Presenters

Lauren A. Wright is Associate Research Scholar and Lecturer in Politics and Public Affairs at Princeton University, where she teaches courses on The Presidency and Executive Power, Women and Politics, and Political Communication. Wright is the author of Star Power: American Democracy in the Age of the Celebrity Candidate (Routledge, 2020) and On Behalf of the President: Presidential Spouses and White House Communications Strategy Today (Praeger, 2016). An active political analyst, she has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, CBS and ABC, where she has served as a guest co-host of The View. Her research and commentary have been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and USA Today, among other national publications. Wright graduated summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa from Wake Forest University and received a Ph.D. in Government from Georgetown University with a concentration in American politics and political methodology. A native of San Diego, CA, she is a board member of The White House Transition project and previously served as Field Representative for Meg Whitman’s campaign for Governor of California.

Jennifer Finkel is the Acquavella Curator of Wake Forest University’s Art Collections. Finkel studied art history at Georgetown University and received her doctorate in Renaissance art at Case Western Reserve University. She has been working in the world of contemporary art for the past 15 years.

Kelly McConnico is a life-long Deacon fan, following in her parents’ footsteps by attending Wake Forest. She graduated in 2000 with a degree in business and spent three years in Washington, DC, before returning to work in the alumni office in 2003. As Assistant Vice President, she oversees the alumni team, manages the alumni council, and has responsibility for developing strategies for alumni engagement both on campus and nationally. Homecoming is her favorite weekend of the year and you can often find her planning and attending alumni events around the country. Go Deacs!

Dr. Allison McWilliams is Assistant Vice President, Mentoring and Alumni Personal & Career Development, within the Office of Personal and Career Development at Wake Forest University. In these roles, she leads and provides training, support, guidance, and resources for formal and informal mentoring relationships for college students, faculty and staff, and alumni, as well as leading personal and career development programs for young professionals. She has written for and spoken to national and international audiences about effective mentoring strategies, leadership, and professional development. Prior to joining Wake Forest in 2010, Allison was a public service faculty member at the University of Georgia, where she created, administered, and facilitated leadership development and organizational development programs for higher education and public sector audiences. A native of Durham, North Carolina, Allison earned her bachelor’s degree from Wake Forest, and holds a master’s in public relations and a doctorate in higher education administration from the University of Georgia.

Tiffany Tate is the CEO and founder of Career Maven Consulting, where she helps individuals and companies reimagine the future of work through coaching, digital education, and training & development for organizations and teams. As an in-demand coach, consultant, speaker and thought leader, she has been featured on Forbes, Well + Good, The Everymom, The Muse and a variety of podcasts. She is a master in coaching professionals to learn, lead, and grow at work. Tiffany is a Double Deac, having earned her BA and MA from Wake Forest University, and is a Gallup Certified Strengths Coach, Diversity Educator, and MBTI Certified. Tiffany serves on the board of Reach Women’s Network, an organization that seeks to advance economic development and promote gender equity for professional women, and the advisory board of the Black Philanthropy Initiative of the Winston Salem Foundation, an initiative that promotes equity in education and economic development for the Black community of greater Winston-Salem.
Social media handles: Instagram @tiffanywaddelltate / Website: www.careermavenconsulting.com

As Vice Provost for the Arts and Interdisciplinary Initiatives, Christina Soriano works with colleagues across the university to enhance the visibility of the arts at and beyond Wake Forest, and helps forge interdisciplinary connections across the university. Her portfolio includes overseeing the work of the Interdisciplinary Arts Center, the Secrest Artist Series, University Art Collections, University Art Galleries, and the WFU Press. Christina’s research looks at the ways her movement curriculum, IMPROVment®, can help assist the balance, mobility, cognition and quality of life of older adults living with neurodegenerative diseases.

