Mentor Biographies (2009-10)

Arcynta Ali Childs is a writer, thinker, traveler, and dreamer. Raised in Washington, D.C, Arcynta came to New York for graduate school and to pursue a career as a journalist. While at NYU she interned at CosmoGIRL!, O, The Oprah Magazine and Current Magazine and participated in reporting fellowships at The New York Times Student Journalism Institute, The Village Voice, and the Poynter Institute for Media Studies. Right now, Arcynta wants to travel, write and, to paraphrase a song lyric, is hoping, through her writing, to make it better out here for these boys and, especially, the girls. This is her first year with Girls Write Now.

Morgan Baden is a senior writer and internal communications manager at Scholastic, where she blogs on Ink Splot 26 and, occasionally, On Our Minds @ Scholastic. She cut her teeth in corporate communications by spending the first six years of her career at Reuters; outside of work, she’s deeply entrenched in several Young Adult fiction projects. Morgan holds a BA in English and a minor in Women's and Gender Studies from The College of New Jersey (2001) and spends her copious amounts of spare time (ha!) reading, hanging out with her brand new niece Reyna, training for her first marathon (Myrtle Beach, Feb 2010!), escaping to her hometown beach, following celebrities on Twitter, and watching TV on DVD. This is her third year mentoring with Girls Write Now, and her second year as co-chair of Communications.

Jennifer Baker-Henry is very psyched to be a part of Girls Write Now and was inspired to join after having a great summer teaching creative writing to teenage girls in Troy, NY. Jennifer is a native New Yorker currently working as an associate editor in academic publishing and freelancing as an Arts & Culture Writer for AroundHarlem.com. Jennifer enjoys teaching and has taught ESL to senior citizens and adults. She’s written articles for UniversityChic.com and College Bound magazine, and was a Spotlight Artist in October 2006 on RainTiger.com (The Story Hall).  Jennifer has a BA in English from The City College of New York and an MFA from The New School where she also worked on LIT magazine. She’s presently focusing on building her website (http://jennifernbaker.com/) and writing a short story compilation centered on family and race relations. This is Jennifer's first year with Girls Write Now.

Grace Bastidas realized her calling fifteen years ago as a reporter for the school paper at Newtown High School in Queens. From there she went on to become the arts & culture editor for Fordham University’s student publication. After working as a senior editor at the Village Voice, she decided to give freelance writing a shot. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, the New York Post, New York magazine, and other publications. When she chooses to stray from her hometown, she can be found anywhere in the world feeding her wanderlust. This is Grace’s fourth year with Girls Write Now.

Corey Binns is a science and health writer. She’s written about endangered sharks and giant squids, robotic surgeons, and the race for a malaria vaccine for publications including Scholastic’s Science World, Popular Science, Scientific American Mind, Psychology Today, GOOD, Women’s Health, and msnbc.com. She’s also produced stories for NPR’s Science Friday and the Sundance Channel. Her essay, “A Box of Missing People” was featured in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Celebrating People Who Make a Difference. She’s working on a memoir. Corey has a biology degree from Brown University and she earned a masters degree in journalism from New York University's Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program. You can read some of her articles at coreybinns.com. This is Corey’s first year with Girls Write Now.

Debbie Blumberg works as a reporter for Dow Jones Newswires where she’s covered the ins and outs of the financial crisis the last few years and delved into obscure financial markets. Her articles appear regularly in the Money & Investing section of The Wall Street Journal. Debbie also made her T.V. debut last year, appearing as an expert commentator on FOX Business. She graduated from Wellesley College with a degree in Spanish and psychology, and received a masters in journalism and Latin American Studies from New York University. Debbie is fluent in Spanish and likes to practice her very limited Hebrew, Chinese and Arabic on willing acquaintances. In addition to financial reporting, she also enjoys writing human interest and travel pieces and has written for publications including Barron’s, Newsday, The Christian Science Monitor, VIVA New York, The Jewish Week, and Reform Judaism and Endless Vacation magazines. In her spare time, Debbie enjoys exploring new restaurants, hosting karaoke nights, and knitting. She completed two sprint triathlons this year and plans to attempt an Olympic triathlon next season. This is Debbie’s first year with Girls Write Now.

Alyssa Caplan has worked at CNN since 2005, first for veteran news anchor Aaron Brown and currently producing guest segments for Anderson Cooper 360 & the 360 blog. Alyssa has had a thing for writing since about '86 when she discovered the wondrous delight of recording her mundane life in a pink bejeweled diary. When she’s not journaling or raiding the cheese tray in the green room, she can be found going on various adventures in the mountains, on the side streets of NYC, or in her own apartment where she does her best cleaning and life planning at 2:00 a.m. Alyssa originally hails from Minneapolis and holds a BS in Journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She loved her first year as a Girls Write Now mentor and is looking forward to returning for round two. 

