Centralight

14 centralight spring '14 14 centralight spring '14 14 centralight spring '14 Isha Cogborn, '00 Chandler, Ariz. President of the professional development fi rm Epiphany Institute; co-founder of Entrepid Inc., a business management company and startup incubator What she was known for at CMU: Anchorwoman extraordinaire The backstory: If you were on campus during the late 1990s, you probably saw Isha Cogborn on TV. She was on the team of students who helped transform "News Central 34," as she tells it, "from a 30-minute taped news show to a four-days-a-week, live, butt-kickin' newscast." She interviewed actor Edward James Olmos and introduced poet Maya Angelou to a standing room only crowd at Rose Arena. Cogborn co-founded the Minority Media Professionals Association and was a peer adviser for Minority Student Services. And she did it all as a single mom. When Cogborn started at CMU as a freshman, she was pregnant. She left school after a semester and came back a year and a half later – her 1-year-old, Deon, in tow. "I dragged this little kid all over campus – people might remember me for that," she says. "He would be in the editing suite with me. I'd push two chairs together for him to lie on, I'd cover him with my jacket, and he would go to sleep." After Central: Deon is a freshman in college now, and his mom has come a long way, too. After a successful career at Dow Chemical, Cogborn was laid off in 2009. She had new business cards printed the next day and launched a career as a life coach, motivational speaker and trainer, helping people connect their passion to their career. "There are always opportunities," Cogborn says. "Sometimes they already exist, and sometimes you have to create them." > Jimmy "DJ" Greenup, '01 Miami Beach, Fla. Production manager at LIV nightclub in Miami What he was known for at CMU: Wrote the song "Central Girls" that became legendary on campus The backstory: Greenup fi rst wrote "Central Girls" as a poem for a friend to recite in a public speaking class. "He came back and said, 'Dude – I got an A plus!'" he recalls. He turned it into a song, which became a big hit at parties. "Then somebody put the song on Napster, and the next thing you know people were asking for my autograph and to take their picture with me. People could recite all the lyrics. Hilarious, right?" After Central: Jimmy Greenup has made a career out of the party scene. Just like the Central girls he wrote about more than a decade ago, Greenup, 36, likes to have fun. A physical education major, Greenup worked as a phys. ed. teacher in California for a year. "It was a sweet gig, but I hated waking up before noon," he says. So he headed to Las Vegas to work in the nightclub scene. "I'm a very social person," he says. "I love to dance. I love making sure everybody's having fun. Now, that's my job. " Greenup hosts parties, mingles with guests and keeps the scene lively at the hip Miami night spot, LIV, where celebrities like Miley Cyrus and Kanye West are frequently spotted. Greenup still has fond memories of CMU. "It all goes back to Central," he says. "I used to deejay and I was always the fi rst one at the party, getting everything ready. Central is an awesome place. It was some of the best years of my life." 14 centralight spring '14 PHOTO BY WORLDREDEYE.COM

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