thePULSE25 to Watch in 2005
The Pulse picks 25 young local entrepreneurs, writers, artists, politicians … and more on the move
January 2005
Andrea Ajemian
Age: 29
Producer, actress, co-founder 3 Souls Films
Rutland/ Los Angeles, CA
Andrea Ajemian produced and starred in local indie film hit Freedom Park, which recently won the Independent Spirit Award at the World Cinema Naples Film Festival and the Marco Island Film Festival Salutes Award. Ajemian also won the 2002 Best Actress Award at the B Movie Film Festival for her role in the zany comedy Rutland, USA. She just completed post-production on her directorial debut The Green House Girls. Ajemian and her partners at 3 Souls Films have a few projects in development, including El Tiante, based on the true story of Red Sox pitching great, Luis Tiant.
“The only person who completely believes in you 100% of the time is you,” says Ajemian. “If you don’t believe in yourself, it makes it a lot harder to achieve your goals, especially in a cutthroat business like the film industry.”
Ed Augustus
Age: 39
State Senator, Worcester
As Augustus heads to Beacon Hill, his years of experience as chief of staff for Congressman Jim McGovern should help him be a strong presence in the Massachusetts Senate. Augustus has always been interested in politics, working on his first campaign when he was 13, stuffing envelopes during Ed King’s campaign for governor. His experience in Washington will undoubtedly help as he navigates the legislative process in Boston. He says that he will work hard to keep in touch with the needs of Massachusetts residents while in office.
Augustus says that his most embarrassing career moment was “in the mid- 1990s, while I was working for the U.S. Dept. of Education. I was invited to speak at the University of Louisiana at New Orleans and I thought it was a radio show. But when I got there, there was a stadium filled with 25,000 high school kids. They were asking lots of tough questions, like ‘I have a teacher who comes in drunk every day…’ — and I wasn’t prepared to answer those!”
Joe “ZaZa” Peterson
Age: “Legal”
Tattoo Artist
“Nearby”
He’s not just an ink-slinger. No generic hearts being stabbed or boring skulls and crossbones for this tattoo artist. In fact, there’s no flash art on the walls, no sketches and all Za-Za’s beautiful tattoo work is custom designed — often as he works directly on his client. Peterson considers himself a true artist… he just makes his permanent paintings on skin. He has a palette of 64 organic inks, even pastels, which can be blended into myriad shades for his masterworks. And his reputation precedes him. He’s just gone from a 750 square foot operation to a 3,200 square foot house with four studios and three other artists that he trained. He’s accomplished all of this with no advertising, just word of mouth. He’s planning his first annual tattoo show this spring at ZaZa Ink just over the line in West Boylston.
Nicholas Reville
Age: 25
Co-director, Downhillbattle.org
Worcester
Reville started Down hillbattle.org in August 2003 with his friend Holmes Wilson, to advocate for better music industry standards. This past year, Reville and his organization attracted international media attention, bringing 200 websites together to organize a protest against sampling rights — giving away over one million copies of DJ Danger Mouse’s controversial Grey Album for free. In 2005, Reville and the Downhill crew will start a new organization, the Participatory Politics Foundation, in order to find new ways to get people interested and involved in politics and government. The staff will also release a new file-sharing application called Blog Torrent.
What’s in the office CD player of an organization fighting for a better music industry? Nick says that the staff’s been listening lately to Mirah, Kanye West and local musician Jake Berendes.
Monica Maldonado
Age: 22
Model/ Student
Worcester
Keep an eye out for Maldonado this coming year — and not just because she’s stunning. With years of experience, a fiery ambition and a supportive husband, this model is poised to make some dramatic career moves in 2005. She has been modeling since she was 8 years old and has done shoots in New York and Miami. Last year, she auditioned for America’s Next Top Model, making it to the final rounds. Don’t be surprised if she makes the final cut in 2005. Either way, she’s ready to take on New York City on her own — expect to see her picture pop up in magazines soon. Oh, and as if all this is not enough, Maldonado’s also pursuing a career in architecture!
Monica was born in Uganda. She enjoys spending time at Purgatory Chasm.
