Our Mentors

Our mentors are twenty, thirty, and forty-something freelancers, staff writers, editors, creators, and workers in the media world. We asked them to share a bit about themselves with you.

Elly Belle they/them

Elly is a journalist, documentarian, cultural critic, personal essayist and most importantly a Pun Enthusiast with a passion for organizing and advocacy, and queer and trans media. They also love cooking and baking, making picnics for friends, attempting to read five books at once, thinking about what we can learn from mycelium networks, and poetry.

Fun fact: Elly considers themself first and foremost a scholar of all things Carly Rae Jepsen, and loves doing community organizing that centers getting resources to queer and trans people, as well as disabled and chronically ill people.

Noella Williams she/they

Noella is a freelance writer who frequently covers music, veganism, culture, fandoms, and identity. You can find their words in Teen Vogue, Washington Post, Uproxx, Harper's Bazaar, and more. In her free time, she's a DJ in Brooklyn and enjoys spending time in nature. 

Fun fact: I have two Pokémon tattoos! I've been a fan of the game franchise for as long as I can remember, and one of my favorite childhood movies is Pokémon 4Ever.

Rainesford Stauffer she/her

Rainesford Stauffer (she/her) is a freelance writer from Kentucky. She writes Teen Vogue's Work in Progress column, and is the author of An Ordinary Age (2021) and All the Gold Stars (2023). Rainesford's interests include writing about work and labor, higher ed, organizing, politics, youth, and feelings, reading, and searching for cats to pet.

Suzy Exposito she/her

Suzy Exposito is an award-winning journalist based in Los Angeles. She has worked as a culture columnist at the L.A. Times, and was previously the founding Latin music editor for legendary rock magazine Rolling Stone. She served as an executive consultant on the 2023 Netflix series Neon: a comedy detailing the ins and outs of the music industry in Miami. You can read her writing in Vogue, ELLE and Pitchfork. 

Morgan Sung she/her

Morgan Sung is a Los Angeles-based tech journalist who covers the wild expanse of hell that is the internet, and is the host and producer of the podcast "Close All Tabs" from KQED. She previously wrote for TechCrunch, NBC News, Mashable, where she reported on the creator economy, digital sex work, disinformation through memes, and how tech policy and internet culture influence the real world. She also writes the very intermittent newsletter, rat.house.You can find her on Twitter, Bluesky, Instagram, and TikTok.

Shayna Maci Warner they/them

Shayna Maci Warner is a Brooklyn- based writer, film worker, and film programmer whose first book, The Rainbow Age of Television: An Opinionated History of Queer TV is out now from Abrams. Their words on queer films, shows, and feelings have also appeared in Paste magazine, The Film Stage, Women and Hollywood, and Autostraddle, among other publications, and they have contributed to festival programming at NewFest, Outfest, Tribeca, and Nitehawk Cinema. To argue with Shayna’s opinions on hot evil lesbians, you can find them at www.criticallyqueer.com.

Xavier Lopez he/him

Xavier Lopez is an audio producer on NPR's race and identity radio show and podcast, Code Switch. Prior to NPR, he was at CNN Audio and NPR member station WHYY in Philadelphia.

Before working in journalism, Lopez worked in the non-profit world in Queens, NY, where he was raised and currently resides. He is a fan of the beach, long walks, sad music, cats, and raccoons.

Mark Yarm he/him

Mark Yarm is an adjunct assistant professor at Columbia Journalism School and the former tech desk editor at BuzzFeed News (RIP). Prior to BuzzFeed, he worked at Input, BreakerMag, and Blender. In addition, he has written for the New Yorker, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Wired, WSJ. Magazine, and Rolling Stone and is the author of Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge, a Time magazine book of the year. He’s also a contributor at two newsletters: Long Lead's Depth Perception and the Brick House's Flaming Hydra. Find him at his personal website or on Bluesky.

James Salanga they/them

James Salanga is a Filipino and Chinese writer from the California Central Valley. They're the co-director of media criticism newsroom The Objective and the podcast producer for The Sick Times, which covers the ongoing Long COVID crisis. They are also a big fan of putting Snoopy action shots on playlist covers and have had an on-again off-again 4-year relationship with dyeing their hair shades of red.

TK TK/TK

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