“Other” Class Notes

Janice Allen (Nurs ’75 CM) is the executive chair and CEO of International Cooperating Ministries. She frequently travels the globe for work, to rural villages in Vietnam, Tanzania, China and Colombia. Ms. Allen lives in Richmond, Va., and has three grown sons.

Kenneth Davis (Grad ’75 CM) has been elected vice president for administration of the National Capital Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America. In 2002, he retired as office director of management and systems support for the Defense National Stockpile Center, a branch of the Defense Logistics Agency of the U.S. Department of Defense. That same year, Mr. Davis retired from the U.S. Army with the rank of colonel. He has lived in Alexandria, Va., since 1974.

Kristen Campbell (Col ’98 CM) and Jim Campbell (Col ’98 L/M) welcomed a daughter, Abigail Brooks, on Dec. 15, 2012. Abigail joins big brothers Nathan, 7, and Benjamin, 4.

Michael Misantone (Col ’96) and Margaux Massie (Col ’00 L/M) were married on March 9, 2013, at St. James Catholic Church in Falls Church, Va. Nancy McElwain Snyder (Col ’00 L/M) served as the matron of honor. The couple resides in Falls Church, where Ms. Misantone is a compliance vice president at Guggenheim Investments and Mr. Misantone is an investment banker with KippsDeSanto.
 

Patrick Stanton (Law ’72) has been included in the 2013 edition of Best Lawyers in America. He is the only lawyer in New Jersey to be recognized as a “Lawyer of the Year” in the management employment law category. Mr. Stanton, who has also been a fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers for 15 years, has been listed in Best Lawyers for more than 20 consecutive years. On Jan. 1, 2013, Mr. Stanton retired from the New Jersey office of Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart. He and his wife, Kathy, now live in Dataw Island near Beaufort, S.C.

John Ragosta (Col ’08 CM) appeared at the Virginia Festival of the Book March 21, 2013, to discuss his new book, Religious Freedom: Jefferson’s Legacy, America’s Creed. He also appeared at Colonial Williamsburg April 27, 2013, as part of their religion month, to discuss his first book, Wellspring of Liberty: How Virginia’s Religious Dissenters Helped Win the American Revolution and Secured Religious Liberty. Mr. Ragosta is currently a visiting assistant professor of history at Hamilton College in upstate New York.

Alec Solotorovsky (Col ’04, Law ’08 CM) and Alec Solotorovsky (Col ’04, Law ’08 L/M) welcomed their second child, Samuel, on Dec. 19, 2012. The family lives in Evanston, Ill.

Brigette DiNicola (Col ’97 CM) and her husband, Jack, welcomed their third child, daughter Aela Berkeley, on Nov. 30, 2012. Aela joins big brother Ryan Parke, 7, and big sister Marin Fiona Grace, 5. The family lives in Needham, Mass. Ms. DiNicola is a partner at an insurance brokerage in Boston.

Sara Selepouchin (Arch ’03) has opened a gift boutique, Occasionette, in Philadelphia. She is an artist and entrepreneur who crafts thousands of unique annotated images for her Girls Can Tell line of housewares and gifts. Her work can be found in more than 150 retail locations across the United States, Canada, Mexico and Australia, including Anthropologie and Paper Source stores. Prior to focusing full-time on Girls Can Tell and Occasionette, Ms. Selepouchin was a community manager for online handmade goods selling venue Etsy.com. She still creates all of her drawings on a drafting board, with pen and paper.

Girls Can Tell Entrepreneur Sara Selepouchin (Architecture, 2003) Opens Occasionette

Philadelphia, March 19, 2013 – Robots with grabby claws, pigs with curly tails and anatomically accurate broken hearts – these are just a few of the hundreds of original diagram illustrations produced by artist Sara Selepouchin. Since 2005, she has crafted thousands of unique annotated images for her Girls Can Tell line of house wares and useful gifts.

Now Selepouchin, whose work has been sold in Anthropologie and Paper Source stores, has opened a new gift boutique of her own called Occasionette. Located at 1825 East Passyunk Avenue, it offers a place in South Philadelphia to shop for house wares and gifts, including tea towels, coasters, jewelry, cards, art prints, note cards, party decorations, barware, handmade toys, candles and more.

“This is a great move for the business,” said Selepouchin. “I have three times the space of my old workshop, in one of the city’s fastest growing districts. Occasionette will be open for shopping in the front while Girls Can Tell will operate and ship from the back.”

Occasionette will celebrate with an open house and grand opening party during VisitEastPassyunk’s Second Saturday on April 13 from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Selepouchin’s works are heavily influenced by her training in architecture and mechanical drawing. While employed at an architectural firm, she began to create original diagram designs as gifts for friends and family, who encouraged her to start selling her work. After a stint as a community manager for online handmade selling venue Etsy.com, she made the leap from employee to entrepreneur, working full time on the Girls Can Tell line.

Today, her work can be found in over 150 retail locations across the United States, as well as in Canada, Mexico and Australia. They are also available on modcloth.com, amazon.com, anthropologie.com, select Hallmark stores, select Paper Source stores and uncommongoods.com.

Even with all of this success, Selepouchin still produces her illustrations lovingly by hand, making her drawings the old fashioned way – on a drafting board, with pen and paper.

“I am very excited to have a dedicated shop to sell my work, and to introduce the neighborhood to other great gift lines that I have discovered in her years of attending trade shows and working in the retail industry.”

Occasionette will carry the entire line of Girls Can Tell decorative and practical house wares, prints, towels and gifts for shoppers, along with great products for homes, dining, entertaining, birthdays, weddings and other special events, as well as interiors, housewarming parties and more. All items featuring the original diagram illustrations of architect turned entrepreneur Sara Selepouchin are eco-friendly and responsibly sourced. For more information, please visit www.occasionette.com. To find a complete list of retailers and that carry the Girls Can Tell line, please visit www.girlscantell.com.

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On Twitter: @girlscantell, @occasionette
On Facebook: facebook.com/shopgirlscantell, facebook.com/occasionette
On Instagram: @girlscantell, @occasionette

Jennifer Krempasky (Col ’06 CM) and her husband, Richard, welcomed their first child, Sophia Marie, on Dec. 29, 2012. The family resides in Centreville, Va.

Sean Dell’Orto (Com ’96 L/M) and Jennifer Burns Dell’Orto (Engr ’96 L/M) welcomed a son, Jack Burns Dell’Orto, on September 8, 2012. Jack joins big sisters, Sydney Katherine, 3, and Peyton Michelle, 1 1/2. The family resides in Reston, Va.

Jamee Martocci (Arch ’01) and her husband, Paul, welcomed their first child, Joseph Allan, on Jan. 7, 2013. The family resides in Virginia Beach.

Justin Bagby (Engr ’01 CM) and his wife, Molly, welcomed a son, Cullen Craig, on Feb. 26, 2013. Cullen joins big sister Keely Kathleen, 2. The family resides in Durham, N.C.

Andrew Sugermeyer (Engr ’98 CM) and his wife, Evelyn, welcomed their second child, Michael James, in July 2012. The family currently resides in Alexandria, Va.

Fillmer Hevener (Educ ’73) has founded a Christian church that is educating children, youth and adults in Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Congo, India and the Philippines. Mr. Hevener taught at Longwood University for 25 years before retiring.