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 Recipients

• Agnes Ezekwesili ’20
• Evelyn (Evie) Morris ’20
• Megan Raisle ’20
• Ruth Tomlin ’20
• Uzorma (Ozzie) Owete ’20
• Wesley Price ’20
• Donald (Don) Fejfar ’21
• Sean Nguyen ’21

Lastly, 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].

This 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.

You're about to hear from U.S. Representative Jim Cooper, Morehead-Cain Class of 1975. Born in Nashville, TN, Jim represents the state's 5th District, which includes Nashville and surrounding areas. In Congress, he's known for his bipartisan work on the federal budget, health care, and government reform. When Congress is not in session, Jim teaches part-time at Vanderbilt.

After Carolina, Jim won a Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford, where he earned a B.A./M.A. in politics and economics. He also has a J.D. from Harvard Law School.