Join us for a discussion with recent Stanford alumni about what happened after graduation: how they found their footing, balanced making creative work with day jobs, and built the creative communities they're in now.

Panelists include:

• JJ Kapur (‘22) | Digital Storyteller, Psychotherapist-in-Training
• Dani Lyle (‘22) | Comedian, Writer, Amateur Line-Dancer

Open to all current Stanford students (UG, co-term, grad).

About the Panelists:

JJ Kapur (BAH TAPS '22)

JJ Kapur (he/him) is a third-year PhD student in Counseling Psychology at the University of Iowa. He grew up in Iowa and earned his BA in Theater and Performance Studies from Stanford. His senior thesis explored how a digital version of Augusto Boal's Teatro do Oprimido (Theatre of the Oppressed) can improve communication in immigrant families. The thesis earned the 2022 Robert M. Golden Medal for Excellence in the Humanities and Creative Arts, which recognizes the top ten percent of Stanford honors theses completed each year. That same year, he also received the TAPS Prize for Outstanding Scholarship and the Sherifa Omade Edoga Prize for work addressing social issues through theater and performance.

After Stanford, JJ returned to Iowa through AmeriCorps, where he helped build Open Book: a human library that connects Iowans across cultural divides through personal storytelling. As a 2023–2024 Steve Jobs Archive Fellow, he explored how digital tools could extend his human library's conversations beyond the room by connecting Iowans across geographic divides who might never meet in person. That work still drives his doctoral research, which looks at how bi-directional storytelling approaches can build empathy, connection, and healing, both in communities and in psychotherapy.

Dani Lyle (BA Film & Media Studies, Honors in the Arts '22)

Dani Lyle is a biracial, bisexual, and almost-bilingual comic whose work has been featured in Netflix is a Joke Radio, UCB, and Don't Tell LA. They recently finished a year on the UCB House team BETTY, and perform regularly at the Elysian theater with their mic Proppa Laff. You can find them making sketches online @danika.lyle on Instagram.