Cynara Charles-Pierre is the Creative Director, Internal Communications for News Corporation, the parent company of FOX, 20th Century Fox, HarperCollins, New York Post, Wall Street Journal, and so much more. Previously she worked as a Copywriter Manager at MTV Networks. Cynara grew up outside of Atlanta, GA, and graduated from LaGrange College with a BA in Theater Arts and Communications. In 2000 she moved to Brooklyn to start a new life with her now husband of six years, Philip. She's a voracious reader with a passion for anything media (especially television and movies), entertaining, creative writing and interior decorating. This is Cynara's first year with Girls Write Now.

Alexis Clements is a writer of plays, essays, and fiction. She has received the Washington Theater Festival Literary Prize, two Puffin Foundation Artist Grants and a Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation Grant. She is a former fellow of the Dramatists Guild, and is currently a member of the 2008-2010 Women's Project Playwrights Lab. She is also the founder of New Acquisition. Recent theatrical productions include: Place ReImagined (New York, NY); Your Own Personal Apocalypse (New York, NY); The Interview (Edinburgh Fringe Festival); Causality (Wheeling, WV); and Pieces (Washington, DC & Iowa City, IA). Her plays, Pieces and Three Choices, have been published by KNOCK Magazine. Her short stories have appeared in a handful of literary magazines and collections, including two anthologies: Bonne Route and Ideas Above Our Station. Her articles and reviews have appeared in magazines and newspapers such as The Brooklyn Rail, Nature, Aesthetica, and Travel New England. She writes regularly about experimental theater and performance art for The L Magazine. She has a M.Sc. in Philosophy & History of Science from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a B.A. in Theatre Studies from Emerson College. This is Alexis’ first year with Girls Write Now.

Lee Clifford is an Assistant Managing Editor at Fortune Magazine. She edits feature stories for the magazine, as well as annual issues such as “The 50 Most Powerful Women in Business,” and “The 100 Best Companies to Work For.” She started at the magazine in 2000 as a Writer, and prior to that was a Reporter at SmartMoney Magazine. She was named one of the Top 30 Business Journalists under the age of 30 by TJFR in 2003 and 2004. She’s loved writing and journalism ever since she first got involved with The Tatler, her high school newspaper in Seattle. In her spare time she loves to cook, and is a member of a ‘burger club’ formed by a group of friends that are on a mission to try all the best hamburgers in NYC. This is Lee’s first year with Girls Write Now.

Leila Cohan is a New York based comedy and food writer. She currently writes for Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre house sketch team High Treason. Leila is the Boston Market Editor for Grub Street Boston & MenuPages.com and a regular contributor to Grub Street New York and nymag.com. In her rare free time, Leila enjoys cooking, working on her spec scripts, and reading nonfiction. She is a 2005 graduate of Smith College and a native of Boston, Massachusetts. Leila is thrilled to be starting her second year with Girls Right Now.

Naima Coster is a writer and teaching artist living and working in New York City. Born and raised in Brooklyn, Naima has always believed in the power of storytelling to transform individuals and communities. Naima is constantly reading, writing, and encouraging others to write their own stories as a way of remaking themselves and the world.  As a student at Yale, Naima studied English, Creative Writing, and African American Studies. She won the Elmore A. Willets Prize for Fiction Writing, as well as second place in the Wallace Prize for Fiction. After graduating, she pursued work in the field of youth development. She spent a year at Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice as a coordinator of arts-based service-learning projects, a performance poetry class, and a girls' empowerment group. Naima now teaches creative writing to youth at Rikers Island as a facilitator for Voices UnBroken. She is also a guest blogger for WireTap magazine. In her free time, Naima works on her own writing. She experiments in every genre from fantasy to nonfiction and poetry, but her heart belongs to fiction.  This is Naima’s first year with Girls Write Now.

Catherine Curan is a journalist and fiction writer based in New York City. She has covered business, fashion and real estate for the New York Post, Crain’s New York Business, The Real Deal, Newsday, WWD, Worth and Condé Nast Portfolio.com. In 2004, she won the Newswomen’s Club of New York’s Front Page Award for a Crain’s special report on the hip-hop economy. Her creative writing has appeared in Fiction, Many Mountains Moving and the Salon Zine. She has taught English in Athens, Greece, and worked as a writing coach at Yale School of Management. She is Associate Publisher of the award-winning online journal Anderbo.com. This is Catherine’s first year with Girls Write Now.

