“I didn’t think I was even going to go to college, because I thought I couldn’t afford it,” said Gurreri. “And I never thought I could graduate from a place like Fordham University.”

Gurreri noted that she didn’t come from an affluent background. Like so many of her high school friends, she said, limited exposure to higher education limited her aspirations. Her mother came from a rural part of Puerto Rico and her father was from a rural part of the Dominican Republic. Neither had the opportunity to go to college. When her older brother and sister graduated from high school, they went straight to work.

Gurreri credits a series of mentors with exposing her to options. The first was Martha Graham, an executive at Chase Manhattan Bank who mentored teens at Roosevelt High School.

“I told her, ‘I don’t think I can go’ and she said, ‘Absolutely not, of course, you can,” recalled Gurreri.

‘Zero In and Focus’

With Graham’s encouragement, Gurreri got accepted to Marymount, where she experienced a bit of culture shock. Compared to the Bronx, she said, the Tarrytown campus might as well have been California. There, a nun named Sister Fahey issued a stern charge to “zero in and focus,” a habit Gurreri kept to this day. She worked a part-time job in retail that became full-time after graduating. But in quick order, she got her real estate license; married the love of her life, Jimmy Gurreri; moved to Yonkers; and had the first of her three daughters.

Learning the Complexities of New York Real Estate

Her ongoing education continued with a paralegal certificate, which helped her land a job with real estate lawyer Ira S. Goldenberg. After her father passed away, Gurreri asked her mother to move in with her to help raise the girls and to help the family deal with his passing. Goldenberg soon took on the role of mentor and as a father figure in her life.

“She was without a doubt the best paralegal I’ve ever had,” said Goldenberg, who chairs the Real Property Law Section of the New York Bar Association and teaches real estate law as an adjunct at Brooklyn Law School. “She made me a better lawyer.”

At Goldenberg & Selker, LLP, Gurreri zeroed in on the transactional aspects of real estate, recalled Goldenberg.

“At the beginning, she was a jack of all trades, but at some point, she didn’t want to do the litigation, she wanted to do the transactions and she really perfected it,” he said.

For 10 years the office was a perfect fit for Gurreri, but Goldenberg noted that she was beginning to grow beyond her role.

“New York real estate is complex,” he said. “I think she began to see that she understood that complexity—and some can be dismissive of that. But she was not that way. I knew she needed to move on to a bigger firm, but I was devastated when she left.”

Gurreri said she shed more than a few tears on leaving.

“It was a difficult decision for me to have that conversation with Ira because I could have stayed there for the rest of my life,” she said. “But he told me, ‘I’m very proud of you; you’re always pushing yourself further.’”

Using New Knowledge on the Job

Today, Gurreri is with Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP, an international full-service law firm with a dedicated focus on real estate and construction. To grow in her career, she knew she’d once again needed to return to Fordham, this time at the Real Estate Institute, where she decided to concentrate on finance and development. Goldenberg happily wrote her a letter of recommendation.

Much of what she learned in the classroom deepened her understanding of her day job, she said. It also exposed her to ethical dimensions of the industry, such as eco-friendly development.

“If you build you want to make sure that you’re building something that has a good impact, not only on where it’s situated in the neighborhood, but in the natural environment,” she said.

With her master’s complete, Gurreri said she’s already being pulled onto projects at work that she’s familiar with because of her coursework.

“Fortuitously, it just so happens I just got put on a project that involves a giant wind energy and solar power acquisition,” she said.

She said the material is familiar now, but it wasn’t always.

“Since 2002, I worked toward things I wasn’t sure about. I’d say, ‘I don’t know if this is going to work.’ But you know what, you never know in life until you try,” she said.

His arrival at Fordham Law brought some twists though. Intrigued by the progressive transformative justice policies going on at the Kings County District Attorney General’s office, he interned there the summer of 2019. But he became discouraged by the many repeat offenders cycling through the office in the short time he was there. He decided instead to intern remotely with the Center for Constitutional Rights, to learn more about international human and civil rights litigation. There he became interested in movement law.

“I gained so much exposure to different attorneys who were doing all kinds of work, not only at CCR, but across the nation and internationally, and I found that experience gave me some insight as to what the day-to-day work of a litigator who’s practicing movement lawyering would look like,” he said.

