya Gowda ’92. The bestselling author will offer advice and encouragement about getting started as a writer. Her talk begins at 7:00 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, April 29.Next Wednesday, Tom Thriveni ’10, a staff writer for The Late Late Show with James Corden on CBS, will speak about overcoming self-doubt. You can learn more about the virtual series and upcoming speakers on the Morehead-Cain Network.We’re also rolling out the 2020–2021 Morehead-Cain Mentoring Program. Rising juniors and seniors, if you want to be matched with an alumni mentor, fill out the scholar survey form on the MCN by June 1st.Some shout-outs Congratulations to seniors Daniel Malawsky for receiving the Churchill Scholarship and the Gates Cambridge Scholarship to study medical genetics in England, Wesley Price for receiving the Luce Scholarship to pursue policy research in Indonesia, and junior Mina Yakubu for receiving the Truman Scholarship to study immigration reform in law school.We also had eight Morehead-Cains receive Chancellor’s Awards this semester. Congratulations to the following scholars for the recognition, and thank you or your positive impact at UNC.2020 Chancellor’s Awards RecipientsAgnes Ezekwesili ’20Evelyn (Evie) Morris ’20Megan Raisle ’20Ruth Tomlin ’20Uzorma (Ozzie) Owete ’20Wesley Price ’20Donald (Don) Fejfar ’21Sean Nguyen ’21Lastly, we want to congratulate all of our scholars—but particularly our graduating seniors–for finishing a tough semester, to say the least. Wishing you all best of luck with your final exams this week. You got this.Our featured Morehead-Cain for this episode is Corrie White Conrad ’02, the VP for social impact, sustainability, and inclusion and diversity at Sephora. We spoke in early March when Corrie flew from San Francisco to Chapel Hill for Final Selection Weekend. The music for this episode is by scholar Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul. On your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed.Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [email protected].

Morehead-Cain called Bruce Gellin ’77, president of global immunization at the Sabin Vaccine Institute in Washington, D.C., to get a better understanding of what would need to take place before a coronavirus vaccine could protect against the next global outbreak.We also asked scholars to share their coping strategies amidst the pandemic (thanks to Nina, Drew, Lauren, Cameron, Lizzie, Michael, Cho, Grayson, and Luke for sharing their creative ideas). You’ll hear their responses at the end of the episode. The music for this episode is by scholar Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul.On your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed. Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [email protected].

The Catalyze podcast returns with Season Four, headlining with Niki Shamdasani ’15, the co-founder and CEO of Sani Designs.People told Niki and her sister, Ritika, that they were “delusional” for aspiring to break into the fashion world with South Asian formalwear. But in the past two years, the sisters have proved the naysayers wrong in big ways.Sani recently launched a partnership with Rent the Runway, a fashion subscription service for luxury items, to increase access to Indian occasion wear for women across the globe. In between business trips, Niki stopped by the Foundation in Chapel Hill to share the news and what’s next for the startup.Niki graduated with a political science major and business administration minor from Carolina.You can learn more about the company on their website or Instagram, and you can shop Sani’s styles on Rent the Runway. The Sani Fashion Show, previously scheduled for April 5 as a benefit event for UNC Children’s Hospital, has been postponed to this fall due to the expanding COVID-19 pandemic.The music for this episode is by scholar Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul. On your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed.Catalyze is hosted and produced by Sarah O’Carroll for the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Twitter or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at [email protected] past month has been unlike any that Carolina—that the world—has ever experienced. We know that many of you have had your lives upended by the impact of the coronavirus. We want our scholars, from the incoming class to our graduating seniors, our alumni, and everyone else in the Morehead-Cain community, to know that we are here for you.

This episode features Michelle Jana Chan ’96, an award-winning journalist based in London. Michelle began her career with Newsweek magazine in New York, Beijing, and London, before she moved into radio and then television as a news producer for CNN. She is now travel editor of Vanity Fair, contributing editor at Conde Nast Traveller, and the BBC’s presenter of Global Guide. She also writes for the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, Travel & Leisure, and Tatler. Michelle has been the Travel Media Awards’ Travel Writer of the Year, the AITO Travel Writer of the Year, and Latin American Travel Association’s Writer of the Year. Her writing has been included in three anthologies. Her debut novel, titled Song, was published in July 2018. In our conversation you'll hear more about Song, about Michelle's forthcoming new book Duet, and about the rest of her incredible travel-writing career.