Allegra Brochin is currently the Senior Analyst for Global Internal Communications at Capri Holdings Limited in New York City. She manages communication strategy and content development for over 14,000 employees around the world at Versace, Jimmy Choo, and Michael Kors. She graduated from Wake Forest in 2019 with a double major in Psychology and Communication, and a minor in Entrepreneurship. Prior to landing her current job, Allegra interned for 3 summers at Michael Kors — first with the International Public Relations team, and the following two summers with the Retail Communications team, which she later joined full-time upon graduating. During her time at Wake Forest, Allegra was highly involved in campus activities that allowed her to meet new people and serve her community. Her experiences at Wake Forest solidified her love of connecting people with experiences they enjoy through communications. She held a variety of leadership roles on campus, including Director of Marketing for Campus Recreation for 3 years, VP of Marketing for Student Union, and Chair of Publicity and Outreach for Project Pumpkin. Allegra also served as a Tour Guide and Board Member for Ambassadors in Admissions throughout her 4 years on campus, sharing her passion for Wake Forest with visitors from around the world. Today, Allegra serves as the President of the Wake NOW (Network of Women) NYC Chapter. Allegra will jump at any opportunity she gets to visit Wake Forest, and is so honored to be coming back to celebrate Wake Women’s Weekend with her fellow Demon Deacons.

Lauren Olinger is an accomplished photographer and the owner of Red Cardinal Studio, a team of photographers that specialize in editorial, commercial, and portrait photography. Lauren’s journey into the world of visual storytelling began at Wake Forest University, where she pursued degrees in Political Science and Studio Art, honing her skills in both the analytical and creative realms.

Her passion for photography led her to formative opportunities, training with the White House Photo Office, David Alan Harvey of National Geographic, and BACKPACKER Magazine. Through these experiences, Lauren cultivated a keen eye for crafting compelling narratives through her lens. Lauren’s work has graced publications such as Axios, The Washington Post, and of course Wake Forest Magazine. In the fall of 2023, she joined Lauren Gibson (’09) of Charlotte to Paris in a new role as a photo instructor on a week-long workshop held in Paris, France.

Beyond her career as a photographer, Lauren finds inspiration in her role as a new mom, as design partner at Gladleaf Digital Marketing, and in her travels, infusing her work with a sense of adventure and authenticity. With a blend of professionalism and infectious enthusiasm for the world of art, Lauren invites you to discover photo industry secrets to breathe life into your everyday captures beginning with camera fundamentals on your iphone or android.

Lauren (Galloway) Gibson is an artist and entrepreneur living in Charlotte, North Carolina. As a photographer, her artwork focuses on cinematic-style landscapes, urban architecture, and street
photography. She is the Founder & Owner of Charlotte to Paris through which she sells her artwork, as well as slow travel guides to Paris and the South of France. Lauren leads slow travel and photography-focused travel and workshops in Paris, France. She believes (and will aim to convince you!) that everyone is creative, and loves to teach her audience how to slow down, be present, and find their own innate artistry and creativity within themselves. Lauren’s artwork is currently on exhibit, both throughout the Charlotte region and nationally, as an ArtPop Street Gallery artist (2024 Cities Program), a 12-month juried-in exhibition of public art digital displays and billboards. Lauren has also been a featured artist at events including Anthropologie, West Elm, and at local boutiques, shops and gardens in the Charlotte area. Her artwork plays with the small, ordinary moments of beauty, capturing scenes of Charlotte, France, and Italy filled with vibrant colors, luminosity, and deep shadows. Her most recent work has increasingly focused on movement within street-style, cinematic scenes. Lauren graduated from Wake Forest University in 2009 with a degree in Communication, and holds a Master of Public Administration (2013) from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
Instagram: @charlotte.to.paris / Website: www.charlottetoparis.com/

Cara Pilson teaches in the areas of documentary storytelling, research, clearance and fair use, ethics, and documentary history.

She has worked as associate director, chief researcher and web producer on multiple award-winning films that were broadcast nationally and internationally, including, Negroes with Guns: Rob Williams and Black Power and Freedom Never Dies: The Legacy of Harry T. Moore. Both films aired nationally on PBS and received the Erik Barnouw Award for Outstanding Historical Documentary. She also served as Associate Director and Director of Research on The Last Flight of Petr Ginz an award-winning documentary that has screened in more than 40 countries and is distributed by First Run Features and Forward Entertainment. Other past films include Giving Up the Canal, Campaign for Cuba and Last Days of the Revolution, all of which aired nationally on PBS.

Through her work with the Documentary Film Program at Wake Forest, and previously with the University of Florida’s Documentary Institute, Pilson has helped students produce work that has received national and international attention.

Leigh Ann Hallberg is an artist and Teaching Professor of Art at Wake Forest University where she teaches drawing, studio fundamentals, and a first-year seminar. She led the 2017 Student Art Acquisition Program and partnered with Professor Jay Curley for the 2009 program. An endowed fund was named in her honor for teaching excellence at WFU.

