Monthly Archives: March 2023

Julia Boorstin ’96 on When Women Lead – TSC053



Julia Boorstin ’96 is CNBC’s Senior Media and Tech Correspondent and author of the new book When Women Lead: What They Achieve, Why They Succeed, and How We Can Learn from Them. In this episode, Julia speaks about why she chose to look at female leadership through the prism of entrepreneurship, noting how few female founders receive VC funding, but how and why those who do find disproportionately more success vs. their male counterparts. Julia also recounts her own leadership journey, which she attributes in part to powerfully influential journalism experiences and history teachers, both at Harvard-Westlake and at Princeton. Julia references Kathy Neumeyer, Eric Zwemer, and Karl Kleinz of Harvard-Westlake; Philip Nord and Anson Rabinbach of Princeton University; and journalist Andy Serwer as profound life influences.


Doug Kezirian ’95 on the Evolution of Sports Betting – TSC052



Doug Kezirian ’95 is the host of ESPN’s first-ever daily betting show, The Daily Wager. In this episode, Doug takes us through the legal and societal evolution of sports betting, and how a subject many regarded as “unseemly” a decade ago now finds a comfortable home on ESPN. Doug also describes his own evolution, growing up in LA as the youngest of five brothers, attending Harvard-Westlake, Philips Exeter, and Brown University, followed by a start in broadcasting he characterizes as “the minor leagues.” Beginning in small markets in Iowa and Missouri, Doug eventually made his way to Las Vegas, NV, where he became familiarized with a “legal” sports betting framework and community. After finally being “called up” to ESPN in 2012 (and as national sports gambling restrictions began to relax), Doug became the ideal person to host the network’s first ever daily program devoted to sports betting. Doug references Kathy Neumeyer and Bob Archer of Harvard-Westlake, as well as journalist Eric Sondheimer, as profound life influences.


Jui Shah ’02 on Malaria Elimination and the Impact of Financial Aid – TSC051



In the vast and challenging landscape of global health, the story of malaria has most recently been one great progress. Many Asian countries, including Thailand, are on the verge of eliminating the disease entirely, demonstrating a 90% decrease in cases over the past 15 years. Standing at the forefront of this fight is Jui Shah ’02, who leads a malaria elimination team in Bangkok, partnering with Thai leadership to collect and translate disease surveillance data, designing strategies and policy considerations, all with the goal to bring the country eventually down to zero. In this episode, Jui describes both the nature of her work, and her long journey from Harvard-Westlake–crediting in part the transformational impact of financial aid. Jui describes how she could not have accessed great institutions like Harvard-Westlake, Georgetown, and Johns Hopkins were it not for need-based financial assistance. Today, Jui chooses to pay that gift forward through her work in Thailand, stating she feels “the responsibility to do something meaningful with all of the investment that has been made in me.” Jui credits Nini Halkett and Javier Zaragoza from Harvard-Westlake, Chuck Weiss and You-Me Park at Georgetown, and global health leader Yazoume Ye as profound life influences.