Movement lawyers support and advance social movements, both through traditional lawyer work in areas such as trials or housing, and through community events, like organizing free weekend classes for citizens to learn more about their rights under the law.

“The role of the movement lawyer isn’t a confined or restricted activity. It’s many different things, and it’s based on what the community needs and what the community is demanding. It’s another way of just simply empowering people,” said Johnson, who is one of Fordham Law’s Stein Scholars—a diverse group of law students committed to public interest law.

After his CCR internship, Johnson still felt a yearning to work directly with clients. Last fall, he began working with the Law School’s Family Advocacy Clinic.

“I had trepidations about doing only direct services work, because I care about institutional and systemic issues, but I realized there can be a balance of the two in various ways, and that’s where creativity comes into play,” he said.

His final internship, with the group Movement for Family Power, confirmed for him that empowering local communities is what he wants to do. This fall, he’ll join the staff of the Bronx Defenders as an entry-level attorney.

Johnson channeled that commitment to empowerment on campus as well; during his second year, he was president of the Black Students Law Association. The group helped the Law School craft a plan to address systematic racism within the college.

“I had a number of students who I worked alongside to try to make Fordham a better institution,” he said, singling out current and past students Christina John, Taylor Carter, Hema Lochan, Dana McBeth, Diana Imbert, and Leena Widdi.

“They’ve had a tremendous impact on my ability to develop and lead, as well as figure out my own path.”

Johnson acknowledged that completing his studies was difficult. As someone who didn’t know his father and had few male role models growing up, he said that the guidance of Professor Ian Weinstein, his Stein Scholar faculty mentor, helped him a great deal. Adjunct professor Kenneth Montgomery, whose trial advocacy class Johnson took, was also an inspiration.

“As a Black man, he showed me who I could become and how I could do it,” he said.

Johnson was raised by his mother and grandmother, who he said gave him “a sense of identity.” But it wasn’t always easy.

“I watched my mom struggle every day to make life bearable and enjoyable, and she did her absolute best. But I also saw throughout my own city that my reality was quite common. I witnessed a lot of the injustices that were happening, whether it was in the education system or the rampant homelessness or the hidden history of my city when it came to enslavement,” he said.

Literature played a part in Johnson’s developing identity as well, particularly Toni Morrison’s 1970 novel The Bluest Eye, which he read his senior year at Morehouse.

“It really put into perspective the ways in which Black youth are robbed of their innocence, and how that has a lingering effect throughout one’s lifetime.”

It was a different way of understanding how literature could be written, and how we can share our real-world experiences with others. That’s something that I try to bring into my legal work whenever possible.”

Leah Hill, a clinical professor of law who oversees the Family Advocacy Clinic, said Johnson displayed a sense of humility and commitment to lifelong learning that would serve him well. She noted that to be a successful movement lawyer, one needs to engage people of all walks of life respectfully. She saw that in Johnson when she first met him, and again at the clinic.

“He knew how to show compassion and empathy without being paternalizing or condescending, or pitying clients. He was just really a pleasure to work with, because I could see how deeply committed he was to social justice,” she said.

“I had always wanted to graduate from Fordham,” he said. “It was one of those things that I had envisioned for myself…I made a promise to my mom and dad that that’s where I was going to get a diploma from.”

Growing a Business that Helps Others Grow

Hernandez-Cartaya, who moved to Florida to get his bachelor’s from Miami Dade College, founded a nonprofit school called Our Pride Academy for students with disabilities in Miami. He and his mother started the program with 27 students and a 5,000 square foot “cottage” and have grown it over the past 10 years to include more than 130 students, two buildings, and an adult and secondary program.

Watching his mom work as a special education teacher for years, Hernandez-Cartaya said, made him want to find a way to give students with special needs the skills they need to thrive. He also wanted to provide their families and caregivers with support.

“Our program runs from infancy all the way through adult[hood],” he said. “Independence is a big thing for us, so we transition from early intervention…all the way to the end where you’re trying to get somebody to be as close to independent as possible.hat’s really where the majority of our work gets done.”

