Isabel Abdai is a graphic designer and art director, who followed her dream to NYC three years after graduating from ACAD in Calgary. She spent five years as Senior Associate Art Director for Martha Stewart Living magazine, and is currently the Design Director for Woman’s Day magazine at Hearst Corporation.

Trevor J. Adams is senior editor/copy chief with Advocate Media. He edits and writes for Saltscapes magazine and has published three books. In 2023, he earned the Bronze Quill Award from News Media Canada.

Trevor Battye is the founder of Trevor Battye Advertising Sales provides client-driven advertising and monetization strategies for print and digital publications, festivals, and events for over 15 years. Clients include The Alberta Teachers Association, Brick A Literary Journal, The Tyee, The Vancouver Writers Festival, The Vancouver Film Festival, and the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival. In addition he is a sessional instructor in the Publishing Program at Simon Fraser University Courses include Pub 456 Festivals and Events and Pub 458 Journalism as Publishing Problem.

Marina Beniaminov started her career in graphic design as a magazine production artist more than 20 years ago. She has experience with various aspects of design – from UX and UI for automotive industry, and environmental design at Royal Ontario Museum, to infographics for GE Energy. She is currently a Creative Lead and Principal of Pixel Studios where she creates marketing and corporate communication collateral for the financial and pharmaceutical industry. She is also a part-time professor at the Seneca College of Applied Arts & Technology. In her spare time, Marina abandons the virtual world of pixels and screens and paints on actual stretched canvases.

Terry Bullick is a long-time Calgary writer, editor and communicator. She has contributed to countless Canadian and Alberta magazines in her career and was an ardent AMPA volunteer and director in the 2010s. More recently, focuses on helping businesses and associations use storytelling in their communications.

Wendy Burton’s debut novel Ivy’s Tree (Thistledown) was published in 2020. “Swimming in the Dark” (Folklife, October 2020) won Gold BC Story of the Year, AMPA 2021. Millicent, about her great-great-grandmother’s life in 1850s East End London, is being considered for publication. Her essay “Meditations on the Headstand” is in (Folklife, Winter 2023). She regularly reviews nonfiction for BC Review of Books.

Phillip Chin is a Canadian editorial and corporate photographer who specializes in photographing people. His passion is shooting wetplate collodion photographs with his 100-year-old 8×10 wooden view camera.

Dana DiTomaso is the Principal & Founder of Kick Point, a full-service marketing agency where she helps organizations make better decisions through strategy, analytics, and SEO. After two decades of watching clients struggle with data that didn’t answer their real questions, DiTomaso founded Analytics Playbook — a learning platform focused on practical, accessible analytics education. Through Analytics Playbook, she teaches marketers and agencies how to set up, track, and actually understand Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Looker Studio, and the metrics that matter to their business.

DiTomaso is a sought-after speaker on analytics, SEO, and digital strategy at conferences worldwide. She’s also the weekly technology columnist on CBC Edmonton AM, teaches digital analytics at the University of Alberta, and has reached over 190,000 learners through her LinkedIn Learning courses. In her spare time, she enjoys yelling at football players and collecting hobbies.

Daniel (Dan) Donovan is the Founding Publisher and Managing Editor of Ottawa Life Magazine www.ottawalife.com (est. 1997), the largest and longest-running magazine in Canada’s national capital region. Known for his articles on politics, government, international relations, business, and travel, Dan has been published in many esteemed publications including The Globe and Mail, The National Post, The Hill Times, The Ottawa Citizen, The Financial Post, Ottawa Sun, Toronto Sun, Masthead Magazine, Metro Magazine, Al Jazirah, and as an op-ed writer in CGCN China. He has authored and edited influential public policy books, including True Grits New Grits and A Life Less Taxing.

Dan’s volunteer service includes roles on several boards, such as the Conference of Defence Associations Institute and the Canadian Cycling Association. He is a certified coach with Hockey Canada and a former reservist soldier in the Canadian Armed Forces.

Kyra Droog (she/her) is a writer, fundraiser, and storyteller living on Treaty Six territory in amiskwacîwâskahikan (Edmonton). Kyra’s work in grant writing and fundraising for Edmonton not-for-profit arts and culture organizations has resulted in millions of dollars raised for the sector. Her list of publications spans short and book-length non-fiction, as well as short stories and poetry. Kyra is armed with a Bachelor of Communication Studies from MacEwan University and a Master of Publishing from Simon Fraser University, and has presented her academic and creative work at conferences across Canada. She has published with the Bolo Tie Collective, Ink Movement Edmonton, and Golden Meteorite Press, and has work forthcoming from Wild Skies Press and the Children’s Literature Association.

