Bruin Success

Liz Schneider '14 works on Google's real estate sustainability team, where she is currently the team's first-ever data manager. She helped create this role last year when it became clear that Google's ambitious new sustainability goals would require an unprecedented level of thoughtfulness around data management. In this new role, she's guiding the development of data systems that provide insight...

Anthony Martore '16 is a Manager on the Business Diversity & Inclusion team at NIKE. In his current role, he leads an enterprise-wide initiative to expand NIKE's economic investment into diverse communities and diverse-owned businesses through the implementation of NIKE's first-ever global Supplier Diversity Program. Anthony hails from San Francisco, CA and is a first-generation American....

Kate Pflueger ’11 is Manager of Asset Optimization Strategy at Netflix. After graduating in 2011 with a BA in Communications, Kate launched her career at Paramount Pictures in their Worldwide Marketing Partnerships group. In 2015, Kate began a new chapter of her career as a producer for Netflix where she worked with both international and domestic studios, as well as filmmakers to develop and opti...

Brandon Dang '16 is responsible for user acquisition at Headspace - an app for meditation, mindfulness and mental health. He graduated UCLA in 2016 as an Economics major unsure of what career path he wanted to pursue. Digital marketing was a field that presented itself after he pursued an interest in tech and media. Brandon's young career has been a non-linear path that has always been inspir...

Sei Ishikawa '05 began his career in the global mobility industry over 15 years ago. After graduating from UCLA with double majors in Political Science and International Development Studies in 2005, he started his career as a US immigration specialist at an immigration law firm in Los Angeles, CA. While working at the firm, he developed a passion for HR, which led him to pursue an MBA in Strategic...

When someone says “career,” you probably think of the classic ones like Doctor, Lawyer or Teacher, right? It makes sense yet so many career choices exist beyond the ones we may think of first. Over the next 10 episodes, Bruin Success will be featuring UCLA alumni who are paving their way in careers you probably haven’t heard of. If you are familiar with the careers, you’ll be getting an even close...

Katie Russo shares a farewell message and her thoughts on success in her final episode of Bruin Success. Since May 2019, Katie has hosted over 35 interviews delivering incredible “life after UCLA” stories from Bruins who have graduated and gone on to conquer the world in diverse industries all around the globe. Through Katie's interviews, we've seen that each Bruin has unique passions, goals, and...

Ann Wang is the co-founder and CEO of Enrou, an online story-driven marketplace for the socially conscious consumer to discover one-of-a-kind products created in developing communities around the world. Enrou empowers consumers to reduce global poverty with every purchase and live intentionally every day. As the daughter of a first-generation immigrant and entrepreneur, Wang grew up viewing the wo...

Joshua Arce serves as the City of San Francisco's Director of Workforce Development following his appointment by Mayor London Breed in August 2018. In this role, Arce and his department support tens of thousands of unemployed residents and workers that have been displaced by the COVID-19 pandemic, working with community-based organizations, labor unions, and employers to prepare for San Francisco'...

Sudheer Doss, Ph. D., is responsible for creating the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network’s data and technology vision and strategy and for all patient data generated from PanCAN’s scientific and medical affairs initiatives. He oversees a team responsible for health data organization-wide at PanCAN. Doss previously worked as director of the precision medicine practice for Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC...

Judge Kevin C. Brazile’s life reflects a series of firsts — he was the first in his family to graduate from college, first to graduate from law school, the first African American division chief of the General Litigation Division of the Los Angeles County Counsel, and the first African American presiding judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court. Judge Brazile entered UCLA as a transfer student, wher...

Craig is the former chairman of the GSMA, the world’s largest trade association for the mobile industry, a position that he held for seven years. He is also former chairman of Carmel Ventures Asia, a leading venture capital company. Craig currently serves as the lead independent director of Bharti Airtel, the world’s fourth-largest telecom company, and has sat on public boards in Hong Kong, Israel...

Maximilian "Max" Barnes ’16 is the Communications Manager at the San Francisco Mayor's Office of Housing and Community Development (MOHCD) where he leads media + public relations, press around new housing developments, internal communications, and much more. He frequently writes speeches and prepares talking points for a number of local elected officials and Eric Shaw, director of the agency and a...