Erica Dolland is always writing in her journal, for her book series and most recently, on a chalkboard.  She is a 4^th grade writing teacher at the Bronx Lighthouse Charter School.  An educator for over five years, Erica served as a New York City Teaching Fellow and has worked in Harlem, the South Bronx and Bedford-Stuyvesant.  She recently returned from Ghana, West Africa—a life-changing experience—where she worked with the International Foundation for Education and Self-Help as a trainer-of-teachers; organized an all-girls writing club and developed a women’s soap-making micro business that was featured in the International Museum of Women’s online exhibition titled: Women, Power and Politics. This summer, Erica was a selected participant of the Chautauqua Writer’s Workshop.  In between finding free things to do in the city and four-dollar margaritas, she loves spending time with her sisters, reading and long mediation sessions.  This is her second year with Girls Write Now.

The writing bug bit Kim Coleman Foote at the age of seven. Growing up in Jersey, she penned short stories and novellas and dreamt of earning a degree in writing, but the words “that isn’t practical!” discouraged her. She eventually accrued many writing awards, residencies, and publications, which she hopes will inspire young writers. Highlights include an MFA in Creative Writing from Chicago State University, the inaugural Africana Creative Nonfiction Award from the Pan-African Literary Forum in Ghana, and a Fulbright Fellowship, which also took her to Ghana to conduct research for the novel she’s currently writing. Kim’s essays and fiction have appeared in several publications, including The Literary Review, Black Renaissance Noire, Homelands (Seal Press), and Just Like a Girl (GirlChild Press). When not writing, Kim can be found dancing, practicing the guitar, or burying her nose in a new book. This is her first year with Girls Write Now.

Maya Frank-Levine grew up mostly in Manhattan, although she has lived in four out of five of the New York City boroughs.  She attended Hunter College, where she studied Creative Writing and Classics, and she now works at The Journal of Experimental Medicine, where she corrects grammar in articles about scientific experiments.  Maya is currently writing her first novel, a fantasy set in Washington Heights.  When she has spare time, Maya works on her blog , posting about reality shows, the Sweet Valley High series, and Baywatch.  This is Maya’s first year with Girls Write Now.

Andrea Gabbidon-Levene is a development associate for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now and a graduate student at Milano The New School for Urban Policy and Management. Prior to working for ACORN, Andrea was a staff writer for the New Jersey Herald, where she covered education and government. While pursuing her undergraduate degree at Emerson College in Boston, Andrea was the editor-in-chief at the Berkeley Beacon, an editorial assistant for The Boston Globe and a CampusVibe reporter for CNN.com during the 2004 presidential election. A native of Long Island, Andrea is the daughter of two Jamaican immigrants. During her free time, Andrea enjoys reading, writing, watching movies, and exploring New York City. This is Andrea’s second year with Girls Write Now.

Tasha Gordon-Solmon is playwright, director, teacher and blogger. Her plays have been developed and produced at the Public Theater, Ars Nova, American Globe Theatre, Alumnae Theatre, Theatre in Her Shoes, TNC Theatre, Studio Tisch Festival, Freeplay Festival, Walking Fish Festival and The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. She was the recipient of a Producer’s Choice Award and Best Play Honorable Mention at the New York Fifteen Minute Play Festival; a Finalist for the Mabou Mines Residency and a Cherry Lane Mentor Project Nominee. She received her MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU, where she was the recipient of a Goldberg Fellowship in Playwriting and a Departmental Fellowship. She is a Featured Entertainment Blogger for the Huffington Post, the Literary Associate at Women’s Expressive Theater and a proud member of the Ars Nova Play Group . This is her first year with Girls Write Now and she is PUMPED!

Soula Harisiadis was born on December 19 at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.  Her first two weeks were spent in an Upper West Side apartment, which, invariably, must have been full of cockroaches.  She and her family moved to Brooklyn, and, when she was nine, to Queens. Summers were spent in Greece in a town called Kimi.  It should also be noted that she attended Barnard College, where she received her BA in English and Creative Writing, and that she lived in Iowa City, where she received her MFA in poetry from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.  Today she's an adjunct instructor of writing at New York University.  Soula also knows how to use an SP-15 handpress, on which she has produced two artists books of her poetry.  She would like to thank Mark Leyner’s "I" for inspiring this bio. Soula is a former Girls Write Now intern, and this is her first year as a Girls Write Now mentor.

Emily Hazel is on the editorial staff at Lee & Low Books, an independent multicultural children’s book publisher. Prior to becoming an editor, she worked at a literary agency. Emily grew up in Massachusetts but never developed a Boston accent. In fourth grade, when everyone else wanted to be a nurse or a fireman, she wanted to be a writer. Poetry is her first love. While Emily was finishing her BA in Creative Writing at Oberlin College, a collection of her poetry, Body & Soul, was published as a finalist in the 2005 New Women’s Voices chapbook competition sponsored by Finishing Line Press. Emily has studied in Ghana and led creative writing workshops for youth in Massachusetts, Ohio, and South Africa. Inspired by exploring new places, she likes taking walks and is magnetically attracted to every patch of green she can find in New York. One of her favorite things about writing—as with editing, cooking, and designing collages—is the creative process of bringing different pieces together to make something cohesive and original. She enjoys collaborating with other artists and loves poetry that feels accessible and lived-in, like a favorite pair of jeans. This is Emily’s first year with Girls Write Now.

