History - YAVA (or the Young Alumni Volunteer Association) was founded in 2005 by a group of civic minded Northeastern University graduates, led by Allie Corless. Their vision was simple, to connect young professionals and recent grads in the Boston area through one time volunteer opportunities, followed by socializing at a bar or restaurant.
Our Current Board
Sam Feldman, President
I grew up in Watertown, MA and currently spend my days talking AdWords for Google. Between work and YAVA, I can be found rock climbing, listening to entrepreneurs, and trying new beers. I heard about YAVA in Jan of '07 in the Weekly Dig. I joined knowing that this city was chock full of interesting people and YAVA would help me meet all of them. The volunteering was pretty great too. Since joining in '07, I have been an Event Leader, served on The Board as the Director of External Operations (meeting like-minded organizations, getting us sponsors, planning cool events), and in August of '08 I was entrusted with the presidency of YAVA. You can find me working closely with my awesome board (see below!) overseeing YAVA's operations, and at as many volunteer events and socials as I can make.
Favorite YAVA Event: Hebrew Senior Life
Yael Rubinstein, Director of Internal Operations
Born and raised in a suburb right outside Washington D.C., I enjoyed an interesting life with the contrast of a quiet suburban neighborhood located within a large urban and political environment. Thanks to my tiny private school of 100 people per class, I learned quickly what it meant to belong to a community. The desire for community followed me to college when I went to Brandeis, a small liberal arts school in the outskirts of the Boston area, where quite literally, everyone knows your name.Since I have graduated, I have moved to Boston and have been working in a small publishing company in Newton. In my spare time, I love to read, run, play sudoku, and watch some really crazy reality tv. But even "I Love New York" can get boring, and soon I began to realize that despite Boston being a tiny and exciting city, I didn't feel yet like I belonged. YAVA caught my eye as being a wonderful way to meet some really great people who shared the same interests and passions as I do. Since I have joined, I am glad to say the city and I are getting to know each other much better. I look forward to continuing this year with some great new experiences, and great people (new and familiar alike)!
Sara Herman, Director of External Operations
Favorite YAVA event: Prison Book Program in Quincy!
Sasha Brophy, PR Director
Dauphine Thigpen, Director of Special Events
Deco and design has always enhanced my personality, starting from precious early memories of trips to Europe with my father. I have always searched for different ways to express myself. My name is Dauphine, after having experienced a life changing and satisfying career as a Clinical Research Professional, I am embarking into my new venture, with an establishment of my new business and love, and diving in to new experiences. That’s where YAVA comes in. I quickly developed a fondness for this “unique” way of giving back, and would like to contribute further as one of the axis of the inner workings. I love hearing of people’s favorite experiences they've had, albeit funny, embarrassing, or simple epiphanies of daily life, so If you see me, don't hesitate to stop and chat. "Tell me, what's your essence?"
Past Board Members
Eula Kozma, Event Leader Coordinator
Stephanie Morrison, Director of Marketing (2009-2010)
I grew up in Apalachin, NY. Ran away to Hungary when I was 17, came home a year later, lived at Disney World for 7 months, and then made the move to Boston to get my degree at Emerson College. Had a string of odd jobs, including voodoo witchdoctor – well, a fake voodoo witchdoctor, with half my shifts spent as a roaming gorilla. I found YAVA when I graduated, hoping to meet people that I didn’t know from school or work. And it turns out you guys are all awesome, so that worked out pretty well. See you at an event soon.
Lauren Sattely
Lauren, DIO, 2008-2009. I love Boston, and I love YAVA! I moved here from New Hampshire to finish school. Originally from New Jersey I now reside in Jamaica plains. I have been in YAVA since it started in Dec 2005. Yava has enabled me to really feel connected to my community while being able to meet some really great people in Boston. I'm excited to now not only be a yava volunteer but to also be a yava board member. Besides volunteering I also love my work. I currently work full time as an orthopedic nurse and per diem on a health service van that specializes in hiv/std prevention, testing and education. My hobbies include pottery, windsurfing and bike riding, walking around Boston aimlessly, spontaneous weekend travels and listening to music. Well that's me in a nutshell; hope to see you out volunteering in the community soon.