Hernandez-Cartaya is graduating from the Gabelli School of Business with a master’s in management that he earned online. The Gabelli School launched the online master’s program—along with a master’s in strategic marketing communications—in 2019 as part of an effort to reach students outside of the New York area who were looking to gain the skills they need to improve their organizations.

Hernandez-Cartaya said that he’s been able to do just that by incorporating lessons he learned from class into his nonprofit. He said Professor Michael Pirson’s class has been particularly helpful, especially his lessons on the four “drive principles”—the drive to acquire, to bond, to learn, and to defend–as well the class’s focus on mission and purpose.

An Empowering Mission

“All my decisions now go back to the purpose of why our school exists in the first place, and empowering our employees that serve these people to allow them to operate within that framework,” he said.

When Hernandez-Cartaya hurt his back in jiu jitsu right before the pandemic and had to take time away from school, Pirson encouraged him and became his mentor.

“The medication was really impacting me so much that I remember calling Dr. Pirson one day and saying, ‘I can’t function and I don’t know what to do. I almost feel like I have to drop out of the program,’” he said. “At the time I had gotten straight A’s—I was doing well. And, man, he talked me off the ledge. And he took the charge, contacted my other professors and let them know … [and after]I was able to catch back up and I didn’t miss a beat.”

Pirson said that Hernandez-Cartaya proved his dedication and ambition through the program.

“He took the material on. He challenged himself. He saw what that material can provide for himself and his leadership,” he said. “He was really keen on learning.”

‘Reporting Back’ in Class

Pirson said that while it was great to watch Hernandez-Cartaya put his lessons into practice, it also helped others in class when he would share his real-life experiences.

“There’s probably nothing better than a student like that, where they actually report back on what difference it makes in their lives and their organizational life,” he said. “By having him share his experience—I think that contributed strongly to the learning of others, in terms of how the material that we’re talking about … [is]not just conceptual.”

Even though this was the first time Hernandez-Cartaya participated in a fully online program, he said he was able to form meaningful connections.

“You can’t talk over each other on Zoom, and I think it made things that people said almost more insightful,” Hernandez-Cartaya said.

The online program also allowed for seamless collaboration for a project between management and marketing students, he said, for which they had to create a sales product for sustainable packaging for Estee´ Lauder in two days.

“Once we got through it, and we were at the end of it—what we produced in that short amount of time was so cool that I almost felt like I could work anywhere,” he said.

Her family had immigrated from Fujian, China, to New York City just seven years earlier and helping in the family business was just something that children were expected to do, she said. A few years later she enrolled in Brooklyn Technical High School, where she found herself intrigued by economics and concepts like game theory.

Following a Passion for Books

When it came time to choose a college, she chose the Gabelli School of Business at Lincoln Center, where she majored in global business with a concentration in digital media and technology. She finished her degree in December after just three and a half years. When she accepts her diploma with her classmates this May, she’ll become the first in her family to graduate from college. Next month, she’ll begin a paid internship with Penguin/Random House.

While the diverse student population of Brooklyn Tech convinced her that she wanted to stay in New York, it was the Jesuit principle of “men and women for others” and the relatively small size that attracted her to the Gabelli School.

“I felt like I was going to a school that was really aligned with what I wanted—as well as one that provided the opportunity for different career paths,” she said.

Living at home presented challenges, as the commute on the D train was an hour one way, but Chen made the most of it. It afforded her ample time to read and influenced her decision to apply for the internship with Penguin/Random House, where she’ll assist in international sales and marketing. The position will allow her to work in a field that she loves, and one that she has experience in as well, having interned in marketing with Amalgamated Bank in 2019.

“While I was in school, I had no idea what I wanted to do. One month, I was like, ‘Oh, I want to do data analysis, and the next one I wanted to do something like finance. I just kept jumping around,” she said laughing.

When a student mentor asked her if she could imagine what she’d do for the rest of her life, “it was pretty clear that the answer was, books. I really loved reading, especially during the commute,” she said.

Helping International Students Adjust

Chen was an active presence on campus as well. As a Global Transition Assistant, she worked with incoming international students in August to help them adjust to life in New York City. Those weeks were some of her best memories of her time at Fordham.

“You’re meeting different people from different places and spending time with them, learning new cultures, and just having fun for a whole week—enjoying life before school starts,” she said.