Rolaine Abrahams Hochstein has published two novels—Stepping Out (WW Norton) and Table 47 (Doubleday & Co.)—and three dozen short stories. Her story Virtuous Woman recently won first prize in a Glimmer Train magazine competition.  Two earlier stories were published in O. Henry Prize anthologies and one in the Pushcart Prize collection. Another story, Art in America, has been translated into Spanish for a recent issue of La Revista de la Universidad de Antioquia in Medallin, Colombia. In her days as a journalist, Rollie wrote dozens of articles (celebrity profiles, humor, women’s issues) for national magazines, including Good Housekeeping, Seventeen, Glamour, Parents, Woman’s Day, Heresies and the earliest issues of Ms..  Non-fiction books include The Seventeen Guide to Knowing Yourself and The Seventeen Guide to You and Other People (both written with Daniel A. Sugarman, Ph.D.) Awards include fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, Yaddo and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.  Rollie is a member of PEN and the New York City Writers Room, the grandmother of five and in her fifth year as a mentor with Girls Write Now. 

N. K. Jemisin is an author of speculative fiction -- science fiction, fantasy, and horror -- along with some mainstream and interstitial work.  She has a number of short stories published, as well as a trilogy of fantasy novels forthcoming in 2010 from Orbit Books (the first book is The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms).  She is a career counselor in her day job, with a Masters in counseling and development, and has worked for 12 years in colleges/universities helping students realize their career goals.  She is also an anti-racism (and sexism, and homophobia, and ableism, and...) activist.  Her blog is at nkjemisin.com. This is Nora’s first year with Girls Write Now.

Vani Kannan is an assistant literary agent at Georges Borchardt, Inc., and has previously held jobs as an assistant editor at W. W. Norton & Company, a clinician at Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes, and a writing fellow at the Barnard College writing center. Vani plays keyboards and flute in the Brooklyn-based band This Reporter, and enjoys songwriting, fiction writing, freelance editing, and hanging out in Prospect Park with her dog Arthur. She is looking forward to her second year with Girls Write Now!

Heather Kristin, a graduate of the New School, was born and raised in New York City where she and her twin sister were home-schooled. She also studied with the Summer Literary Seminars in Russia, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, and violin studies with the Alaria Chamber Ensemble in Prague. Her nonfiction articles have appeared in Glamour, Smith Magazine, New York Press, the L Magazine, Our Town, Fresh Yarn, and West Side Spirit, and on J.T. Leroy’s Web site. Her book reviews can be found in Kirkus and the St. Petersburg Times in Russia. She is a two-time recipient of the SAG and AFTRA personal essay awards and can be found sharing her work live with the Sunday Salon Reading Series. Her performances have been featured in Art Forum magazine, Go Brooklyn, Middletown Journal, and the New York Post, and on Sex and the City. A composition she wrote on violin was featured at the Frankfurt Film Festival and at the New York Short Film Festival. Currently, she is working on a memoir about being a homeless child, street performer, and survivor of Hell’s Kitchen. This is Heather’s third year with Girls Write Now.

Maura Kutner is a freelance writer/editor living in Brooklyn. Her work has appeared in Town & Country magazine and its ancillary publications, Town & Country Travel and Town & Country Weddings, as well as Marie Claire magazine, Yahoo Shine and the blog, New York Insider. During her senior year of college at Lehigh University, she published a thesis on the history of women's magazines in the U.S. and their impact on Feminism. She has also worked on various editing projects at Random House. Maura is an avid traveler, cook, and singer (you can find her every Tuesday night at The Overlook lounge in midtown Manhattan, where she bartends and sings karaoke). This is her second year mentoring with Girls Write Now.

Wendy Lee is a PhD candidate in the English Department at Princeton University. Her dissertation, “Failures of Feeling in the British Novel from Richardson to Eliot,” examines inappropriate emotions in the rise of the novel. Previously, she was a reporter and editor for American Banker, where she covered consumer credit issues. She also occasionally writes for The New York Times. Wendy received her BA from Columbia University and MPhil from Cambridge University. She lives in Brooklyn. This is her second year with Girls Write Now.