Rohit Shenoy
Rohit, President, 2007-2008. Boston is my third stop in the US since 1997, when I arrived in Gainesville Florida to start college. After 3 semesters in Florida, I transferred to Purdue University where I got a degree in engineering and then moved to New England for work. I’m one of those weird people who actually likes the winter, at least for a couple of months a year. This is mostly due to the fact that I grew up in the middle east where the average summer temperature was a blazing 108F!! While at Purdue, I helped run a volunteer organization called AIESEC. AIESEC is a student-run work exchange program that is actually the largest student organization in the world with representation in 80+ countries. These days, apart from YAVA, I keep busy working as a marketing manager for a software company in Natick, MA. To me, YAVA is the ultimate volunteering organization for busy young people like me. I joined because YAVA let me volunteer whenever I wanted and as much (or as little) as I wanted. Without a definite time commitment or even a membership fee, it seemed like a no-brainer to at least try it out, and I have not looked back! My goal is to reach as many people as possible, who haven’t tried to volunteer, and show them how YAVA can help them help others. You can find me at YAVA events sporting my red YAVA T-Shirt and wristband and talking really really fast!
Deb Katzman
Deb, DIO (Director of Internal Operations), 2007-2008. Hey YAVAers and soon-to-be YAVAers, I’m Deb Katzman, your Director of Internal Operations. I grew up in Amherst, Massachusetts, and graduated from UMass Amherst (I lived in Orchard Hill and then Pufton Village, for the other alum). After spending 21 years in Amherst, I decided to jump ship and spent two years working and living in Los Angeles. During this time, I traveled a lot: Puerto Rico, Seattle, the Grand Canyon, and many trips to Vegas, DC and Boston. Man I miss those cheap flights out of LAX. I lived by the beach in Hermosa Beach for a year and in Pasadena for another year. Now I am living it up in the North End trying to take on volunteering, Boston style. I started with becoming the Community Service Director of my engineering society and continuing my family tradition of helping to cook and serve Thanksgiving dinner at the Amherst Senior Center (we’re at 5 years and counting). To find me at YAVA functions, I’m the girl with the curly hair usually laughing uncontrollably at a joke, dishing on the latest celebrity gossip, or getting down and dirty scooping food and planting trees. I’m all about bringing volunteering back, and making it fun and easily accessible. When I’m not busy planning and coordinating YAVA events, answering emails, or working at my full-time job as a civil engineer, I’m usually indulging in Law & Order marathons, or the occasional chips and salsa with a margarita. I’m always thrilled to meet new people, so don’t be a stranger!
Boris Masis
Boris, Technology Consultant. I grew up in dark, cold, and bear-infested mother Russia. A place very different place from the cold, dark, and bear-infested New England where I live in today. I'm into film and photography and I ballroom dance. It's good times. On occasion I work. YAVA has been a fun way to meet people, and I've been honored to be able to help with technical questions when they arise. Cheese is my favorite food group. (I also drink too much tea). On occasion I post things at borism.net
Allie Corless
Allie, Founder. I grew up in southern New Hampshire…Candia, to be exact. I have a brother who is 3 years younger than me and two pretty weird (but in a good way) parents. I started skiing when I was seven years old, then at age fourteen discovered the wonderful invention that is snowboarding, and have been hooked ever since. I graduated from Central High School in Manchester, New Hampshire, in 1999 and started college at Northeastern University in September 1999. I was an environmental geology major for a year, during which time I discovered that I hated the ambiguity of rock and mineral identification, so I changed my major to civil/environmental engineering. I like math a lot, so that was a major improvement! I spent far too much time at the library and far too little time at the gym until May 2004, when Northeastern finally set me free. YAY! I spent Summer 2004 living on the south side of the Hawaiian island of Maui, riding my bike everywhere and going to the beach every day. It was wonderful!! But then that ended, and I came back to Boston to begin my career as a working stiff. Camp Dresser & McKee employed me for about a year, but they weren’t my style so I traded them in to work for Tetra Tech NUS. TtNUS rocks the house, and mostly the work is pretty cool. YAVA fell out of the sky for me in December 2005, and I have been SO pumped on it ever since! I served as President until March 2007, but have since handed over control to three extraordinary individuals. My career as an engineer officially wrapped in June 2007; my next big adventure is pursuing an MBA from Harvard Business School. By the way, I ate cottage cheese and Kashi cereal for breakfast this morning. High protein and high fiber! Allie’s MySpace Page