Today you'll hear from David Royle, Morehead-Cain Class of 1978. Originally from Bristol, David leads the editorial team that launched the Smithsonian Channel—which is the youngest channel to have ever won an Emmy. David was previously Executive Vice President of Production for National Geographic Television & Film, where he helped launch the National Geographic Channel. He was the Executive Producer of the award-winning television series National Geographic Explorer. Under his leadership, Explorer won more News and Documentary Emmy Awards than any other show on TV. As an independent filmmaker in New York, prior to working for National Geographic, David produced and directed programming for a wide range of broadcasters. David has won all of America’s major broadcasting awards, including: nine Emmys, the George Polk Award, the Edward R. Murrow Award, the Peabody Award, and du Pont-Columbia University Awards Silver and Gold Batons. After graduating from Carolina, he earned a master of arts at the University of Minnesota as a Rotary International Journalism Scholar.

You're about to hear the second half of a recorded visit with Pulitzer Prize-winning author and historian Taylor Branch. Last week we published a moderated Q&A with him, and now you're about to hear an audience Q&A. This conversation was recorded live during a recent visit Taylor made to the Foundation, when he was in Chapel Hill to be inducted into the NC Media and Journalism Hall of Fame. A member of the Morehead-Cain class of 1968, Taylor is best known for his trilogy of books chronicling the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and much of the history of the American Civil Rights Movement. The first of those books—Parting the Waters—is what won him the Pulitzer Prize. Taylor grew up in Atlanta in the 50s and early 60s. After graduating from Carolina, he earned an M.P.A. from Princeton University. Taylor has worked as an editor and columnist for a number of national magazines. Over the years, he developed a friendship with Bill Clinton—a relationship that continued into Clinton's time in the White House. Taylor later wrote a book about that relationship, which he titled The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History with the President. Taylor's many awards include a MacArthur Fellowship (also known as a "genius grant"), the National Humanities Medal, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize Lifetime Achievement Award, and the BIO Award from Biographers International Organization. Taylor now lives in Baltimore with his wife, Christy.

Catalyze Season Three continues with a bonus episode featuring Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and author Taylor Branch ’68. This interview was recorded in front of an audience during a recent visit Taylor made to the Foundation, when he was in Chapel Hill to be inducted into the NC Media and Journalism Hall of Fame. A member of the Morehead-Cain class of 1968, Taylor is best known for his trilogy of books chronicling the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and much of the history of the American Civil Rights Movement. The first of those books—Parting the Waters—is what won him the Pulitzer Prize. Taylor grew up in Atlanta in the 50s and early 60s. After graduating from Carolina in 1968, he earned an M.P.A. from Princeton University. Taylor has worked as an editor and columnist for a number of national magazines. Over the years, he developed a friendship with Bill Clinton—a relationship that continued into Clinton's time in the White House. Taylor later wrote a book about that relationship, which he titled The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History with the President. In our upcoming conversation, you'll hear some entertaining stories from Taylor about that experience. Taylor's many awards include a MacArthur Fellowship (also known as a "genius grant"), the National Humanities Medal, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize Lifetime Achievement Award, and the BIO Award from Biographers International Organization. Taylor now lives in Baltimore with his wife, Christy.

Today you'll hear from Jim Exum, one of eight members of the first class of undergraduate Morehead-Cain Scholars: the Class of 1957. Jim is also a former Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court. After attending law school on a full scholarship at New York University, Jim practiced law in North Carolina until 1967, when he began a term in the North Carolina House of Representatives. The same year he joined the House, the governor appointed him Resident Superior Court Judge in Guilford County. In 1975, Jim joined the North Carolina Supreme Court, where he eventually became Chief Justice. Jim wrote more than 400 opinions for the court. In the mid-90s, Jim returned to private practice. As a lawyer, he has helped brief and argue more than 40 appeals in state and federal appellate courts. Throughout the early 2000s, Jim served as Distinguished Jurist-in-Residence at Elon Law. He taught law as a professor there from 2000 until his retirement in 2018. Jim has received multiple awards for his commitment to civil liberties and justice.

On this episode of Catalyze, you'll hear from Danae Ringelmann ’00, co-founder of Indiegogo—a crowdfunding platform that disrupted the fundraising industry when it hit the market in 2008. While Danae and her team were getting the company off the ground, people told them it was a mistake to host it online. In more recent years, the company has faced criticism for its “anything-goes” approach to its mission of democratizing finance. Danae and her team have weathered it all, helping 15 million people raise $1.3 billion for all kinds of projects—including independent films, an electric bike company you'll hear about in a few minutes, and many, many niche products that most likely would never have gotten off the ground otherwise. Through her work with Indiegogo, Danae has been named to a number of major influencer lists, including Fortune Magazine's 40 under 40. She's spoken at all kinds of conferences around the world. She's even testified for a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee about innovative ways for small businesses to raise capital. A few months ago, Danae stepped back from Indiegogo to pursue new directions in her life, which she discusses in the recorded conversation. However, she still serves on Indiegogo's board.