Jen McFann is a recruiter for a government volunteer agency. She was a winner of the 2002 Scholastic Art & Writing Award for novel writing, which led to the publication of her book Laveidem. She graduated from NYU with a bachelor's in international relations and soon thereafter served for two years as an English teacher with the Peace Corps in Georgia, the country (so Tbilisi, not Atlanta), where she kept a travel blog. This is Jen’s first year with Girls Write Now.

Neesha Meminger is the author of the YA novel, SHINE, COCONUT MOON, which was nominated for the American Library Association's Best Books for Young Adults list. She was born in India, raised in Canada, and currently lives with her family in New York City. Neesha has a fascination with the stars, planets, moon and, strangely, coconuts. She can be found online at http://www.neeshameminger.com/. This is her first year with Girls Write Now.

The first cover letter Nancy Mercado ever wrote began like this: “My friends are worried about me. It seems my current bookshelf resembles that of a ten year old girl.” That letter got her an interview at Scholastic where she worked for four years, which led her to Penguin where she worked for six. She is currently an executive editor at Roaring Brook Press, working on middle grade and young adult novels. (And no, she will never "graduate" to editing adult books as some have so rudely suggested.) Her favorite book at the moment is The Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Krouse Rosenthal (because the format is awesome and the writing makes her laugh out loud), and the book that she is an evangelist for is My Most Excellent Year by Steve Kluger. Born and raised in Staten Island (but don’t hold that against her) and a graduate of SUNY Albany with a major in Spanish, this is Nancy’s first year with Girls Write Now.

Christina Morgan works as an assistant editor at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, where she edits both fiction and non-fiction. Previously she worked at HarperCollins and Curtis Brown, a literary agency. She has also taught English abroad and worked as a journalist. She's so excited to be back with GWN for a second year!

Hannah Morrill is the beauty editor at instyle.com, where she's well-versed in the glossiest, bounciest, shiniest adjectives to describe hair. After graduating with highest honors from UNC-Chapel Hill's creative writing program, she moved to Vermont's Mad River Valley to work on an organic sheep farm. Realizing she was roughly thirty years too young to be driving a Subaru and carding wool, she relocated to Brooklyn and started her publishing career at Simon & Schuster. Hannah is originally from Maine, where she returns as often as possible. This is her first year as a Girls Write Now mentor.

Born and raised in Mount Vernon, NY, Stacy Noble has had a fascination with the power of words since she could talk. By the age of four she was attempting (and failing) to teach her stuffed animals how to read and write. After graduating from New York University in 2006, Stacy spent 3 years as a publicist for Penguin Group, USA, where she has worked with authors such as Hill Harper, Rev Run, and Eric Jerome Dickey. Currently, Stacy is making plans to attend graduate school for Mass Communications and Media Management. When she's not cramming for the GREs or writing, Stacy can be found roaming the aisles of bookstores, hanging out with friends, or making random comments about TV shows. She is thrilled to start her first year as a mentor with Girls Write Now.

Jana Nordstrand is a culinary publicist at John Wiley & Sons where she writes words like “delicious,” “appetizing,” and “delectable” on a daily basis. She discovered her love of writing after her fifth grade teacher had her describe a can of tomato soup; now she finds daily literary inspiration riding the D train over the Manhattan Bridge. Jana was formerly a features writer for her college newspaper, The Appalachian, a freelance food writer for Creative Loafing, and an editorial assistant for Novello Festival Press. She is originally from North Carolina, where she received her BA in English from Appalachian State University and her MA in Literature from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. When she's not updating her food blog, Smartcookie, Jana can be found overcooking pasta, making pancakes, or waiting for a delayed plane at Newark airport. She loves to read, and her crazy (but beloved) family guarantees a wealth of writing material for years to come. She hopes to win a big award one day, because that would be pretty awesome. This is her first year with Girls Write Now.

Jess Pastore is a grant writer and marketing associate for Hester Street Collaborative, a community design nonprofit in Chinatown. She has been reading and writing as much as possible for as long as she can remember. During her time at Bryn Mawr College, where she studied writing and the Growth and Structure of Cities, she spent a fantastic fall semester painting a 3-story mural in West Philadelphia with a nonprofit mural art organization. This experience prompted her to take the plunge into the nonprofit world, where she fosters a strong belief in the power of the written word to inspire others, promote worthy causes, and ultimately transform lives. When not crafting grant proposals, she enjoys reading and writing both short stories and poetry, and finds herself particularly (and inexplicably) drawn to the theme of trains. In her much-beloved neighborhood of Astoria, she is an amateur runner, baker, balcony gardener, and proud owner of a Czech cat named Kochka. This is Jess’ first year with Girls Write Now.

