Yale Alumni LIVE: BOLD Stories

Originally from Chicago, Johnathan attended a boarding high school on the east coast before attending Yale as a history major and is now a resident of New York City. He works as the Policy Advisor for the Institute for Innovation in Prosecution, where he spends most of his time researching, writing, and teaching courses about criminal justice policy. Johnathan’s chief interests revolve around ways to create thriving communities, from a neighborhood level to the communities formed by friends and family, coworkers, and other extracurricular groups.

According to her LinkedIn summary, Natalina is an experienced brand strategist with a demonstrated history of working in the internet industry. In real life, she is a non-award-winning marketing strategist passionate about baked goods (eating, not baking them). She works at Twitter in Los Angeles, where she is one of the few people who does not own a car and one of fewer who attempts to walk everywhere. Prior to working at Twitter, she lived in New York City where she worked at HBO and led the digital strategy for shows like Game of Thrones and Los Espookys. She majored in architecture at Yale and wrote for the culture section of the YDN. When she’s not searching for LA’s best blueberry muffin, you can find her reading the latest fiction novel or training for her third New York City marathon.

Cody Pomeranz is a speechwriter from Cincinnati. He spends his free time doing stand-up comedy and cheering on—or crying over—his beloved Cincinnati Bengals. His mother wanted eight children, his dad wanted zero. Cody's the youngest of six. He grew up wanting to be the first great Jewish NBA star. It didn't work out. But he did make his high school varsity basketball team...as the starting announcer. His only claim to fame is that he once wrote a speech for Barack Obama where the president cursed on national television. Cody's father was an Olympic boxer and skydiving instructor, so Cody plays chess and fears heights. He is currently the Director of Speechwriting at the DNC, which is another way of saying, "I don't know who's going to get the nomination, please stop asking me.