She was also a teaching assistant for Career IP, a one-credit class for Gabelli School first-year students that Jennifer O’Neil, assistant director of Personal and Professional Development, described as “backpacks to briefcases.” O’Neil said Chen was so good at her job, she was like a stealth worker.

“You mention something to her once, and when you realize you forgot to follow up with her and ask her about it—she’s had it done for three days,” she said.

O’Neil said she was confident that Chen would she’d succeed no matter where she ends up.

“She’s just so pleasant to be around and can do so many different tasks that require a wide range of abilities. You don’t pigeonhole her and say, ‘Oh, she’s a finance person’ or ‘She’s a publishing person,’” she said. “She can do anything that she sets her mind to.”

For Chen, the past year has been an odd one, to say the least. The transition to remote learning meant that the hour of reading on her commute disappeared. And although she finished school in December, the pandemic delayed the start of her internship. But she has plenty of warm memories of Fordham. She said she will fondly remember carefree chats with Vin DeCola, S.J., assistant dean for the B.S. in Global Business, “talking about nothing but everything at the same time”—as well as his annual dumpling parties. And, of course, she’ll always remember her work with international students.

“Everyone participating every day together for a week before the semester starts? Yeah, those are some really fond memories,” she said.

“After leaving the military I wanted to work more with people so I had to decide: What am I good at? I didn’t want to just work to work, I wanted to be fulfilled, and social work met all of what I needed,” she said. “I wanted to make an impact. Also, I like the autonomy of social work, it’s me and my clients.”

Born and raised in Brooklyn, Wright joined the Air Force in 1999 and retired as a master sergeant. In the Air Force she served in a variety of roles, from working in dining, lodging, and deployment facilities to computer records management to communications and signal intelligence at Fort Gordon, Georgia—site of the U.S. Army’s Cyber Command. While in intelligence, she still longed to work directly with people.

After she earned her bachelor’s in social science online in 2017, Wright decided to concentrate on substance abuse when she began her social work studies. Like all GSS students, her first field assignment was chosen for her. She worked at a college in the office of student disabilities, which allowed her to use many of her military organizational skills while arranging services to meet students’ needs. Her second placement was when the “real social work” began, she said. She interned at the opioid treatment program at the Addiction Institute of Mount Sinai. She noted that there’s a personal reason she loves working with that population.

“My parents both passed away early due to HIV as a result of drug use. I always thought that would be my way to help, because sometimes, in this world, real life gets hard,” she said. “I don’t need to be someone who is trying to change anybody. I just want to be there to support them and let them know that not everybody views them negatively.”

Once again, Wright drew from her military experience in her new role. She said that in the military you can’t take things personally.

“Therapy is to heal the client, it’s not to boost me up. People do whatever they need to do, whatever’s best for them, right? You should not want to change them, because that takes that responsibility and puts it on you. That’s a lot of responsibility,” she said. “And people are going to make mistakes, whether it’s relapsing or hurting others, that’s just life.”

Her mentor, Danielle Esposito, is a lecturer at GSS with 13 years of experience working with children and families. Esposito said that Wright’s life experience will protect her from the burnout many new social workers experience.

“It usually takes a while to understand you can’t change a person and that usually happens after your first really tough case,” said Esposito. “You are not there to fix or change, but to support and be a sounding board for whatever a client chooses, especially in recovery.”

Esposito said that Wright was a natural leader in her classes, particularly when it came to a role-playing aspect of the course. She said that Wright was “willing to go anywhere” with a role, either as a client or a therapist, which made the rest of her classmates feel comfortable and safe.

“She would take on the role of the therapist and try out the techniques just taught in the class,” said Esposito. “She’s open to feedback and boy does she follow through with it.”

Wright seems to have absorbed the GSS training that stresses that social workers must take care of themselves before helping others. She volunteers with RamVets, she runs marathons, and she belongs to a MeetUp group that explores parts of the city that she never saw growing up.

“Did you know there’s a lighthouse on Roosevelt Island? I never knew that,” she said, noting that it was also her first time on the tram.

Her first priority will be to land a full-time position where she can help addicts know that they are not alone and that they can count on her not to judge them on their road to recovery.