Sacha Phillip is a Staff Writer at Honey Magazine, who also writes for a number of other publications.  When she's not writing about fashion, beauty and the eco-conscious, Sacha is diligently tweaking her first novel, and wandering around New York City for inspiration.  Canadian-born and raised, Sacha is a graduate of The University of Western Ontario and has lived in New York for nearly a decade. This is Sacha’s second year with Girls Write Now.

Lesley Pink manages publications for an international law firm.  She has also worked in teaching, immigration law and financial journalism.  Lesley grew up in Ohio and has lived in New York for over 11 years.  Her first foray into the world of fiction was when she was seven, writing a series of linked stories about friends who happened to be meatballs. She now writes a book review blog, http://justonepink.blogspot.com.   Lesley has a Bachelors degree in Spanish from Northwestern University and an MFA in fiction writing from NYU.  She is interested in photography, reading, swimming, linguistics, immigration policy and dark chocolate, and has a weakness for crunchy cheetos, whipped cream and George Clooney, though not necessarily in that order.  This is Lesley's first year with Girls Write Now. 

Julie Polk trained as an actress at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and at the University of Delaware’s Professional Theatre Training Program before receiving her MFA in nonfiction from the New School in 2007.  She performed with regional theaters around the country and toured with the National Shakespeare Company as Juliet in ROMEO AND JULIET and Puck in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, and her solo show RED WHITE BLACK AND BLUE, which she wrote, produced and performed, was named a “Hidden Gem” of the 2002 NY Fringe Festival by NYTheatre.com.  Since focusing on nonfiction, she has been published at MrBellersNeighborhood.com and read her work at the Earshot! and Sunday Salon reading series.  She is halfway through WELCOME TO DOGADOON, a study of four generations of women in her family, the fourth of whom is her dog, Rosie.  She holds a B.A. in Religion from Barnard College and a red belt in Taekwondo. This is her first year with Girls Write Now.

Ariana Proehl is a graduate student pursuing her Master of Public Administration at New York University’s Wagner School of Public Service, with a focus on leadership development. When not attending to her studies, Ariana is an aspiring public speaker and author on topics of self-empowerment and leadership development for youth and young adults.  Originally from the Bay Area, Ariana has a background in youth development.  She knows firsthand the powerful impact mentorship can have on a young person having been plucked to be the Executive Director of a youth leadership non-profit, DiversityWorks, at age 22.  Ariana is eager to pass on the gift of mentorship that she was so fortunate to receive in helping her thrive as a young leader.  As a writer, Ariana started writing poetry as a young girl. She later joined and was published with June Jordan’s Poetry for the People program as a student and Student Teacher Poet, while studying at UC Berkeley.  After five years of letting her self-critic rear its ugly head and avoiding her writing, Ariana is excited to recommit to her creative self and help foster the growth of another young writer in her first year as a Girls Write Now mentor.

Kirthana Ramisetti once put herself on a pop culture diet to try to curtail the amount of time she spent reading entertainment news and celebrity gossip. That didn't work out so well when she joined NextWeb Media, where as managing editor she now has to read nearly every website in the universe, ranging from Perez Hilton to Politico. Though she never envisioned that an MFA degree in creative writing from Emerson College would lead to a career that indulges her pop culture addiction, she enjoys working in the mobile media industry overseeing SMS-based trivia games. Kirthana has also been published in a variety of print and online publications including Entertainment Weekly, East West Magazine, PopMatters and West Side Spirit. This is her first year with Girls Write Now.

Naz Riahi is the Director of Development and Communications at ArteEast. Originally from Iran, she moved to Seattle at the age of ten and has lived in Brooklyn for the past six years. She holds an MFA in fiction from the New School and is working on a novel. When not writing and reading, she enjoys adventurous-baking, discovering new spices, playing catch with her dog, Thurston, traveling and swimming. This is her third year as a mentor with Girls Write Now.

Mary Roma teaches writing to undergraduates at Boricua College and at New York University, where she is also an academic advisor. She graduated with an MFA in writing from the magical Bard College’s Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts and has an MA in English literature from New York University. Her writing has appeared in PLANET magazine, and she’s assisted in the English translation of Ground Zero, The Day the World Changed by Japanese photographer Yasuhide JoJu. Currently, she’s working on a memoir and graphic novel, and a teleplay for Mad Men. This will be her fourth year with Girls Write Now, where she’s co-taught the college essay-writing workshop. She’s still a girl at heart.

Léna Roy is thrilled to be joining the diverse community of writers that makes up Girls Write Now. She is a mom of three children on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, honing her writing skills amidst changing diapers and dodging kids on the playground. Her inspiration and touchstone is her late grandmother, author Madeleine L’Engle, who was able to transform the solitary nature of writing into a sacred sense of community where her art and the art of others could flourish. Léna received her BA from Barnard College, and her MA in Drama Therapy from NYU, working as a counselor with at-risk youth from Utah to NYC. Léna has recently created two writing workshops for the public education program at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and her first YA novel, The Moonflower, is being published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in September 2010. Her second novel, In Your Face, is currently at large. (Fingers crossed!) She is working on her third novel. This is Léna’s first year with Girls Write Now.