As we all start a new year and reflect on all the change 2020 brought us, Bruin Success is here to support you in exploring, clarifying, and achieving new career goals you have in mind for the year. In this episode, our host Katie will share some career tips on self-reflection, resume gaps due to 2020, resume recommendations, interviewing tips for success, and networking. Remember to celebrate any...

Leslie Gilbert-Lurie is a lawyer, human rights and children’s rights advocate, author, philanthropist, and former television executive. She is also an active member of the DNC National Finance Committee and the Biden for President Southwest Finance Committee.  Leslie is a member of the International Board of Directors of Human Rights Watch (HRW), where she is Chair of the Nominating and Gover...

Araceli Almazan ’04, Senior Associate at Alvarez-Glassman & Colvin (AGC), represents municipal entities and public entity clients in all areas of civil litigation, handling both litigation and transactional matters. She currently serves as Deputy City Attorney for the cities of Commerce, Pico Rivera, Montebello, Lynwood, Huntington Park, Norwalk and Buena Park, and as Special Counsel for the C...

John Arboleda ’96 has been based in Europe since 2004, and currently resides in Barcelona, Spain, where he serves as the Head of Primary & Secondary (K12) Education across EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) for Adobe. In his role John engages and collaborates with Adobe education teams, customers and partners to deliver growth in the education sector across EMEA. Before Adobe, John’s experi...

Paco Retana ’87, M.S.W. ’90 has been serving the vulnerable youth and marginalized communities in Los Angeles for nearly 30 years. As a recognized mental health expert and vice president of programs at Wellnest (formerly Los Angeles Child Guidance Center), he is responsible for all clinical programs, including strategic planning, program evaluation and training in support of Wellnest’s mission to...

Cathy Choi is senior director of programs at The Eisner Foundation, overseeing the planning, strategic development and distribution of $7 million in annual grants. She develops grantee relationships during and after the grant-making process and works to build organizational sustainability among the foundation’s partners, promoting innovative practices and creative solutions to social justice chall...

Vito A. Costanzo is a partner in the litigation section of the Los Angeles office of Holland & Knight, where he assists technology companies in protecting their intellectual property rights. Costanzo was formerly employed as a trial attorney by the Los Angeles County District Attorneys’ office. He is an active speaker and author and is the recipient of several client service awards, including...

Cheryl Lott ’01, J.D. ’04 represents corporate clients, banks, mortgage companies and other financial institutions in both state and federal court. Her practice focuses on general business and commercial litigation, as well as construction defect litigation, toxic tort defense, class action defense, special assets related litigation, and labor and employment litigation. She has significant experie...

Steve O’Dell and Robbie Page '14 are the founders of Tenzo Tea, a lifestyle brand founded on the belief of better energy for the mind and body. Steve is the CEO and Robbie is CMO. Steve’s years as a D1 college athlete & entrepreneur taught him the importance of energy and nutrition for max performance, which ultimately led him to a drink called matcha green tea. Steve partnered with UCLA teamm...

David Eisman '92 is head of the Northwest Region and co-head of the firm’s West Region Advisory Group in the Investment Banking Division. He has worked with many of the firm's most important clients in the Retail, Consumer and Food sectors. David has also been involved in the firm's coverage of financial sponsors. He joined Goldman Sachs in 1998 in the Mergers & Acquisitions Department in New...

Suzanne Seplow Ed. D. '01  is the Assistant Vice Chancellor, Student Development. The areas within Student Development provide programs and services designed to support students reach their full potential and achieve their life goals. The departments within Student Development that Suzanne oversees are the Bruin Resource Center (BRC), Campus and Student Resilience, the Career Center...

Peter Taylor '80 has been the president of ECMC Foundation since May 2014. During his tenure, he has overseen more than $165 million of grants and PRI investments in initiatives affecting higher education outcomes, especially among underserved student populations. The major area of focus for the Foundation has been career technical education. He recently did a TedxTalk on this subject at UCLA in M...