Alumnae Storytellers

Graduates of NCS go on to work in a number of fields. These 10 alumnae tell stories through film, journalism, poetry, dance, and more.

Television and Film

Valerie Scoon ‘83: Film Producer and Professor
Valerie Scoon ‘83 is a film producer and a professor at Florida State University (FSU) Film School who has dedicated her career to elevating stories of Black Americans. Through her production company, True Visions Films, her recent projects include Daring Women Doctors: 19th Century Women Physicians and Invisible History: Middle Florida’s Hidden Roots, which both aired nationally on PBS. Invisible History won a regional Emmy.

Scoon studied American history and literature at Harvard University, and after graduating, interned at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History under fellow NCS graduate Fath Ruffins ‘72, with whom she still works on projects today. Once Scoon saved enough money to move to Hollywood, she secured a job in the industry answering phones. She volunteered to do “coverage,” which involved distilling a 100-page script down to a two-page synopsis and a half-page of critical comments. Since then, in one way or another, Scoon has provided comments on scripts throughout her career, offering advice to screenwriters, such as Spike Lee, on how to improve their scripts.

Eventually, Scoon landed a job at Warner Bros., where she developed the films Malcolm X, The Secret Garden, and many others. She later worked at PBS in D.C. and at Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Films back in Hollywood. The film The Great Debaters was another of Scoon’s projects that she first heard as a verbal pitch and worked with the screenwriter to develop into the script that led to a Golden Globe nomination. In addition to her work with True Visions Films, she continues to teach film at FSU Film School and offers critical commentary on screenplays. Scoon encourages NCS students interested in film to read as much as possible and to—of course—watch a lot of movies, including foreign cinema. She still remembers her English teacher at NCS, Mrs. Pregnall, who told her less can be more. “I use that with my students today,” says Scoon. “Less actually can be more.”

Nell Constantinople ’01: Documentary Filmmaker and Producer
Nell Constantinople ’01 has worked on several documentary projects, including Netflix’s Abstract: The Art of Design, Showtime’s The Fourth Estate, and Apple TV+’s The Me You Can’t See. Reflecting on her experience, Constantinople recalls the confidence she gained as a student. “It’s unshakeable. It’s this fundamental belief that your opinions matter,” she says, adding that NCS instilled in her a strong writing foundation. “That has put me in such an amazing position to now be a storyteller years later,” she says.

Constantinople encourages young people to explore various interests. In college at Northwestern University, she studied in South America for a year and discovered film production. “It wasn’t until I got to Chile, and I found an amazing community of artists, that I felt comfortable stepping out [into film, TV, and storytelling] for the first time,” she says. Shortly after graduating from college, Constantinople began working in different areas of the film industry, which took her around the world, from Peru to Russia. By her thirties, she discovered film production.

“People are surprised that I didn’t go to film school, but I felt that working was the best way to learn,” says Constantinople. “Diving in and doing the work has been the most remarkable, most rewarding experience and given me the practical day-to-day chops to understand how to bring a story to life.”

The filmmaker has advice for young filmmakers and storytellers. “You don’t need 10 years of schooling. Go out, don’t be timid, and get your hands dirty. I’ve come to realize now, almost turning 40, that it was such a gift to have that time in my twenties to try different things. The zigs and zags of my twenties were fundamental to the success that I feel like I’m experiencing now,” she says.

Mary Bruce ’01: Journalist
Mary Bruce ‘01 spent 13 years on the Close as a student at NCS and Beauvoir. Today, she is a TV news reporter and senior White House correspondent for ABC News. She has worked on shows such as “World News Tonight,” “Good Morning America,” “Nightline,” and “This Week.”

After graduating from Washington University in St. Louis, Bruce returned to D.C. in search of a job in journalism. She accepted a position at a healthcare trade publication, covering the pharmaceutical industry. Later, she was hired at ABC News, where she has worked ever since. “I grew up within ABC,” she says.

When identifying stories and writing TV scripts, Bruce asks herself: Why is this important? Why is this something we feel the voter, the American audience, needs to know? How can we best inform voters in making their own decisions? Will this story help impact their own lives?

Bruce credits NCS with fostering her passion for writing, teaching her to be curious, and training her to speak in public. “The public speaking aspect of being an NCS student that is drilled into you is really important,” says Bruce. She uses this skill every day.

She encourages aspiring TV journalists to seek out radio experience. “I had a chance to fill in as the White House radio correspondent,” says Bruce. “I tell anyone interested in being on camera to try to do as much radio as you can. It gives you the experience of learning how to tell complicated stories in 30 seconds without the fuss of being on camera.”

Bruce has two pieces of advice for aspiring journalists. “Don’t be in such a hurry to achieve the goal. Take any job that feels like it gives you great exposure and is a step in the right direction to whatever may be the ultimate goal. Anything you can learn from is worth doing,” she says.

Creative Writing

Fan Staunton Ogilvie: ‘62 Poet
Fan Staunton Ogilvie ‘62, former poet laureate of West Tisbury, Mass., published her first poem in the NCS literary magazine, Half in Earnest. She’s come a long way since her NCS days, having recently published her third book of poems, The Berth: American Themes in Poems and Images, in 2020.

