When a middle-schooler in Brooklyn walks into an after-school program and sees a team ready to help with their homework, they’re not thinking about the strategy, people and organizations that made that moment possible. But, behind that opportunity and thousands just like it, Blair alumni are doing their part every day to make the world a better place—mentoring children and expanding opportunities in their communities. 

Blair graduates don’t always make the headlines. But across the United States, in classrooms and clinics, nonprofit offices and community gymnasiums, they are helping to feed, heal, educate and inspire–often in ways that are more felt than seen. A Blair education leaves its mark in many ways, and one of the clearest is through the work our alumni do in service to others, whether professionally or in the hours they carve out for volunteering.

Among the many Blair alumni working in service-driven careers, three graduates, each shaping communities in very different ways, shared how they found their calling and how Blair helped guide their paths. We are proud to highlight their work and hope it inspires you, whether professionally or in your free time, to find a cause that matches your passion for creating a better world.

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Serving Organizations: Liz (Brandwood) Ricca ’03

From her earliest memories on the hilltop, Liz Ricca ’03 understood that serving others was just what one did. The child of longtime Blair faculty members Bob and Joanne Brandwood P’03 ’05 ’06 ’08 ’09, she grew up watching her parents pour their energy into students and community service initiatives. “Working for others defined what they wanted to do with their lives,” she says. Their example made it clear from a young age that “Helping others is what you do and something worth building a life around.”

Today, Liz is a nonprofit operations consultant who serves as a chief of staff or chief operations officer, roles that have become increasingly important in that sector. Many nonprofits cannot afford full-time operational leadership, so Liz steps in to provide strategic support and project management. Her path began in college, when she first worked during summer breaks with nonprofits serving local children and families. That developed her interest in providing one-on-one support, but she also quickly discovered she loved helping organizations clarify their identities and expand their impact. 

Before consulting, Liz spent 17 years at Big Duck, a Brooklyn-based agency that helps nonprofits strengthen their branding, fundraising and communications. “It was surprising to realize how emotional branding can be,” she explains. “To change a name or update a logo that a founder may have drawn on the back of a napkin,” she says, “takes trust and a lot of consensus-building.” 

One of her proudest achievements was guiding an organization named Cure SMA, formerly “Families of SMA,” through a major rebranding. The nonprofit advocates for those affected by a rare disease named spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) by funding large, strategic investments and also helping individuals living with the disease. “That name served them well for almost 30 years,” Liz recalls, “but they needed something that opened the door to more people, something that said, ‘Even if my family is not affected by SMA, I can still be part of this mission.’” 

Guiding Cure SMA through that process was fraught with emotion in ways that Liz hadn’t anticipated. She remembers sitting in on early meetings and feeling the weight of the organization’s history, knowing that the name represented hope for many families dealing with a very difficult diagnosis. “You could feel how important this was to them,” Liz remembers. “I didn’t want to misstep.” There were moments when the room went quiet as the organization’s leaders wrestled with letting go of a name they had lived with for decades. But, step by step, Liz helped lead Cure SMA through those difficult conversations around redefining their identity and growth. “It’s been amazing to see how they’ve grown into their identity as they’ve made big advances in treatment and research,” she now says.

Liz notes that one of the key aspects she enjoys about working with nonprofits is that collaborative process. “The nonprofit sector, I learned, has a very collaborative and consensus-building culture,” she notes. “In the corporate world, there might be one executive who makes the main decisions, and it’s often a very hierarchical decision-making process. But, bringing people together, building buy-in and enjoying that process was something I learned at Blair.” Whether singing in the doo-wop club, working on the student newspaper or helping produce the yearbook, she discovered early on that she thrived in environments where she and her fellow students built something together. “Blair taught me how powerful that shared effort can be,” she says, “and the nonprofit world is full of that.” 

Liz encourages current students to explore service in any way they can. “Volunteering and direct service are so powerful,” she says. “They show you what motivates you and open your eyes to the needs around you. Lean into the passions you already have and look for ways to share them with your community. Making a difference doesn’t need to look the same for everyone,” she notes. She also reminds young people that service can take many forms. “You can contribute on different levels,” she explains. “Some people work at a systems level through national and international organizations; others make an important impact close to home, like helping at a local food pantry. Even if it isn’t your career, you can still volunteer, serve on a board or support a cause you care about. Whatever it is, find opportunities in your corner of the world to engage with your community through your passions.”

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Serving Youth: Dy-Jae Pearson ’18

When Dy-Jae Pearson first drove through Blair’s gate as a potential post-graduate, he felt something he wasn’t sure how to describe—something that felt like energy, positivity. He had first run into Dean of Enrollment Teddy Wenner ’96 while playing lacrosse at Choate Rosemary Hall, and the introduction led him to consider Blair for a post-graduate year. A first visit to campus a short time later helped him make up his mind. “The environment was contagious,” he says, “I felt like I belonged there.”

That single, post-graduate year was an important one for Dy-Jae. Playing football, basketball and lacrosse, he found not just athletic challenges, but a group of teammates and friends who really pushed one another to be their best. “It was my first experience being away from home,” he says. “Blair gave me structure and stability. I saw another world for the first time. At Blair, I found people with similar goals, and that level of success can be contagious. We laughed and joked, but we also worked hard together. That taught me that you can get things done and have fun at the same time.”

After Blair, Dy-Jae earned his undergraduate degree at Bryant University, followed by a master’s in sport management at Hampton University, playing college lacrosse before going on to work for the Atlanta Hawks. But, as much as he enjoyed the excitement of professional sports, he felt pulled to service. “Something told me I had to give back to my community,” he recalls. “I believe in helping foster the next generation, and I didn’t want to wait too long. Now was the perfect time.”