Nancy Larson Shapiro was director of Teachers & Writers Collaborative (T&W) for almost thirty years, and she currently serves as co-chair of T&W’s board. At T&W she had exciting opportunities connected to writing and teaching: e.g., working with authors (such as Grace Paley, John Ashbery, Yusef Komunyakaa, Victor Hernandez-Cruz, and Sharon Olds) to set up workshops and readings; producing events to celebrate writers (such as Walt Whitman, Etheridge Knight, William Carlos Williams, Kenneth Koch, and June Jordan), and developing numerous projects and publications with T&W’s staff of writers. She has written hundreds of proposals and final reports and has been an English teacher in Boston, Minneapolis, and the Chicago area, so she’s familiar with the demands of school projects. She also taught creative writing and served as an editor for numerous publications. She has a BA in English literature from the University of Minnesota and an MAT in English from Northwestern University. This will be Nancy’s third year as a mentor for Girls Write Now.

Jenny Sherman is a freelance writer and editor from Minnesota. After graduating from Macalester College, she worked with at-risk youth before landing her first editorial internship at a business magazine. In the decade since, she has worked for art, city, spa, and fitness magazines, relocated to New York City, and launched a freelance writing career. She writes about lots of things—science, culture, health, and the environment, mostly—for magazines and Web sites, including Men’s Journal, Blackenterprise.com, and Jewish Living. When away from her computer, she can be found on the river coaching for Harlem River Community Rowing, a group she cofounded. This is her second year with Girls Write Now.

Andrea Simon is a writer and photographer who lives in New York City. She has worked as an editor, writer, and manager on diverse projects, and was the co-owner of an editorial/production company that specialized in health-related educational materials. For the past several years, she has devoted her efforts to fiction and literary nonfiction, including her memoir/history, Bashert: A Granddaughter’s Holocaust Quest. Several of Andrea’s stories and essays have also been published; and she has been the recipient of prestigious literary honors, including first place in the Ernest Hemingway First Novel Contest and Authors in the Park Short Story Writing Contest. Specializing in archival black-and-white printing, Andrea’s photographs have been featured at numerous venues. This is her first year with Girls Write Now.

Ingrid Skjong is an editor and writer who moved to New York City from Minnesota six years ago. She is currently deputy editor of Gotham and Hamptons magazines, editing content, managing the process and writing—everything from celebrity profiles to pieces on fitness, food and fashion. She is an avid runner (from 5Ks to marathons), has done triathlons, has a penchant for heavy metal and loves to travel. The moment she realized journalism was for her? Her freshman year in college, when Vogue magazines made for much more entertaining reads than chemistry books. This is her first year with Girls Write Now.

Emma Straub is a native New Yorker. She received her BA from Oberlin College, where she majored in English and Creative Writing, and her MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Emma has been a devoted reader and writer her entire life, and began publishing work while still in high school. Her poems and stories have appeared in The Boston Review, The Saint Ann’s Review, Juked, Barrelhouse, Flatmancrooked, and many other journals. She is the co-editor of Avery: An Anthology of New Fiction, a biannual publication now on its fifth issue, and the co-editor of the Read section of the Dossier Journal website. Emma was the 2008-2009 Halls Emerging Artist Fellow at the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing, and her first stand-alone book, a novella called ‘Fly-Over State,’ will be out in October. She is currently at work on a novel, and very much enjoys taking breaks to do yoga, bake cookies, and pet her cats and husband. More information can be found at www.emmastraub.net. This will be her first year as a Girls Write Now mentor.

Nicole Summer works in media relations for an international law firm. After "making" her own magazine when she was eight years old, she knew she wanted to be a writer and went on to study journalism at the University of Illinois. She worked as a general assignment newspaper writer in suburban Chicago but then took a detour to law school in New York. After practicing law for almost four years, she returned to writing and is now focusing on literary nonfiction and personal essays, as well as her new career in public relations. She recently wrote a feature story about female magicians for BUST magazine. Nicole loves to travel, talk politics, play with her dog and eat any kind of cheese. This is her third year with Girls Write Now and her second year as a mentor.