Stacey May Fowles is an award winning writer, editor, and magazine professional with over twenty years of experience in book, magazine, newspaper, and digital publishing. Her national bestseller Baseball Life Advice, was published in Spring 2017, and was selected by the Globe and Mail, The National Post, and Maisonneuve as a best book of the year. Fowles has also worked on circulation projects for a number of highly respected literary and arts publications, is the author of five books and editor of four anthologies, and her bylines include Cottage Life, Reader’s Digest, Toronto Life, Vice, Broadview, The Literary Review of Canada, Quill and Quire, Maisonneuve, Elle Canada, and many more. She recently published her first children’s book, The Invitation, with Groundwood Books.

Kyle Flemmer is a writer, publisher, and digital media artist based in Calgary on Treaty 7 territory. His multidisciplinary work explores the intersections of poetry, code, and visual design, drawing on traditions of concrete and conceptual art to examine how digital systems shape human expression and artistic possibility.

Kyle is the author of Barcode Poetry, Supergiants, and TzAR: Pixel Art Anthology. His next, The Wiki of Babel, is forthcoming from the University of Calgary Press in 2026. Kyle’s writing has been anthologized in Best Canadian Poetry 2020 and featured in numerous print and online venues. He has performed for the Jasper Dark Sky Festival, the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, and at literary festivals and events across Canada.

Anne Georg is a writer and photographer based in Calgary. She is an avid fan of good writing and a good story.

David Gibson spent the first part of his career as a magazine editor and publisher, and the next phase—leading higher education teams in marketing, media, crisis communications, branding, digital strategy, and creative services—steeped in what he learned in magazines. Capture the soul of the institution in everything you do; reveal the life of the place through human story; be honest, be interesting. He brought Cornell two Sibley Magazine of the Year awards within his first three years on the job. He helped Yankee earn it first National Magazine Award nomination for reporting. He recently completed a six-year run as Middlebury’s vice president for marketing and communications and is now consulting for mission-driven organizations.

Ryan Girard has spent over 20 years in the visual arts profession, beginning in graphic design and adding photography early on in his career. He has worked in multiple creative environments, including as an art director and in-house photographer in the publishing industry for 7 years, and currently works as the Creative Services Manager and photography lead for the marketing department’s head office of an internationally reaching Alberta-headquarted company. Beyond this, he also takes on freelance projects and practices landscape photography.

photoED Magazine’s editor /publisher Rita Godlevskis has more than twenty years of experience in photography based, creative media work, in Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand. She has worked across multiple platforms with a diverse range of projects in her portfolio in editorial, and creative production contexts. A passion for promoting diverse voices in Canadian photography, and great coffee keep her fuelled.

Gord Grisenthwaite is a Nlaka’pamux writer and member of the Lytton First Nation, and earned an MA in English Literature & Creative Writing at the University of Windsor (2020). His first novel, Home Waltz, was a shortlisted finalist for the Governor General’s Award for English-language fiction . He has published short stories and poetry in various Canadian literary magazines including The Antigonish Review and Prism International; his short story “The Fine Art of Frying Eggs” was the winner of the John Kenneth Galbraith Literary Award in 2013, and his short story “Splatter Patterns” was longlisted for the 2021 CBC Short Story Prize.

Nicola Hamilton RGD (she/her) is an award-winning editorial designer based in Toronto, Canada. For over a decade now she’s been art directing and designing magazines. She’s worked on publications like The Grid, Chatelaine, The University of Toronto Magazine, Best Health, Precedent, and Serviette to name a few. Nicola is the President of the Association of Registered Graphic Designers (RGD), where she advocates for the value of design. In July 2022, Nicola took her love of magazines to a whole new level by opening Issues Magazine Shop, a bricks-and-mortar magazine retailer with a mandate to celebrate the people and projects keeping print alive.

Dave Harrison worked in publishing for more than 40 years before he retiring in 2017. He had most recently worked as a magazine editor with Annex Business Media with a pair of national farm publications after previously working in the newspaper field in southwestern Ontario.

Michelle Kelly started her career in publishing in 1998, as the office manager at Cottage Life. Since then, she has held various positions in the editorial department at the magazine until she was named Editor in July 2015 and Vice President, Content, for Blue ant Media in September 2019. She sits on the Professional Advisory Committee for Centennial College in Toronto and is a board member for the International Regional Magazines Association. She is also the recipient of several Canadian National Magazine Awards, including Editor Grand Prix in 2021. She lives in Toronto with her husband and two children.

Mitch Kern is an Associate Professor in the School of Communication Design at the Alberta University of the Arts whose work has received numerous awards and been featured in 150+ exhibitions and publications in Canada, the U.S. and abroad.