Ogilvie followed in her mother’s footsteps in attending NCS. While there, her English teacher piqued her interest in poetry. “I probably was a poet all my life, but walking into Mrs. Davis’s class as a sophomore, it was like walking into the nest of a wizard. She was an incredible teacher and person, and she started reading some of Walt Whitman’s and other poets’ works. It was my language. I knew I had a real affinity for that kind of speaking and thinking. So, I always give her credit for opening that in me,” says Ogilvie.

After graduation, she attended Smith College. “I wrote some very bad poetry that I never showed anyone and never thought it would go any further,” she says. She picked it back up once she had children and met a group of writers in D.C. who formed a poetry group, which still exists today. She then taught for over 25 years, 10 of which were as a poet in residence at various locations.

Sharing her own method for improving as a poet, Ogilvie says, “My experience was to learn from other poets. Just to read and read more poetry until I felt saturated enough that I could try to write my own. That takes time,” she says. Ogilvie describes her writing process saying, “I don’t know where it’s coming from next, but it’s just a little hook in the brain that says: I want words.”

Naomi Iizuka ‘83: Playwright, Screenwriter, and Professor
Although Naomi Iizuka ‘83 writes plays such as Anon(ymous) and Polaroid Stories and scripts for television shows such as Bosch: Legacy, Tokyo Vice, and The Terror, she believes teaching is the one of the most rewarding things that she does.

Before becoming a playwright, Iizuka attended law school for a year and decided she wanted to take a different path. She later attended the University of California San Diego’s Master of Fine Arts theater program, which she now leads.

As a playwright, Iizuka approaches stories primarily from the characters. “Story, structure, play, and narrative emerge from the human condition that the characters embody,” she tells students. “If you really know your characters and you spend time with them, stories organically emerge from that.” She also emphasizes to her students the importance of treating each project as its own separate entity. Every piece is its own universe, and it should be viewed that way,” she says. Iizuka enjoys helping her students identify stories they want to bring to life. She advises them, “You are being called to tell something of yourself—a story that only you can tell in a way that only you can tell it.”

Iizuka cherished her time at NCS, during which she was editor of Half in Earnest. “It was extraordinary. NCS taught me to be a strong, rigorous, and analytical thinker. Those problem-solving skills are helpful in creating plays and television shows,” she says.

Iizuka’s advice for NCS storytellers interested in playwriting is to seek out a community of fellow writers, start a writers’ group with other writers you know, look for mentorship opportunities during the summer, submit to writing contests, and see all the theatre you can in D.C.’s wonderful theater scene.

Elliott Holt ’92: Writer, National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellow
Elliott Holt ‘92 took only one creative class at NCS, but she knew she wanted to be a writer from an early age. After earning a degree in drama from Kenyon College, she lived in Europe for five years before moving to New York City, where she wrote ad copy during the day and fiction at night. Holt later earned a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from Brooklyn College, and she was featured in New York Magazine as a “writer to watch.”

In 2013, Holt’s novel You Are One of Them, which prominently features Washington National Cathedral, was published by Penguin Press. As a reader and editor (Holt is currently deputy editor of the Kenyon Review), she looks for stories that challenge her. “I want to feel like the writing is taking some sort of risk,” says Holt. “I’m looking for a strong point of view, and for language that excites me. I’m not interested in flat, lackluster prose.”

This year, Holt was awarded a $25,000 creative writing fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. “When you’re a writer, there’s so much self-doubt because often you’re working for years on a book without knowing if it’s really going to work,” she says. “This vote of confidence in my current project really means a lot.”

Holt is also passionate about teaching creative writing, which she has done at New York University and American University. “I try to feel the intention in students’ work and help them realize that intention,” she says. “It’s exciting when I start to see a writer find their own voice and figure out the kind of stories they want to tell.”

Holt’s advice for young writers is to read as much as possible. “There’s no better way to become a good storyteller than by reading closely,” she says. And she encourages them to remember that there are many paths one can take to become a writer. “Keep writing,” she says, “and you’ll find your way.”

Jeni Hansen ‘96: Family Storyteller
Jeni Hansen ‘96 is a public relations consultant, former NCS staff member, chair of the Black Alumnae Association, and beloved granddaughter of Vanilla Beane, the 102-year-old D.C. milliner (hatmaker) and legacy small business owner.

Hansen has spent the past several years telling the story of Mrs. Beane and her hat shop, Bené Millinery. Beane opened her Washington store in 1979 and still serves as owner and operator today. Three years before Beane’s 100th birthday, Hansen began compiling photos and collecting stories about her grandmother’s career—from growing up on a farm to being featured in a permanent exhibit at the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Today, she continues to tell the story of Vanilla Beane as a part of a larger oral history project. Majoring in history at Boston College, Hansen had a passion for storytelling, but she never thought she would have, or need, the opportunity to publicly share Beane’s story. In 2021, Hansen accepted the Academy of Distinguished Entrepreneurs Award on behalf of her grandmother, who was recognized for her life and legacy.