Hallberg’s drawings incorporate the recurring themes of semi-permeable membranes (exploring the mechanisms of what is let in and what is kept out), human perception (its marvels and insufficiencies), and the visual as a means for a more comprehensive understanding of experience. Drawing, as a direct means of expression, is frequently the medium she chooses to investigate these ideas. Her work has been exhibited throughout the United States, and internationally in Germany and Italy. An exhibition of “Phenoms” a series of large graphite and watercolor drawings will open this September at the Reynolda House Museum of American Art. She received a BA in Art, Magna Cum Laude, from Mount Union College, and her MFA from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Jane Kathleen “J.K.” Curry is the author of John Guare: A Research and Production Sourcebook and Nineteenth-Century American Women Theatre Managers. She is the editor of Theatre Symposium, v. 18 “The Prop’s the Thing: Stage Properties Reconsidered” (2010) and v. 19 “Theatre and Film” (2011). She has served as conference planner and focus group rep for the Theatre History Focus Group of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education and as a board member of the American Theatre and Drama Society. She chairs the Publications Committee at the Southeastern Theatre Conference.

A native of Moline, Illinois, J.K. taught previously at Hunter College in New York City and at Montana State University-Northern in Havre, Montana, where she was the director of theatre. At Wake Forest, J.K. has directed the following plays: Goodbye, My Fancy by Fay Kanin, The House of Blue Leaves by John Guare, Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) by Ann-Marie MacDonald, Nathan the Wise by G. E. Lessing, The Imaginary Cuckold by Moliere, Intimate Apparel by Lynn Nottage, Our Town by Thornton Wilder, The Wolves by Sarah DeLappe and the musical Hairspray. Though she wears her “I live in Scales Fine Arts Center” t-shirt with pride, J.K.’s service to Wake Forest extends beyond the department of Theatre and Dance. She has served as Chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance, a faculty marshal, co-director of the Women’s Forum, co-chair of the Women’s Forum Work-Life Balance Task Force, and on the following committees: Student Life (chair 2007-08), First-Year Seminars, Scholarships and Student Aid (chair 2010-11), Admissions and Academic Affairs.

Megan Francisco holds a PhD in musicology from the University of Washington where her research drew on film, race, and gender theories to analyze Battlestar Galactica‘s landmark science fiction score. She has an article published by the Journal of the Society for American Music on opera and Battlestar Galactica. Beyond film, Megan wrote her master’s thesis on the symphonies of Gustav Mahler and is currently writing the chapter on the composer’s US reception for Leonard Bernstein in Context (Cambridge University Press). Prior to the University of Washington, she received a master’s in religion and music from the Yale Institute of Sacred Music.

Jacquelyn Loy is a Costume Designer and Technician whose work premiered on stages across the country, including: Florida Repertory Theatre (FL), Cumberland County Playhouse (TN), Bigfork Summer Playhouse (MT), Utah Festival Opera (UT), GSU Players (GA), Hope Summer Repertory Theatre (MI), Mississippi Opera (MS), Castleton Festival Opera (VA), as well as Lee Street Theatre and Matthews Playhouse (NC). Awards: KC-ACTF Region IV- First Place Awards for Theatrical Design Excellence in Costume Design for The Matchmaker (2017; produced at USM) and Violet (2016; produced at USM), KC-ACTF Region IV- First Place in Technical Design for her millinery work (2016), SETC- Marian A. Smith Costume Scholarship (2014). Education: University of Southern Mississippi (MFA) and Catawba College (BA).

Isabella Biricik is a third year undergraduate student at Wake Forest majoring in English with minors in Psychology and Theatre. Within the theatre department, she has been in a few productions thus far. Most recently, she played Elinor Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility. However, she has also acted and been involved in Witness for the Prosecution, Backstory and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Her love for theatre goes all the way back to middle school and has only flourished since then. She hopes to continue to pursue theatre beyond college as it is her passion.

Roksanna Keyvan is an undergraduate student at Wake Forest University, where she is pursuing an Interdisciplinary Major in Environmental and Social Justice. Her academic journey is dedicated to promoting and securing human rights to life, freedom, and equality, with a particular focus on the intersection of the environment, human rights, and international law. Throughout her pursuits, she seeks to blend public service, scientific acumen, and artistic expression — aiming to inspire and catalyze meaningful change in safeguarding the delicate coexistence of nature and humanity. She is an interdisciplinary researcher and works as a Young Expert for the Girls Human Rights Hub.