By Julia Marsh

In celebration of 20 years of MFA Design, Lita and Steven brought together alumni spanning across the program’s two decades (Part I more to come). Gathered at Alibaba in Midtown, everyone mingled around long tables and enjoyed delightful Turkish dishes. It was particularly heartwarming to see so many alums from different years connecting (or reconnecting) over their careers, design, and shared love for the program.

When the mic went around to each person, we learned that many alumni’s careers have been entirely defined by Steve and Lita. In attendance were Bobby Martin ‘03, Amy Wang ‘06, Juan Diego Soto ’06, Andy Outis ‘06, Andrew La Monica ‘06, Darren Melchiorre ‘07, Rebecca Pollock ‘07, Marc Rabinowitz ‘08, Len Small ‘08, Nigel Sielegar ‘09,  Lillian Lee ‘11, Tyler Mintz ‘11, Kathleen Fitzgerald ‘13, Tiffany Jen ‘14, Sasha Prood ‘15, Kenny Batu ‘15, Eivor Pedersen ‘15, Sabri Akin ‘16, and Julia Marsh ‘19.

Throughout the evening, guests were invited to fill out cards which asked the following questions:

1. How has MFA Design impacted your career?
2. What is your vision for MFA Design in the future?
3. How would you like to remain involved in the MFAD community.

We received many satisfying responses. Some of them include:

MFAD was the springboard that pushed my career into
the stratosphere. – Andy Outis ‘06

MFAD has impacted my career in every single way, the experience, the connections, everything. – Kathleen Fitzgerald ‘13

Every milestone in my life can be traced back to MFADesign.
– Andrew LaMonica ‘06

MFAD gave me not only the skills but the confidence to be
an entrepreneur. – Darren Melchiorre ‘07