Class Note 2020. If there’s one thing our class year knows, it’s disruption. That’s what you get when you lose your senior spring to a global pandemic. It’s a bit frightening, the realization that you can be trotting off toward a normal life of office jobs and morning commutes and, in the blink of an eye, become suspended midair in a Lewis Carroll rabbit hole of Zoom calls. Yet, beyond the condolences I receive from older alumni whenever I mention our class year, there is something powerful about knowing, even expecting, the world to change.
I reckon that will make for some very entrepreneurial ’20s, or as Silicon Valley was extremely fond of saying in 2015: disrupters. In my view, it’s much less about what you tear down than what you build up. Starting a new venture should be about more than buying a lottery ticket to a nine-figure acquisition and a superyacht. It should be an act of hope, a love letter to the world you want to live in—or a meaningful way to serve your community.
For our first-ever edition of “Maker’s Corner,” we’re spotlighting Natalie Mendolia, an entrepreneur whose new venture comes very much from the heart. She tells us how it all began, in her own words: “In May 2026, after lovingly forcing my best friend to let me meal prep for her as she prepared for her medical residency boards, I rediscovered the joyous flow state I have always felt when I am cooking in a kitchen—apron on, music by Dean Martin (or Bad Bunny) cranked, burners fired.
“A few hours after reaching said flow state and having devoured some of West Harlem’s Dinosaur BBQ with the friends who witnessed my pure elation, I sat on my beanbag (who can fit a couch in a Manhattan apartment?) and had the skeleton of a business plan for Nourish by Nat NYC, a small personal chef-and-meal-prep business catered toward everyday people who want to take care of their hearts, bodies, and bellies.
“As of writing this column, the business is almost launched. I am finalizing my website and using word of mouth to find potential clients. Ideally, I would love to establish an LLC and earn a food preparation license or certificate, so my six-month plans are to pursue these goals and launch. I always wanted to create and design and seem to have discovered that I was also born with an entrepreneurial spirit.
“I had taken a couple of years away from teaching to reflect on my path forward, my values, and how I wanted to translate my Dartmouth degree into a legacy. Every 2020 graduate class, whether high school, undergrad, or graduate, experienced an unprecedented kind of transition into their next stage of life. I am so grateful for what those circumstances pushed me to confront and how they encouraged me to grow. However, like many others, much of my reflection on that time is tinged with lament and grief. That said, what better way to honor the idea that life is short than to make food that brings people closer to health, happiness, and nourishment?
“Although I will be re-entering the teaching world this fall, I plan to continue my mission of spreading the love, culture, and comfort I was gifted through every weeknight dinner raucous with debate, Saturday morning fried dough, and cooking lessons with my uncle.”
Thank you for telling your story, Nat! And ’20s, if you’d like to share what you’re cooking up, please write in to the Class Notes!
—Emma Velicky, 808 24th Ave. S., Seattle, WA 98144; emmavelicky.20@dartmouth.edu