Brendan Robichaud
Age: 27
Owner and Operator, Club Seven
Webster
Robichaud cannot be mentioned without making note of his partner, Nadia Lakhalakhni. Worcester’s Club Seven is really a product of these two friends’ entrepreneurial personalities. Located at 287 Main Street, Seven provides a relaxed, but engaging place where young professionals can get together. Even though it has only been open for a few months, it is already becoming a fixture in the area’s nightlife. Both owners also have a strong commitment to community involvement. They recently hosted a charity drive for the fire department and plan to do more of the same good works in 2005. In addition to charity events, Seven will be showcasing a variety of comedy shows, wine tastings, martini tastings and some theme parties (like a Sex in the City night and a Mardi Gras bash) that can’t be missed.
Jennifer Agbay
Age: “A lady never tells”
Artistic Director,
Performing Arts School of Worcester
Shrewsbury
Born and bred in Worcester, Agbay is an alumna of the Performing Arts School of Worcester [PASOW]. From age six to 18, she honed her skills as a classical ballet dancer. After doing a six-year stint in New York City waiting tables (dancing when she could get a gig), Agbay returned to town, married her high school boyfriend and just three months ago started a new position as Artistic Director at PASOW. Aware of the school’s shaky leadership in recent years, Agbay hopes to bring back the joy, honesty and camaraderie that she enjoyed at PASOW as a child. She’s already staged the Nutcracker at Clark University and is planning a big spring production of Sleeping Beauty that will incorporate all 70-plus students. Her brand new adult company, Company X, performed at First Night and will have its premiere recital in May.
Milton Valencia
Age: 25
Staff Reporter, Telegram & Gazette
Worcester
Valencia’s been a newspaper reporter since he was 20 years old. He attended UMASS, but has yet to get his college degree — he’s been too busy chasing down stories. He began writing for The Times of Pawtucket five years ago and then landed a job at The Herald News in Fall River. He also worked as a “stringer” for the Associated Press in Providence. In February 2003, Valencia began working for the Worcester Telegram and Gazette’s Fitchburg office, and in June 2003, hit the streets of Worcester as one of the T&G’s community reporters. In the coming year, scan the pages for specials and series written by this young up-and-comer.
“I’ve made Shrewsbury Street my home,” Valencia says. He moved into an apartment there this summer and has become a regular at many of the bars on the boulevard — watch what you say when this guy’s around!
Oscar Colon
Age: 27
Founder and President, spothound.com
Worcester
Colon came up with the idea for his current company, spothound.com, over five years ago. As an undergrad at UMASS Amherst, he entered the concept into a business plan competition. He didn’t win, but recently he and business partner Marcus Hytonen have brought their nightlife advertising company to life. Spothound.com provides exposure for the after-dark crowd — venues, DJs, promoters and models — via online profiles, event pages, pictures, mailing lists and email databases. Colon says that business is booming — in November, the website doubled its visits over the previous month and then, in December, traffic increased by over four times. Colon has big plans; by January he wants to expand the service to Boston and later in 2005, expand to New York City.
“I love to have fun, but more, I love to see people have fun. I love to see a crowd of smiling faces,” Colon says of his passion for the business.
Vincent Pedone
Age: 37
State Representative, 15th Worcester District
Worcester
Pedone may not have envisioned himself as a seven-term State Rep when he was a 25-year-old social worker for the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children — but just 12 years later he is securely in the state’s political picture. As a matter of fact, Pedone says his lack of a political background is the main reason he can relate to voters. One tough issue is looming as Pedone looks toward the coming year: stem cell research, which he sees as an enormous opportunity to improve health care. Pedone is also rumored to be in line for a leadership position of the powerful Ways and Means Committee or the chairmanship of the Science and Technology Committee.
Pedone says his New Year’s resolution is “to lose two-thirds of the weight I have put on throughout my elected career.” However, he’s been a bit preoccupied lately, since his wife is expecting to have a baby early this year, who will join son Giacamo, age 2.
