Zack Aldrich
Zack Aldrich, Prospectus Co-Editor
Zack received a Bachelor of Journalism from the University of Missouri before coming to study magazine production at Medill. He just signed on with the Omaha World-Herald as a copy editor and page designer. He is always learning more about the craft. Zack’s ancestors were chiefly German and Irish, and he is interested in developing his command of spoken Spanish. Zack is also a big fan of walruses, and the key to his heart (attack?) is extra-greasy, dark meat Boston Market rotisserie chicken.
Alma Bahman
Alma Bahman, Lead Digital Product Developer
An Iranian-American and Southern California native, Alma earned her bachelor’s degree from CSU Long Beach in print journalism. To keep up with the rapid changes in the industry, she came to Medill to study interactive publishing and take her storytelling skills to the next level. During her time, she has discovered a love for politics, food photography and radio. She hopes to make a career out of all three.
Antonietta Colasanto
Antonietta Colasanto, Research Co-Editor
Antonietta (Anto) received a B.A. in foreign languages in her native Italy. While at Medill, her interests expanded to the marketing and public relations areas, and she is looking forward to work in a renowned public relations agency after graduation. Antonietta is married to an Italian and has a 2-year-old Italian boy. They all love the international feel of Chicago and the city’s variety of ethnic cuisine. Antonietta is a big fan of the Lincoln Park Zoo (free!), the Mediterranean coast and vanilla-chocolate chip gelato (called Stracciatella in Italy).
Mike DiFerdinando
Mike DiFerdinando, Production Manager
Mike received a Bachelor of Journalism from the University of Florida before coming to Medill to study interactive publishing. He has worked as a correspondent for the Tampa Tribune covering college sports, and Mike has interned at SKI Magazine. Mike is of Italian ancestry. He loves to travel and is fascinated by the different cultures of the world. After graduation, Mike plans to pursue a career in online media and digital journalism.
Emma Dutton
Emma Dutton, ExpoDigi Production Manager
Emma received her Bachelor of Science in materials science and engineering at Northwestern University before joining Medill’s graduate program. She has a passion for sustainability and plans to use her combination of skills to help everyone understand complicated but necessary technical details. She is enjoying Chicago while balancing school and work for Consulting-Specifying Engineer magazine. When she grows up, she wants to save the world or at least help society move forward toward energy efficiency and clean water. With an engineer’s curiosity, a journalist’s drive to find answers and respect for all living things, Emma spreads smiles and determination everywhere she goes.
Molly Fedick
Molly Fedick, Social Media Editor
Molly received a Bachelor of Journalism from Boston University before coming to study magazine journalism at Medill. She has held internships at the White House, CosmoGirl!, Time Out New York Kids and CS Magazine. She has been published on websites such as CollegeHumor.com. After graduation in June, she will begin her job as social media and Web manager for Chicago’s tween fashion mecca, Frankie’s on the Park. Molly is a true American mutt — she is Ukrainian, Irish, German, Italian and English. Ironically, she speaks fluent French — the one nationality she doesn’t share! When she isn’t writing, Molly loves all things girly such as shopping, talking and rainbow sprinkles! Follow her on Twitter at @mollyfedick.
Kathryn Ferrara
Kathryn Ferrara, Research Co-Editor
Kathryn officially joined the ranks of storytellers in third grade when she wrote 54 pages about a family summer vacation. Since then she has expanded into broadcast as a Medill undergrad, interactive publishing as a graduate student and marketing communications in her internships. She hopes to meld all these together in some way that covers her two favorite topics: food and cars.
Lauren Gold
Lauren Gold, Lead Digital Strategist
Lauren is a Florida native and quite the social butterfly. After studying journalism at the University of Florida, she came to Medill to learn more about interactive media and digital strategy. Her ancestors hail from eastern Europe, but now her family resides in sunny South Florida. Lauren loves learning about other cultures and is always up on the latest social media trends. She is excited to start the next chapter of her media career here in Chicago.
Amanda Koellner
Amanda Koellner, Senior Editor
Amanda received her Bachelor of Journalism in magazine writing and editing from the University of Missouri in 2011 before coming to Medill after a summer filled with music festivals and traveling. She reported at the Columbia Missourian, where she wrote a biweekly column on music and pop culture. She also worked as a music department editor for Vox Magazine in Columbia (solidifying the fact that being a music journalist is her dream job). Amanda’s grandmother emigrated here from Latvia, and the rest of her ancestry is German and Irish. Amanda is a huge fan of Mexican food, live music and her cat, Penny Lane.
