Success Stories

Eugenia Rawls Class of 1934

Following high school, Eugenia studied drama at Wesleyan Conservatory in Macon and was involved with the Conservatory Players and served as President of the Drama Club. To continue with postgraduate work in drama, Eugenia decided to attend the University of North Carolina, and then moved to New York and started her run on Broadway in her 1934 debut in Lillian Hellman’s The Children’s Hour. Later, as an understudy for the actress playing Tallulah Bankhead's daughter in Little Foxes, Miss Rawls met Miss Bankhead for the first time. Weeks later, Eugenia was playing Alexandra to Bankhead's Regina Giddens on Broadway, after which they toured 104 American cities. More info

Evelyn Hanna Sommerville Class of 1932

Like her contemporary Margaret Mitchell, Evelyn used the Civil War as a setting for her romantic fiction and, like Mitchell’s Gone With The Wind, Blackberry Winter was touted by The Atlanta Journal as a ‘possibility for screen entertainment.’ During the 1930s, when these books were published, women novelists were not only enjoying much success but also reinventing the genre of Southern fiction. Blackberry Winter was published in 1938 and missed winning the 1939 Pulitzer Prize by just one vote. The prize that year went to Florida native Marjorie Rawlings for her book, The Yearling. More info

Geovette E. Washington Class of 1989

As Deputy General Counsel for the U.S. Department of Commerce, Geovette Washington ’89 serves as second ranking officer in the Office of General Counsel for a cabinet level agency that employs more than 40,000 people. She assists the General Counsel in his role as the chief legal advisor to the Secretary of Commerce and chief legal officer for the Department and its 12 component bureaus, including the United Patent and Trademark Office, the International Trade Administration, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Census Bureau. More info

GinaMarie Cody Class of 2008

After graduating from Wesleyan in 2008, GinaMarie began the organizational leadership master’s program at Vanderbilt University, where she earned her degree in 2010. This double-major grad made the Dean’s List all four years at Wesleyan, and is thankful to have received a well-rounded education in the presence of sincere sisterhood. Today GinaMarie works at Turner Broadcasting in the Corporate Human Resources (Talent Management) division as an Organizational Effectiveness and Executive Development Coordinator. GinaMarie also serves on the Wesleyan Atlanta Young Alumnae planning committee. More info

Hazel Jane Raines Class of 1936

Wesleyan alumna Hazel Jane Raines’s passion for flying landed her in the Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame for her contributions in peace and in war as Georgia’s Pioneer Lady of Flight. In 1938, two years after graduation from Wesleyan Conservatory, Hazel took her first solo flight and became the first woman in Georgia to be issued a commercial pilot’s license, achieving an instructor’s rating and qualifying as an Eastern Air Lines pilot. Hazel barnstormed with local air shows in the 1930s and was recognized as one of the South’s outstanding flyers. More info

Hyun Mi Choi Corin Class of 2001

Hyun Mi Corin ’01 was attending the Sook Myung Women’s University in Seoul, Korea, when she was given an opportunity to apply for a student exchange program. On a list with more than twenty US colleges and universities, Wesleyan caught her eye. She attended her junior year, then after graduating from Sook Myung, she returned to Wesleyan to earn her second BA degree in art. Since July 2010, she has served as the Program Coordinator and Research Assistant for the Center of Korean Research at Columbia, where she designs and publishes a bi-yearly newsletter, assists in identifying grant opportunities, coordinates academic events, and hires and manages work-study students. More info

Janice A. Mays Class of 1973

Janice Mays joined the House Ways and Means Committee staff in 1975, the same year she graduated from law school. Initially, she was one of three tax counsels for the body and, throughout several presidential administrations, she has assumed greater responsibility on the committee. Today, Mays assists Democratic members with their legislative efforts related to those issues within the jurisdiction of the Ways and Means Committee – including tax, trade, Social Security, Medicare, welfare, and unemployment compensation. She has been instrumental in passing every major tax bill during her 36-year tenure on Capitol Hill and is recognized as a leading tax policy expert. More info

Jo Patterson Bettoja Class of 1947

Jo Patterson Bettoja Class of 1947 Award-winning Cookbook Author Jo Patterson Bettoja ’47 begins each day walking the streets of Rome and shopping the city’s open-air markets. Although she was born in Millen, Georgia, Jo has felt at home five thousand miles away in her Roman kitchen since 1952, five years after graduating from the Wesleyan Conservatory. Her years in between were filled with travel throughout Europe as a high-fashion Vogue magazine model. While working in Italy, Jo met a dashing fifth generation Italian hotelier, Angelo Bettoja. They fell in love, married, and reared three children in the heart of Rome where the Bettoja family’s 1000-room chain of premier hotels is recognized as the largest private hotel group in Italy. More info

Jody Bethea Riggs, Class of 1988

Anyone who followed Jody Bethea Riggs during her career as a Green Knight, Class of 1988, might have anticipated that she would one day become an exemplary alumna. She learned early as a student worker in the admissions office to represent Wesleyan well and inspire others to love the College. As a student ambassador, she welcomed prospective students to campus and gave tours. Her campus activities were another indicator of her future involvement as an alumna. More info

Karan Kendrick EMBA Class of 2010

As a business owner with a lucrative movie career on the rise, Karan Kendrick decided she needed a better understanding of business matters and how to manage money in an efficient and sustainable way, so she enrolled in Wesleyan’s Executive MBA program. A 2010 graduate of the program, Kendrick said, “I needed to understand the business side of show business, and how the money works. I have to know how to negotiate and what to expect from residuals. Actors get paid for the work they do, but their real salaries depend on the residuals,” she said. More info

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