Tori Turner hails from the booming metropolis of Hickory Corners, Michigan, which, according to one travel article, is “so tiny that some Michigan road maps forget to mention it.” Maybe because there was so little to do there, she became enamored with writing at a young age, and it has been a driving force in her life ever since. After majoring in Creative Writing at the University of Michigan and traveling to Dublin, Ireland, for the University of Iowa’s Irish Writing Program, she made her way to NYC, where she has been living, working and, of course, writing since 2002. She is currently a Senior Copywriter at MTV Networks Creative Services, where she writes everything from ads and speeches to Web and video content. She is proud to have received Broadcast Design Association (BDA), Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM) and Creativity awards for her work with MTVN. In her spare time, she is an insatiable music fan, and sings, plays guitar (poorly) and rocks the ukulele in a fledgling, not-yet-named alt-country/americana/rock band. She is excited to start her first year with Girls Write Now.

Kristin Vuković is originally from St. Paul, Minnesota, and is now a writer living in New York City. She holds an M.F.A. in Nonfiction Writing and a B.A. in Literature and Writing from Columbia University in the City of New York. From 2007-2008 Kristin was Editor-in-Chief of Columbia: A Journal of Literature and Art and spearheaded Issue 46, which contains her interview with Susan Orlean, the New Yorker staff writer and best-selling author. Kristin’s work has been published in The New Yorker’s “Goings On About Town,” New York Resident, Mint & The Wall Street Journal, the Connecticut Review, and the Croatian Chronicle of New York, among others. Travel is a passion: she has explored Asia, Western and Eastern Europe, Russia, Canada, and South America. Kristin is currently focused on writing travel articles and personal essays dealing with the subjects of culture, identity, and home. She works as a Freelance Reporter/Researcher at InStyle magazine. This is Kristin's first year as a Girls Write Now mentor.

Josleen Wilson started writing as a child and has never stopped. She is author of more than thirty definitive nonfiction books illuminating contemporary issues in American life. Many have set the standard in their field, including such groundbreaking works as Woman: Your Body, Your Health, Surviving Family Life, and Good Health for African Americans. She also has written and produced several award-winning short documentaries, among them “Own Your Own Future,” a film about HIV+ women in prison. Founding a successful after-school writing program for Harlem RBI, she taught and mentored young girls toward developing more fully realized lives. A former creative director for a major advertising agency (her "second career"), Josleen has been a force in developing talented newcomers in that industry. She continues to write under the banner of her own consulting firm, Sparks Fly Up Creative Solutions. This is Josleen’s second year with Girls Write Now.

Linda Winston, a cutural anthropologist and a teacher, spent fifteen years doing research on social networks and mental health in the New York metropolitan area and in Haiti. She received her undergradute degree in French literature from Sarah Lawrence College, and her MA and PhD in anthropology from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Heinemann has published two of her books on innovative teachers and inter-generational curriculum. In October 2009, Sourcebooks will publish her poetry anthology, "The Tree That Time Built" co-edited with the National Children's Poet Laureate, Mary Ann Hoberman.  In April 2010 they will both return to lead a second round of workshops in writing, sponsored by PEN Children's Writers, at the Martin Luther King Jr. Charter School in New Orleans' Ninth Ward.  One of her best experiences as a Writer-in-Residence for the Teachers & Writers Collaborative was teaching writing to children in New York City's elementary schools. She currently serves as a volunteer docent at three Manhattan museums while also working on her own nonfiction writing projects. She has three grown children and four grandchildren. This is her first year with Girls Write Now.

Ruiyan Xu was born in Shanghai and lives in Brooklyn. She graduated from Brown University and works as a web producer for the PBS documentary series POV. Her first novel, The Lost and Forgotten Languages of Shanghai, will be published by St. Martin's Press in 2010. This is Ruiyan’s third year with Girls Write Now.

Ibi Aanu Zoboi is a writer, youth worker, and researcher of world mythology.  She is a graduate of the Clarion West Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ Workshop where she studied with the late Octavia Butler and novelist Nalo Hopkinson.  Her short story, “Old Flesh Song”, is published in the award-winning anthology, Dark Matter: Reading the Bones, a collection of African American speculative fiction.  She received an emerging writer award from the Women Writers of Haitian Descent for her short story “At the Shores of Dawn”, which was published in One?Respe! literary journal.  Her children’s fable, “Mama Kwanzaa & Her Seven Children”, was published in African Voices Magazine.  Ibi designed and taught a course on female archetypes in world mythology to the young women of the Sadie Nash Leadership Project where she currently teaches creative writing and girls’ empowerment workshops.  She presented a paper entitled, “Oya’s Brood: Mythology and the African American Woman” at a symposium on Octavia Butler for the Center for Black Literature at Medgar Evers College.  She is a recent recipient of a grant in Literature from the Brooklyn Arts Council for her original program, the Daughters of Anacaona Writing Project.  She has completed two urban fantasy novels for teens.  Ibi lives in Brooklyn with her husband, visual artist Joseph Zoboi, and their three young children. This is her first year with Girls Write Now.