Bethany Leggett
Bethany Leggett, Design Chief
Bethany received two Bachelor of Arts degrees in English and Communication Studies from Furman University in Greenville, S.C., in 2010. She has held several editorial internships including time with the Greenville Journal, the Montgomery Advertiser and Chicago Home + Garden. She will be graduating with a master’s degree in magazine editing and writing, and she hopes to work for a lifestyle publication in the South. Bethany’s heritage includes a mix of Scots-Irish, Cherokee and German. She enjoys traveling internationally and has been to 15 countries.
Gulnaz Saiyed
Gulnaz Saiyed, Production Researcher and Designer
Gulnaz received her B.A. in English and women’s studies from Tulane University in 2008. She taught eighth-grade English in La Joya, Texas, before coming to Medill, where she was a member of News21 and the National Security Reporting Project teams. She’s focused on magazine writing and editing at Medill and she has a background in radio production. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Gulnaz is happy to recommend the best places on Devon Street to find samosas, wedding dresses and obscure vegetables. After graduating, she will be teaching gender studies at a Chicago high school and freelancing.
Alexia Severson
Alexia Severson, Prospectus Co-Editor
Originally from the Southwest, Alexia received her bachelor’s degree in journalism at New Mexico State University. After graduating, she worked at the Las Cruces Sun-News as an editorial assistant, where she wrote feature stories on local businesses and health features for Healthy U magazine. She later decided to expand her writing and multimedia skills at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern and moved to Chicago in 2011. After graduating from Northwestern, Alexia hopes to stay in Chicago and work as a freelancer until she finds her path in life. Although she has never met them, Alexia’s great-grandparents are originally from Denmark.
Magdalena Slapik
Magdalena Slapik, Senior Editor
Magdalena was born in Poland and moved to Chicago’s Portage Park when she was 7. She studied journalism and Spanish at New York University as an undergraduate, and she later taught high school English in Houston as a Teach for America corps member. Before starting her master’s degree in magazine writing at Medill, she worked as a Web editor for Teach for America’s teaching resource database. Magdalena is an avid runner, yogi and coffee drinker. She loves great writing and is moving to New York City in June to work as an editorial intern at Esquire magazine.
Arjuna Soriano
Arjuna Soriano, Technology Chief
Arjuna is a designer, a coder and a journalist. He was a freelance Web designer and taught youth art classes before coming to the Medill School of Journalism to study interactive journalism. He is a father of two and a husband of one.
Michael Tomko
Michael Tomko, Lead Business Strategist
Michael received a Bachelor of Journalism with a focus in sports journalism from The Pennsylvania State University in 2008. He worked the previous three years for the Duke University Athletic Department as a staff writer and video assistant, producing content for GoDuke.com. Michael is part of the magazine concentration at Medill. He decided to leave Duke and attend Northwestern to hone his storytelling ability and broaden his experiences. Michael’s great-grandparents came to America from Italy. His favorite movie is “The Godfather” because he also has Sicilian blood.
JR Tungol
JR Tungol, Managing Editor
Reynaldo Aquino Tungol Jr., who goes by JR, got his Bachelor of Science in industrial engineering from Kettering University (formerly General Motors Institute) in 2009. Before coming to Medill, JR worked at Beaumont Health System in Detroit as a business analyst. JR’s ultimate goal is to become editor-in-chief of a major magazine, marrying both his technical and creative backgrounds. He says his time at Northwestern has been “the best year of my life!” JR is a first-generation American, the son of Filipino immigrants and he embraces his roots (and name).
Ashlei Williams
Ashlei Williams, Social Media Editor
Ashlei’s childhood passion for writing developed into a skill as a young adult. It was at Spelman College, where she received a B.A. in English, that she realized journalism was her dream. Beginning her print experience as the features editor for Morehouse College’s weekly newspaper, The Maroon Tiger, she continued to form two publications at low-income schools — Herndon Express and The Rising Lion. Ashlei recently launched her own website, Between Margins, as a way to incorporate her life’s experiences into her writing. Down the road, Ashlei would like to be a features writer for a publication catered to a minority audience.
Yu Le
Yu Le, Head Videographer
Yu Le received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in international relations at Peking University. Before coming to Medill, he worked with Reuters in Beijing for four years. During that period, he had been among the first ones in the world to report some breaking news. He concentrates in the magazine track at Medill and also interns with Nihao Media, a Chinese language media group in Chicago. Yu Le is a native Chinese with one eighth of Malay origin, though he has never met his relatives who ostensibly live in Indonesia.
