Welcome Alumnae

Sehar Ahmed, '08

Emmy-winning Senior Producer CBS News and CBS Mornings

Sehar started her career in the fast-paced, high pressure news and media industry at CBS News 10 years ago. Sehar graduated form New York University with a degree in Journalism and Middle Eastern & Islamic Studies, Sehar’s first position was at CBS Radio for a year before joining CBS This Morning as a broadcast associate. In 2019, she was a producer at Bloomberg News (now QuickTake) and then returned to CBS News and CBS Mornings as a supervising producer. Sehar has many impressive accomplishments including an Emmy Award for Outstanding Live News Program.

Michelle Avery ESQ. '00

Attorney

Michelle is a Housing Attorney at Legal Services of the Hudson Valley. Besides graduating with a juris doctoral degree with Pro Bono Honors, she has a bachelor’s degree in Policy Analysis and Management from Cornell University and a master’s degree in Art and Cultural Management from the Pratt Institute. Her eleven years of legal experience includes serving underserved families and advocating for them in City Court as a Housing Attorney, intellectual property work for sole proprietors, consumer work for Bank of America, and public interest work for organizations such as the Guardian ad Litem. As a law student, she developed her passion for public service and was elected as the Vice-President of the Caribbean Law Student Association and served as a Property Law tutor, which allowed her to engage in work centered in education and the development of students.

Jenn (Vertiz) Calabrese  CPA, CGMA, '88, P'19

CEO of CCL

Jenn Calabrese specializes in SEC financial reporting, compliance, and consulting services to facilitate the reporting between auditors and public companies on behalf of clients. Jenn started her career at KPMG, LLP, where she was employed from January 1994 through June 2001, and held numerous positions, including senior audit manager. While at KPMG, Jenn received the firm’s Instructor of Excellence Award for her work in the firm’s continuing education program. From June 2001 through 2003, Jenn served as the Corporate Controller for United Capital Corp., a publicly traded real estate management company, and from June 2004 to July 2007, Jenn held the role of VP – Controller and Principal Accounting Officer for MKTG, Inc. From July 2007 through March 2010, Jenn was the Managing Director of SEC Solutions Group, LLC, a company specializing in SEC financial reporting compliance and consulting services. From March 2010 through August 2012, Jenn served  March 2013, Jenn was appointed Executive Vice President of Finance for uSell.com, Inc. and Chief Financial Officer in April 2014. Jenn founded Calabrese Consulting, LLC (“CCL”) in 2012, applying a hands-on approach that exemplifies her dedication to her craft. CCL is a woman-owned, full-service accounting and advisory firm which currently employs over 55 employees, serving more than 350 clients around the world. Through CCL, Jenn and her team work hand-in-hand with clients to assist them in the research, interpretation, documentation, and implementation of various rules and regulations with respect to complex business and accounting transactions, such as stock-based compensation, derivative instruments, reverse mergers, acquisitions, and other difficult equity and debt transactions. Having graduated from Hofstra University with a B.B.A. in Accounting and a B.A. in Psychology, Jenn also earned her Master of Science in Accountancy from SUNY Polytechnic. She is a Certified Public Accountant, a Chartered Global Management Accountant and a member of both The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and The New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants. And since January 2020, Jenn has also returned to Hofstra University as an Adjunct Assistant Professor, teaching Accounting 101. 

Diana Colapietro '12

Deputy Director of Social Media Forbes

After graduating from SHA, Diana received a bachelor’s degree in Photojournalism from St. John’s University in 2016. Diana worked at the Long Island Herald as a general assignment reporter for about a year, then joined the Fox News social media team for about two years. After that, she went to ABC News to build a social media audience around the up and coming streaming channel ABC News Live. As of July this year, Diana is the deputy director of social media at Forbes.

Meaghan Coyne, MD '12

Resident Physician

Meaghan attended Stony Brook University, where she rowed crew and conducted research on the role of smoking in breast cancer development. Following college, she ventured south to attend medical school at Tulane University. There, she ran a medical-student run free clinic that provided free HIV and Hepatitis C testing to high risk patients at homeless shelters and drug rehabs. This experience instilled in her a passion for community health, social justice, and harm reduction. After medical school, Meaghan returned to New York in the midst of the COVID pandemic in June 2020 to begin internal medicine residency at NYU. She is currently in her final year of training and intends to pursue specialization in addiction medicine next year.

Natalia Suaza ‘22

Miss Long Island Teen 2022

On November 20th 2022, Natalia Suaza '22 was crowned Miss Long Island Teen 2023. Natalia will be promoting her platform of cancer awareness throughout the Long Island community. In August of 2023, Natalia will be competing for the title of Miss New York Teen USA. 

Patch.com

Longislandpress.com