Today, Dy-Jae is doing just that through Harlem Lacrosse, the sport-based nonprofit that led to that first encounter with Mr. Wenner. As one of the program’s earliest participants, he knows firsthand the power it can have. The organization seeks to change the lives of youth in under-resourced communities by embedding staff as role models and academic supporters, using lacrosse as a tool to teach life skills, as well as provide discipline and opportunity.

A typical day blends athletics, academics and mentorship, but Dy-Jae says the real magic often happens during study hall. The fluorescent lights buzz overhead as two dozen teenagers settle into their seats, some opening notebooks, others staring at worksheets. Dy-Jae moves smoothly through the room, checking planners, sliding into empty chairs and asking questions. “How are we doing this?” he asks one. “Talk me through it,” he guides another.

He sees students who have struggled to do homework now working through algebra problems, focused. Dy-Jae watches from across the table, resisting the urge to celebrate too early. He knows it takes time to see improvements. Sometimes they come in small, steady increments, assignment by assignment.

“What we are doing is all year-round. This is a lifestyle,” Dy-Jae explains. A typical day for a Harlem Lacrosse student could include playing a game, visiting a Fortune 500 company to learn about working on Wall Street and then on to study hall to finish up schoolwork. “We’re with them, on the handball courts or in the weight room, working on homework with their tutors. We give them stability and extra direction, especially with academics, which can be the hardest part for many.”

To him, the most rewarding moments come quietly, and it is often in the form of teachers coming up to talk about how much better students are doing in school or parents expressing their thanks. For Dy-Jae, personally watching his kids gaining confidence one step at a time is what fuels him. “That day-by-day progression makes it worth it for me. You see them growing and moving to be where they need to be.”

Dy-Jae hopes Blair alumni will consider getting involved, no matter how big or small the contribution. “People don’t realize it, but you can make a big impact with a little bit of your time,” he says. “A small effort can make a huge difference to these kids.”

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Serving Equity: Hudson Taylor Parifax ’05

Long before he founded Athlete Ally, Hudson Taylor Parifax ’05 thought of himself as a kid moving between two very different worlds. Growing up in Pennington, New Jersey, he had diverse interests, and he often split his time between wrestling and theatre. Blair gave him room for both. Once he arrived as a ninth-grade student, Hudson plunged straight in, performing with the Blair Academy Singers and the doo-wop group, staging productions with the Players, serving on the senior class council and wrestling as if his life depended on it. 

Hudson had chosen Blair because he dreamed of becoming a state wrestling champion, but once he settled in, his dream began to shift. Blair opened doors of which he hadn’t previously been aware. “I realized there were other galaxies,” he says of that time. “Blair gave me awareness of and permission to think about how the world might be different. That exposure to difference as a 14- or 15-year-old was really formative in my ethical development as a person,” he says. It led to new ideas about who he could be and how he could make his mark in the world. 

After Blair, Hudson headed to the University of Maryland as a theatre major, and he later became a wrestling coach at Columbia University. But, it was a single moment at Maryland, he says, that set him on the path that he is on today. 

Hudson had always noticed the divide between his two communities. In theatre, LGBTQ+ classmates felt accepted and at ease. In sports, that wasn’t always the case. As someone who saw himself as a leader, Hudson couldn’t shake the feeling that silence made him complicit. “We get to choose how we treat each other,” he kept thinking. “And this is not okay.”

So, during one major wrestling tournament during his senior year at Maryland, Hudson put a small LGBTQ+ sticker on his headgear. It was a small gesture, one he expected few would notice. But they did. Within days, nearly 2,000 supportive emails, many from closeted athletes, came pouring in. Many were full of gratitude and expressed the need for belonging in sports. Hudson read them in tears. Wrestling had shaped his whole life, and suddenly, he understood how many of his fellow athletes felt they had no place in the sport he loved. 

That moment became the seed for Athlete Ally, the national nonprofit he has now led for 15 years. 

Today, the organization works to ensure that people of all sexual orientations and gender identities can participate fully and safely in sports. With 30 chapters on college campuses and 400 Olympic and Paralympic athletes serving as ambassadors, the nonprofit focuses on education, policy reform and athlete activism. Hudson travels constantly, meeting with athletes, coaches and teams, helping them see that change only happens when people, often those in the majority, choose to use their voices. 

What keeps Hudson going, he says, is a deep sense of hope. “I’m a perpetual optimist. I feel fulfilled by the work I get to do,” he reflects. “There are big stories to tell and there are little stories. The little stories mean more.” For eight years, he trained every incoming NBA player on LGBTQ+ inclusion, knowing that even one athlete choosing to stand up for others can shift the culture around them.

There have been big victories, too. Athlete Ally played a major role in the Principle 6 Campaign, which successfully lobbied the International Olympic Committee to include sexual orientation in the Olympic Charter. Hudson even traveled to Sochi during the 2014 Winter Games as part of the protest against Russia’s anti-gay laws, helping organize athletes who wanted the world to see that discrimination has no place in sport. 

Helping spur change on the global stage is something Hudson is proud of, but it’s individual athletes finding their voice that moves him most. “We all get to choose how we treat one another,” he says. “What kind of teammate do you want to be? These are really important questions for us all.”

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In sharing their stories, Liz, Dy-Jae and Hudson all emphasized the same hope: that their work piques your curiosity and serves as a call to connect and act. Each of them would be delighted to hear from fellow Blair alumni, whether you’re curious about their fields, eager to get involved or simply want to cheer them on. If their stories resonated with you, reach out! Their doors and inboxes are open. Contact them at:

Liz Ricca via LinkedIn: www.blair.edu/liz-ricca
Dy-Jae Pearson: Dyjae@harlemlacrosse.org
Hudson Taylor Parifax: hhudsontaylor@gmail.com