Joffrey Smith
Age: 24
Financial Services Professional, New York Life
Worcester
Joff Smith is a very successful financial services professional. At the age of 24, he is already closing in on the “Million Dollar Round Table,” which is reserved for the top 3 % elite of the insurance profession. But it’s after hours when Joff really shines — he’s a model and an actor, who landed a bit part in local indie film Freedom Park and a spot in a Jordan’s Furniture commercial. Smith also auditioned for the Donald Trump business reality show, The Apprentice 2, making it to the final round. He played baseball in college, which earned him tryouts with both the Cleveland Indians and the Boston Red Sox. When asked what’s next, Smith replies that he’s thinking about running for the Worcester City Council. If he does, there are a few incumbants who may have to watch out!
If you’re looking for Smith on the weekends, he says that first places you should check are On the Rocks and Funky Murphy’s on Shrewsbury Street.
Ali Reyell
Age: 21
Student Athlete, Sweeper for Assumption College Women’s Soccer team
Worcester
Reyell was named Assumption Women’s Soccer program’s first-team, All-American, Northeast-10 Conference Player of the Year and is a candidate for the NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship. She was a keystone in the Greyhounds’ 15-6 season and first-ever appearance in conference and NCAA regional final. Reyell was a major reason the squad was named the No.1 defensive unit in the Northeast-10 Conference. The team captain earned first-team all-conference honors, an all-New England selection, and the Northeast-10 Conference Defender of-the-Year. Her 3.91 GPA and double Psychology/ Spanish major earned her recognition for the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship.
“This season is certainly one I will never forget, but more importantly I will never forget the team,” says Reyell. “I couldn’t think of anyone else that I’d rather share such an incredible experience with.”
Don Hartmann
Age: “Over 21”
Artist
Worcester
A true landscape gardener by day (not just some guy who pushes a lawnmower), Hartmann designs gardens filled with plantings, ponds and sculpture. By night, he’s an artist, the occupation he loves most. Largely self-taught, he paints portraits with oils on Masonite in a free, loose “Outsider” style from Polaroids that he’s taken of friends and folks everywhere. So be on the lookout for him, you just might be in his next painting. Hartmann’s only been in town two years. However, he’s already shown at ARTSWorcester and the Art Well, and he’s had four of his “garish” paintings accepted to the national juried show that opens January 7 at the MPG Contemporary Gallery in Boston.
Peter Caputa IV
Age: 28
Founder and president, WhizSpark.com
Worcester
Caputa came up with the idea for WhizSpark.com when he and a few friends used Yahoo! Invites to plan a ski trip. In the end, 86 people ended up going on the trip. Caputa says, “The idea of using a social network to get people to an event is really the thrust of what we’re doing.” This past year, WhizSpark hosted an event in Kansas City that raised $200,000 for Lupus research — it was attended by the Kansas City Chief’s wide receiver Eddie Kennison. On a grand scale, that’s what WhizSpark is all about, providing tools for planners to organize, advertise and manage events. The website assists with planning by offering assistance with web design, ticketing, online guest and mailing lists and a free event directory. Caputa explains that he and his business partner, Jeetandra Mahtani, also hope to create a step-by-step downloadable program on WhizSpark that will enable planners to build their own event websites.
Antonio Savino
Age: 21
Executive Chef, Opia 1541
Worcester
At only 21, Savino is the creative force behind Opia 1541, a recently opened restaurant at 1541 Main Street in Worcester. This recent graduate of the New England Culinary Institute in Vermont has peaked the interest of local gastronomes with his innovative menu, featuring items such as Braised Short Ribs with Lobster and Venison Osso Bucco. Although he puts in over 80 hours a week at work, Savino still finds time to go out in Worcester — usually to his favorite restaurant, Armadillo Depot on Park Ave. Savino says Armadillo owner Stefan Chios taught him everything he knows about the business side of restaurants. This fast-rising 21-year-old advises starting entrepreneurs to, “Just keep with it, it can be upsetting now, but it will be rewarding in the long run.” With such great food on his menu, Savino is a natural up and comer to watch in 2005.
Savino is not shy, but he does have a secret — “I’m a Star Wars geek” he admits.
