COMMITTED TO PERSONAL GROWTH

SAINTS ARE JOYFULLY CURIOUS AND INTRINSICALLY MOTIVATED TO CULTIVATE ATTITUDES AND SKILLS TO ENGAGE MEANINGFULLY WITH THE WORLD.

Lauren Godby ’15

Fort Worth, Texas

Business Owner at LoJewels, LLC

B.S., Public Relations, Texas Christian University

Kristen Godby ’18

Fort Worth, Texas

Business Owner at LoJewels, LLC.

B.S., Nutrition Sciences Pre-PA, Texas Christian University

Lojewels was born in June of 2015, one month after I (Lauren) graduated from All Saints’. The spark that started the business was when I decided to make a druzy wrap bracelet that could also be worn as a necklace. The bracelet took off like crazy amongst all the college-aged girls wanting their school colors. Lojewels became an established platform on Instagram, and the business that changed our lives expanded faster than we knew how to handle. At times, keeping Lojewels growing throughout college was a struggle, so my younger sister, Kristen, was influential in running the company while she was still at All Saints’ the next three years. We were committed to keep the business growing and implement new ideas and products as time moved on and we entered different stages of life. As a family-run small business, we enjoy watching Lojewels “grow up” in front of our eyes.

Although Lojewels started with jewelry, the business evolved to include scarves, Kristen’s art, and clothes. The key to Lojewels is the ability to recognize when a change needs to happen based on the desires and needs of the customer base. For the past seven years, Lojewels has been a source of growth in numerous aspects of mine and Kristen’s lives: maintaining a brand and upholding a strong business model, learning new skill sets, and growing on a personal level by focusing on our passions, upholding responsibilities, and finding balance between our business and personal lives. Most of all, we have both learned the importance of customer service. We are so thankful for the bond Lojewels created for us as sisters and cannot thank our customers enough for supporting us these past seven years!

Dr. Christopher H. Komatsu ’10 College Station, Texas

Analytical Chemist at MDx BioAnalytical Laboratory, Inc.

PhD, Organic Chemistry, Texas A&M University

B.S., Chemistry, William & Mary

It was April 2020, and while I should have been on a high from successfully defending my PhD dissertation, I was left feeling more vulnerable than I had in a long time. The job I thought I had secured as a senior polymer chemist in Houston fell through and there was this thing called “COVID-19” that had just started.

As fate would have it, I’m now the General Supervisor of a new COVID-19 diagnostic laboratory in College Station. After teaching as lecture/laboratory faculty at Texas A&M for a year, I was hired at MDx BioAnalytical Laboratory, Inc., where we do chemical and bioanalytical R&D as well as quality control for clients manufacturing therapeutics, including a COVID-19 vaccine.

When the CEO asked me to set up our lab for COVID-19 diagnostic testing, I told him I’d get it done even though I’d never done RT-qPCR and my PhD focus was not in biology or biochemistry. But, with the help of our consultants and the skills and resources I acquired during graduate school, I was doing RT-qPCR everyday during January 2022 and even on some live COVID-19 samples to get our test validated with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Once we were registered and validated, I put on even more hats, adding a slew of new skills and responsibilities to my resume. In hindsight, the most valuable piece of knowledge All Saints’ taught me was “how to learn” independently. Even when it seemed the world was crashing down on me, I was able to persevere and teach myself how to make a difference in a rapidly changing world. It’s made me a better scientist as well.

Carlisle Connally ’00 Fort Worth, Texas

Vice President of Digital Marketing at The Container Store

B.A., Marketing Information Technology, Mary Baldwin College

Credited with being a visionary strategist and performance-driven leader, I have transformed and optimized the media operations and digital businesses for Marriott, Hilton, Choice Hotels, The Container Store, and others, all to drive better performance, deliver seamless digital customer experiences and build top performing marketing teams and coalitions to power business results.

I've always been fascinated by technology, and All Saints’ fostered my curiosity in the world of information systems and business. Blending it with my passion for travel and meaningful consumer brands only propelled my career in digital product and performance marketing. Throughout my career I have picked up so many learnings, but the most important one I keep top of mind is to always do what you love and do so with great people. A brand or mission where you have a true emotional connection will deliver success and produce exceptional work, building relationships that last a lifetime along the way.