Featured Profiles
Sam Simahk '10, Musical Theatre
Originally from Massachusetts, Actor Sam Simahk has been on Broadway in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel and national tours of the Lincoln Center Theater productions of The King and I and My Fair Lady. He began his career on local stages, performing at the Huntington, Lyric Stage, SpeakEasy, and Greater Boston Stage Company. As a mixed Asian American actor, he’s proud to have had the opportunity to tackle many roles traditionally played by white actors, including Curly in Oklahoma!, and is an outspoken proponent of inclusive casting. He credits the Emerson Musical Theatre program for providing him with a practical, craft-oriented skill set that he’s used professionally for over a decade now, and would like to honor the late Stephen Terrell—former head of the M.T. program—for his joyful and compassionate commitment to the field of education.
Jade Catta-Preta ’07, BFA, Theatre Studies
Jade Catta-Preta is a Brazilian born comic and actress working in Los Angeles, New York, and Brazil, and was recently named the new host of the iconic E! Network show Talk Soup! She performs all over the country both in English and Portuguese, and you can see her regularly at comedy clubs in LA. You can also catch her on ABC’s American Housewife and Hulu’s Future Man; Trutv’s Laff Mobb’s Laff Tracks, Those Who Can’t, Greatest Ever, and Comedy Knockout; as well as Pop’s The Joey Mac Project. Jade starred in MTV’s hit series Ladylike. She was also a series regular on ABC’s Manhattan Love Story and held a recurring role on CBS’s Life in Pieces. Additionally, she was a cast member on MTV’s Girl Code, often appeared on Comedy Central’s @Midnight and regularly hosts on VH1. Other notable credits include recurring roles on Californication and MTV’s Punk’d and guest star roles on Modern Family, The Jim Gaffigan Show, Angel From Hell, 2 Broke Girls, and Sullivan & Son.
Molly Majumder, MA ’19, Writing and Publishing
Molly Majumder is an editor and publishing professional, specializing in science fiction, fantasy fiction, women's fiction, and narrative non-fiction. She is currently an editorial assistant at Tor/Forge/Nightfire in New York City. She has previously been an editorial intern at Beacon Press and the Kneerim and Williams Literary Agency. Prior to that, she was in the academic publishing industry for four years. Majumder also won the Emerson College Graduate Award in Publishing in 2019, along with being a recipient of the Bookbuilders of Boston Scholarship.
Rage Hezekiah, MFA ’15, Creative Writing
Hezekiah is a New England based poet and educator. She has published a full-length collection of poems, Stray Harbor, and a chapbook, Unslakable, which is the 2018 Vella Chapbook Award Winner. She also has poems published and forthcoming in a variety of journals, including New American Writing, The Cincinnati Review, Fifth Wednesday, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Tampa Review, West Branch, and the Sycamore Review. Her work has been published in several anthologies, including All We Can Hold: poems of motherhood and Nasty Women Poets: An Unapologetic Anthology of Subversive Verse. She has received fellowships from Cave Canem, The MacDowell Colony, and The Ragdale Foundation, and is the recipient of the Saint Botolph Foundation's Emerging Artists Award. In 2017, she was nominated for Best New Poets.
Harper McKenzie, BA ’21, Creative Writing and Disability Studies
Harper McKenzie is a disabled writer and student affairs practitioner originally from Dallas, Texas. As the program coordinator of the Syracuse University Disability Cultural Center, she is a leader in expanding the way in which higher education supports students with disabilities beyond legal compliance. She began her disability advocacy at Emerson, where she won the Dean of Campus Life Award for her work as co-founder of Access: Student Disability Union. The Marlboro Institute allowed McKenzie to blend her passion for writing and disability culture. Her student affairs practice informs her young adult fiction about the intersection of disability and queerness, and she uses storytelling to help students explore their disability identity. McKenzie earned a master’s degree in higher education from Syracuse in 2025.
Pranit Chand, BA ’23, Data Science and Economics
A native of Nepal, Pranit Chand has built a distinguished career in digital innovation and humanitarian technology, working with organizations such as the United Nations before joining the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in New York City. He currently serves as digital product lead for the Ahlan Simsim team, the world's largest early childhood intervention in humanitarian response history, providing vital developmental services in the MENA region in collaboration with Sesame Workshop. A budding intrapreneur, Chand champions responsible AI practices and has fostered strategic partnerships with internal projects like Signpost, contributing to IRC's recognition as one of Fast Company's World's Most Innovative Companies of 2025. Passionate about learning and storytelling, Chand transforms complex humanitarian challenges into accessible stories, helping children and families navigate difficult circumstances. His approach centers on continuous learning from communities, incorporating their feedback into solutions that tell their stories authentically.