Hansen credits her formative years at NCS, and superb teachers in all disciplines, for her ability to write and tell stories. “NCS, more than anything, contributed to how I am as a writer, and I am forever indebted to all of my former teachers for their patience, and for sharing their talents with me,” says Hansen. “The attention to detail that I learned at NCS has played a major part in my success in every role I’ve ever taken.”

Hansen’s advice for NCS students interested in sharing family history is not only to make memories, but to document them. “Keep a scrapbook. Keep a shoebox. Memories are so important,” she says.

Culture & Design 

Patsy “Fath” Ruffins ‘72: Museum Curator and Historian
Patsy “Fath” Ruffins ‘72 has worked as a museum curator and cultural historian at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History for more than 40 years, with a focus on African American history and culture. She has also guest curated and consulted with museums across the country.

Ruffins grew up as the daughter of a history teacher for D.C. Public Schools and always had a keen interest in the subject. After graduating from NCS, Ruffins earned degrees in history and literature from Radcliffe College, the women’s coordinate institution for Harvard University, which was a men’s institution at that time. She later entered a PhD program, where she realized she was not interested in academic life. Ruffins then took a job at the Smithsonian, where she has been since 1981. “Being in a museum allows me to have an audience that is far bigger,” she says. “It provides access to such a wide range of people, from children to grandparents to great-grandparents,” says Ruffins. As a cultural historian, Ruffins concentrates on objects that reflect family and community life, including textiles, costumes, ceramics and glass, furniture and furnishings, household technologies, toys, and games.

Reflecting on her years at NCS, she describes the foundation in history and literature that the school provided. “It gave me an incredible background in literature and historiography, or how historians think about history,” Ruffins says. “There are many books that I studied in high school that many people had not read when I was in college and thereafter.”

She also notes the confidence she developed while at NCS. “I had a strong grounding in the notion that women are smart, women are competent, and women are capable. I did not have any insecurity about that,” she says. To students interested in museum work, Fath says, “Museums employ artists to design exhibits, educators to plan programming, and chemists to work on the repair and preservation of objects. There are a lot of different kinds of museum careers.”

Lien Tran ‘99: Game Designer and Professor
Lien Tran ‘99 is the assistant professor of games and design at DePaul University, where she is also the director of the design lab Matters at Play. As a social impact game designer, Tran analyzes real-world systems and creates games that raise awareness and have the potential to effect change.

The designer remembers kicking off her digital education in computer courses at NCS. “I got an early start with the internet. We had our own technology class for new 9th graders, and we made simple web pages,” she says. After graduating, Tran studied information technology at the College of William and Mary and received her Master of Fine Arts degree in design technology from Parsons School of Design in New York. Now, Tran teaches students about the elements of a game, including players, objects, actions, rules, and goals. “There are people who love games and can talk deeply about gameplay, but they can’t always articulate what a game is,” says Tran. She helps her students do that as a critical step for designing unique games.

She previously created a simulation game for unaccompanied immigrant youth in the custody of the U.S. government to learn about the shelter-release process and how to navigate some of the complexities of the immigration system. Tran says, “It’s about helping them understand their current situation and know the different pathways and, hopefully, make a more informed decision. There is storytelling in these kinds of games, even if their purpose is beyond entertainment. Games have the potential to communicate through simulation, roleplay, and/or perspective-taking, and they advocate for many issues,” she says.

Tran recommends that students who want to design prosocial games first identify systems that interest them, then do research and determine what they want to communicate and the effect they want to have on those systems. They can then start iteratively designing a game system and regularly checking to see if it is aligning with their goal-oriented vision. “It’s actually quite complex work but can also be very rewarding,” says Tran.

Amelia Grubb ’13: Professional Ballet Dancer
Amelia Grubb ‘13, a professional ballet dancer at Ballet Des Moines in Iowa, started dancing when she was 9 years old. Growing up with a speech impediment, she was a shy child who fell in love with dance. “I was drawn to ballet’s capacity to communicate outside of language,” she says.

Storytelling is at the core of ballet, Grubb explains: “This idea that the music is the underlying current and the dancing is articulating the story is something very beautiful to me. In modern ballet, dancers use movement to communicate a feeling, emotion, or concept. You’re allowing that emotion to flow through your veins and through your muscles. I believe that the audience can see that and really feel that themselves.”

Grubb attended NCS from 9th through 12th grade. She draws parallels between practicing ballet and attending NCS. “In ballet, it’s up to you how successful you’re going to be,” she says. “You can be pushed by your teacher but, ultimately, it’s how much you put into it. How much work you decide you’re responsible for yourself. That really dictates how much you will excel. I think it’s really the same at NCS,” Grubb says.

She has advice for young dancers and storytellers. “Don’t be afraid to reach out to those in the field to ask for advice, to ask questions, and to be mentored. It’s so easy, especially in the creative fields, to idealize what that sort of life will be like and not really think about what the practical day-to-day aspects will be. It’s really important to hear about that from those who are living it.”

Watch Grubb perform with her husband on Iowa PBS!