Past Livermore Granada Boosters Award Winners

Debra Callabresi was the 1986 Olympian Award winner from Livermore High School. Debra attended University of California at San Diego and graduated with a BA in Studio Art with a minor in Mechanical Engineering. The combination of Art and Engineering afforded her an opportunity to work with the UCSD Cray computing center, experimenting with visualization and animation. Debra went on to get a Masters of Fine Arts in Experimental Ani- mation at California Institute of the Arts. She spent about 10 years in the entertainment industry working on a range of projects, from television work, to early internet sound and motion projects, to large format film special effects. Along the way she co-produced and did the effects for a short animated film, More, that was nominated for an Academy Award.

In 2000 she co-founded a startup company with 3 other friends that was venture funded, then eventually acquired for purchase. In the course of this project, Debra spun out a digital production company focusing on internet application called N-tonic, which is still her current company. N-tonic is now focused on web projects related to the use of technology in public health, with clients throughout the state of California, and in Washington DC. Debra is currently one of the Principal Investigators in a 3-year Federal grant sponsored by the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services, which seeks to demonstrate a reduction of ER visits and Hospitalizations through HIV prevention and care in the DC area by utilizing technology in community based health care.

Debra says that “The Olympian award was empowering as a confidence booster in my early college life. I started my college experience knowing that hard work and persistence will eventually be rewarded. I loved both school and sports, and the lessons learned in high school served as foundation for the many paths my life has taken thus far. Being acknowledged for these efforts as an Olympian taught me early on the value of hard work, and how important it is to give back to others when life affords you the ability to do so.”