Kate McEvoy
Age: 31
Charity worker/ Director of Marketing, Fallon Community Health Plan
Worcester
To say that McEvoy is an active member of the community is an understatement. She is dedicated to helping those in need, volunteering her time, creativity and considerable energy to numerous fundraising efforts. McEvoy has helped raise money for Worcester’s St. Paul’s Cathedral, Preservation Worcester and Kid’s Café, a dinner-subsidization program run by the Boys and Girls Club. She also sits on several boards, including the city’s St. Patrick’s Parade Committee. At her day job at Fallon Community Health Plan, she was recently named Director of Marketing for the Elder Service Plan, an alternative to nursing homes and a relatively new concept in elder care. She says of her community work, “What makes a community great are people who say, “I can do that — yes, I can help out.’”
McEvoy was selected one of the Worcester Business Journal’s “40 under 40” in 2002.
Steve Balsavich (DJ Steve Right)
Age: 23
DJ/ Producer
Worcester
Twice named Worcester’s top DJ, Balsavich has no plans to stop spinning. He’s a regular performer at Rage on Worcester’s Water Street and next year expect to see him doing promotions with other area clubs and bars — and way beyond the Worcester area in Chicago and Miami. When he’s not at a club, DJ SteveRight keeps himself busy with several recording projects. He produces his own radio show for Kiss 108 FM, and in 2005 is looking to expand to satellite radio. Three of his recording projects are scheduled to debut next year. One project, Pepper Mashay, is already being marketed to Billboard Magazine and should make a big splash.
Want to hear about this busy man’s biggest project for the coming year? How about working on a remix with 80’s pop singer Debbie Gibson!
Tim Smith
Age: “Timeless”
Director of Education and Group Sales, Foothills Theatre
Oakham
Tim Smith’s only been at it for three months, but he’s already setting the stage for big happenings at Worcester’s Foothills Theatre, including expanding outreach activities to the public schools, putting artists in local classrooms, and starting a new program with the Worcester Youth Center [WYC]. At heart though, Smith’s an actor, who won local hearts as Riff in Forum Theater’s famed West Side Story, acted in Grease at Trinity Rep, and coordinated “Shakespeare in the Park” last summer in Worcester’s Green Hill Park. He’s heading up Worcester Art for Youth at the WYC and is also planning a big film festival of the kids’ homemade videos this spring. Smith says his dream is to be respected for his work in the area’s theatrical community.
Smith told us that, as a kid, he wanted to be a rock star.
Guy Glodis
Age: 35
Worcester County Sheriff-elect
Auburn
As the youngest sheriff the Commonwealth has ever seen, Glodis has big plans for his new job — but knows his new gig won’t be without some tough challenges. He ran on a reform platform with strong union support, and as Sheriff he’s planning a top-to-bottom restructuring of the Worcester County Jail. His top priorities also include the rehabilitation and reentry of convicts and turning the official sheriff’s residency into a halfway house. He will also re-evaluate contact visits, which he says bring a lot of drugs into the jail. Of the year ahead Glodis says, “It’s going to be a daunting challenge. It’s time for me to prove my stripes, and I know I’m up for the task.”
Glodis says that his most embarrassing career moment happened after he was first elected. He was the youngest state senator at the age of 29 and, when he arrived at the State House for his first session of the senate, he was turned away. He jokes, “The guard wouldn’t let me in. He said it was for senators only!”
Larry Lopez
Age: 21
Student/Student Government Association president, Worcester State College
Marlborough/ Worcester
As Worcester State’s SGA president, Lopez has a full plate. He serves as an important advocate and an informed voice for his fellow students. Over the course of the past semester, Lopez has done just that, participating in teacher contract negotiations alongside professors and members of state and local government. “It’s going to impact our graduation,” he says of the teacher contract negotiations, adding that many students won’t graduate if course offerings are limited because there isn’t enough money or teachers. “It’s difficult for people who want to walk across that stage,” he says.
This past semester, Lopez was also busy doing an internship at Senator John Kerry’s Boston office.
