From the President
Dear Alumnae,
In April, at the Wellesley-in-Pasadena and Wellesley College Club of Los Angeles’s admit tea, I told students, “You’re not signing up for four years—you’re signing up for life!” As alums, I’m sure you’ve experienced those “Wellesley moments”: the helpful stranger you meet at an airport who happens to be an alum; the scary-impressive woman at a conference who later turns out to be a warm and entertaining lunch mate and, of course, an alumna; the “laundry friend” in your new apartment complex who turns up wearing a Wellesley sweatshirt.
Even though my aunt Shirley Young ’55 was on Wellesley’s board of trustees when I was in high school and my cousin Janis Fang ’82 was a recent alum, I had never heard of Wellesley. Yet, through Barron’s Guide to the Most Competitive Colleges, Wellesley found me. (And then it found my sister, Jennifer Hsieh ’98.) Later, when this native New Yorker was lost in a strange new land (Los Angeles!), Wellesley found me. When grappling with a career decision, Wellesley found me, and, of course, provided the sagest advice. We share a “special sauce” that magically binds us.
No matter what stage of life you are in, or whatever your feelings are about your Wellesley experience (mine were certainly not always rosy), or the challenges you face personally or professionally, I want you to know that this community is always here for you as it has always been for me, whether I was aware of it or not. I’m humbled and honored to serve you as the next president of the WCAA.
Thank you to outgoing president Laura Wood Cantopher ’84, who has served with unparalleled passion, and to our executive director, Kathryn Harvey Mackintosh ’03. Together they have taken us into a new phase of our life as an organization. Thank you also to President Paula Johnson and our campus partners for their bold and visionary leadership. I am excited to work with all of them, but especially with “KMack” and the amazing WCAA team. With the recent decision to merge the WCAA and the College, this is the right team and leadership to ensure not only closer alignment between the two, but a successful integration that preserves what makes us unique as a community.
As we explore new opportunities for you as alums and the entire WCAA community in this new era, I invite you to join me in thinking about how we can make our connections to each other, to the College, and to future generations even more powerful.
Thank you for entrusting me with our special sauce!
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