Three CGS Alums to Receive Top Honors at Alumni Weekend 2023

75th Best of BU Alumni Awards will celebrate the achievements of Danielle De La Fuente, Mitchell Garabedian, and Daniella Pierson

By Chelsea Feinstein

At the 75th Best of BU Alumni Awards at Alumni Weekend on September 23, three CGS alumni will be among those recognized for their achievements.

The honorees include a nonprofit founder focused on helping children cope with trauma, a crusading lawyer known for his work defending survivors of sexual abuse, and an entrepreneur focused on dismantling the stigma around mental health.

Collegian spoke with the award recipients about their careers, their time at CGS, and their advice for students and young alumni.

Danielle De La Fuente (’04, Pardee’06)

Danielle De La Fuente began her career in diplomacy and peacebuilding working at the Department of Defense and several embassies. But after realizing she wanted to concentrate on preventing problems rather than addressing them once they started, she went back to school to get a master’s degree in intergenerational trauma.

She found herself in Greece during the refugee crisis in 2016 and saw an opportunity to help migrant children. In 2017, she founded the Amal Alliance, a nonprofit that provides displaced and disenfranchised children with social development programs. The goal of the organization is to help children cope with trauma and set them up to succeed.

The organization has developed educational programming that has been implemented in five countries: Bangladesh, Greece, Lebanon, Turkey, and Uganda.

“The program really resonated because I think it was something that was missing. It was a complete void in the system,” De La Fuente says.

She credits her time at BU with giving her the opportunity to find out what interested her. She advises students and young alumni to not be afraid to reinvent themselves.

“I had so many nos,” she says. “Not everything I’ve done has worked out well. There’s this very big apprehension to failure, and I think it’s sometimes in those mistakes or getting the nos where you learn. Don’t be afraid to detour or try something new, because some of the best opportunities I’ve taken have been some of the most random doors that suddenly opened, and I just chose to walk through them.”

Mitchell Garabedian (’71, CAS’73)

In his decades-long career as an attorney, Mitchell Garabedian has been a tireless defender of suvivors of sexual abuse, representing more than 2,500 people in 14 countries. His work defending survivors in the Catholic Church abuse scandal in Boston was immortalized in the Academy Award–winning film Spotlight, in which he was portrayed by Stanley Tucci.

The lawsuits he’s helmed and his work advocating for new legislation have had lasting impacts for survivors beyond just his clients. He has successfully argued that the statute of limitations has not expired in cases brought by adults who were sexually abused as children and drafted legislation that required clergy to be added to the list of mandatory reporters of child abuse.

Garabedian arrived at CGS after growing up on a farm in Methuen, Mass. He credits the faculty at CGS with helping him learn how to think and giving him the confidence to use his education to advance himself.

“Their doors were always open,” he says. “They were always encouraging students to have confidence in themselves, to be bold, to be adventurous, and to think. That was a basic building block which provided me with the knowledge that I could accomplish something meaningful in life.”

Garabedian says his experiences with the team system at CGS and his background in the liberal arts set him up for success in his career.

“The education they gave you at CGS, whether it was humanities or sciences, opened you up to the world.”

Daniella Pierson (’15, Questrom’17) 

Daniella Pierson began her career as an entrepreneur in the halls of CGS. During her sophomore year, she launched The Newsette, a newsletter targeted at young women. Today, The Newsette boasts more than half a million subscribers, and the company closed 2021 with $40 million in revenue. Pierson was recently named one of the world’s youngest wealthiest self-made BIPOC women by Forbes, based on a net worth of $220 million.

Her newest venture is even more personal. Last year, Pierson, who has been open about her experiences with ADHD, OCD, and depression, joined forces with Selena Gomez to launch Wondermind, a media platform that aims to “destigmatize and democratize mental health.”

“My mission in life is really to better articulate and educate people on what mental illness is and how it can be treated, and that it does not define who you are as a businessperson or any person,” she says. “You can thrive despite having any sort of diagnosis and I want to be living proof of that.”

In May 2023, Pierson was invited to give the convocation address for BU’s Questrom School of Business. Her advice to students was to not be afraid to sell yourself, and to never sell yourself short.

Although she says she’s struggled with imposter syndrome over the years, believing in herself has been key to her success.

“People don’t want the smartest person in the room,” she says. “They want the most passionate person in the room who can learn and who can continue to better themselves every day.”