Michael Lanava
Age: 26
Business Resource Manager, Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce
Worcester
Lanava’s going to have a busy year. He says that the WRCC is reinvigorated and will be working on a number of projects that are going to change the face of business in Worcester. Lanava’s position was recently created, as two former positions, Economic Development and Government Affairs, were combined. He is the staff point person for city and state officials on a host of Chamber initiated projects. Lanava’s first task is to reintegrate local small business groups, like the Shrewsbury Street Area Merchants Association, back into the Chamber. He will also be compiling a list of business resources. “It’s really about creating a marketing piece for the area that we can use to help business,” he says of the project. In the end, Lanava says, such moves will help to create more meaningful services and programs for the Worcester community at large.
Jeremy O’Connor & Tony Tyan
Age: 29 & 30
Co-owners, FooBar and Junior’s
Millbury and Shrewsbury
Growing up in Shrewsbury, Jeremy O’Connor and Tony Tyan became fast friends, and they always talked about going into business together. Friends joke about the two being so close, (the two are even building homes right next door to each other in Millbury). Joking aside, the two friends make a great business team. Worcester’s FooBar, which they opened in 2000, has become a happening nightspot for the 20-something crowd. Their next vision was to create a casual grille-style restaurant like those O’Connor had seen in Arizona. Enter Junior’s Pizza Grille, a fresh new addition to Shrewsbury Street’s dining options. Check out our review on page 32. Look for O’Connor and Tyan there, but by then, they just might be working on something new.
O’Connor says that his New Year’s resolution is “To work less and have more fun.” He jokes that “Tony’s is to work more and have less fun.”
Nathan Harris
Age: 28
Owner/ Internet marketing and web development, New Perspective Web Solutions
Worcester
At age 28, Harris is the owner of the successful and award-winning New Perspective Web Solutions (www.npws.net). The recent Assumption College MBA graduate started his web development and Internet marketing company in August 2001. Last year, New Perspective won a 2004 Golden Web Award in recognition of its creativity, integrity and excellence on the web. Why? Because Harris’s company works very closely with its clients in order to not only develop signature, innovative designs, but to also successfully market these websites. With demand for search engine optimization and Internet marketing on the rise, Harris plans to further promote his company’s expertise to local business owners. New Perspective is on its way to becoming a major player in the area’s booming information industry.
Harris says that he enjoys skiing, mountain biking, tennis and wakeboarding.
Katie Krock
Age: 25
Owner of K.J. Baaron’s Fine Wine & Spirits
Worcester
Katie Krock recently opened an upscale wine shop, K.J. Baaron’s Fine Wine & Spirits in downtown Worcester. Krock says she wanted to give Worcester an upscale shop like those found in Boston or New York. It helps that her family once owned a liquor store, and that she’s always liked wine. In addition to the wine shop, Krock also manages her father’s real estate holdings, which include many of the major office buildings in downtown Worcester — the Commerce Building, the Slater Building, the Central Building, and 365 Main Street. Krock is a graduate of Worcester’s Bancroft School and Drexel University, where she majored in Fashion Design, which she employed when she recently undertook a major renovation of the Commerce Building at 340 Main Street, putting in a new granite lobby and courtyard shops on the ground floor.
Krock tells us that her favorite wine is the reasonably priced Santa Emma Merlot from Argentina.
Joe Scully
Age: 21
Campaign Field Organizer/ Student
Worcester
As the city has seen with the success of young pols, particularly thePulse’s 25 to watch in 2005 picks Vincent Pedone, Ed Augustus and Guy Glodis, we all benefit when energetic politicians with new ideas and young blood arrive on the political scene. Joe Scully might provide a new political spark in 2005. Scully has been working on political campaigns since he was 17. Since his first experience as a member of Tim Murray’s mayoral campaign, he has been active in politics. Just recently he returned from Iowa, where he was serving as a field organizer for John Kerry’s presidential campaign. After he graduates this May from Fordham University with a degree in Political Science and Philosophy, Scully sees himself returning to Worcester to help fight for issues that will positively affect the economic development of the city. Look for Joe to continue to be a force behind Worcester politics — whether forming policy, writing speeches or organizing campaigns.