Monica Kidd is a multidisciplinary writer and award-winning journalist specializing in science and health reporting. Her work has appeared on CBC, where for seven years she reported full-time first on general issue stories, then as a national science reporter; her print features have appeared in The Walrus, Canadian Geographic and Alberta Views. She has written eight books of poetry, non-fiction and fiction, most recently the novel The Crane, published by Breakwater Books earlier this year. She is at work on a reported creative nonfiction book called Holding Ground: The World’s Eroding Coastlines.

She lives in Calgary, where she also works as a medical doctor.

A content strategy and media executive specializing in content solutions across social, digital, video, print, SEO, research and e-commerce, Jacquie Loch is a branded content/revenue generation expert driving engagement, results, and cultivating C-level relationships. In her current role as EVP Strategy & Revenue, AZURE Media, she delivers on revenue goals via innovative cross-platform solutions across advertising, events, marketing and audience development. Previously as EVP Social & Emerging Platforms and VP Group Publisher SJC Media and TC Media she oversaw brands including FASHION, ELLE Canada, Canadian Living, and Style at Home, and was formerly VP Content Solutions Rogers Media. A recognized leader in marketing solutions and media innovation, Loch is past Chair of The Content Council (New York) and is a Board Member for the National Media Awards Foundation (Canada) and a Co-Founder of Global Voices, an international collective of content marketers. A frequent speaker across North America and Europe, having created award-winning programs for a wide range of top-tier clients.

Adrianne Lovric is a communications professional who has spent the last 20 years creating content for print media, non-profits, creative agencies, start-ups and publicly-traded companies. Fuelled by caffeine and curiosity, she always says yes to dark roast and opportunities for new adventures. Adrianne lives in Calgary with her husband, Miroslav, and their two daughters.

Domenic Macri has designed and art directed for Toronto Life, FASHION magazine, Flare, What’s Cooking and GUSTO!, and is best known as art director for The Globe and Mail’s much-lauded Report on Business (ROB) magazine. Over the past decade, Macri has led ROB through several redesigns and earned recognition from the Art Directors Club of Canada and the National Magazine Awards.

Sandra E. Martin is The Globe and Mail’s standards editor, a role that seeks to ensure The Globe’s journalism is of the highest quality and that the organization is accountable to readers. Trust in media is under constant scrutiny, so the Standards Editor plays an important part in explaining The Globe’s policies and protocols to customers. Sandra addresses complaints regarding accuracy or bias, as well as any questions arising from The Globe’s use of artificial intelligence, supporting The Globe’s commitment to transparency about how we see the benefits and risks.

Previously, she served as The Globe’s Head of Newsroom Development, as well as editor-in-chief of MoneySense. She has also been an instructor at Toronto Metropolitan University’s School of Journalism.

A former editor-in-chief of Canadian Living, Sandra is a two-time National Magazine Awards finalist, a repeat NMA judge, and a two-time NMA host. She sits on the board of directors of Canada’s National History Society and SABEW Canada.

Eithne McCredie has been in the magazine industry for over thirty years, most recently as publisher of the Literary Review of Canada. Prior to that, Eithne was the publisher (and co-founder) of International Architecture & Design magazine and has consulted on numerous Canadian magazines including Canadian Art, Small Farm Canada, Gripped, Canadian Cycling, Maisonneuve, Triathlon, The Messenger of St Anthony, Toronto Life, Canadian Running, Marketing, Harrowsmith, Opera Canada and Canada’s History.

Alanna Mitchell is an award-winning Canadian journalist, author and playwright who is as fascinated with the history of scientific thought and the evolution of quantum physics as she is with trends in 21st-century art. She has been a freelance magazine journalist for the past two decades, and has written five books and two plays. She is features editor at Broadview Magazine.  She has spent parts of the past 10 years performing a one-woman play she wrote, with help from artistic directors Franco Boni and Ravi Jain, at theatres around the world. She grew up on the prairies and now lives in Toronto.

John Montgomery is an award-winning freelance art director + graphic designer based in Toronto, providing creative direction services to corporate and editorial clients, as well as a professor with Sheridan College’s Honours Bachelor of Illustration program. He’s previously worked with ALLCAPS Content, Fiera Capital, Harbour Publishing, Reader’s Digest Canada and Sélection, Canadian Business, MoneySense, Toronto Life, Financial Post Magazine and Taddle Creek magazines.

Jacquie Moore has been a magazine editor and writer since 2004 when she started as an assistant editor at Western Living magazine in Vancouver. From there she spent many years at Calgary’s weekly Swerve magazine as executive editor and senior writer. Most recently, she re-imagined and edited the University of Calgary’s AMPA award-winning arch magazine for which she now freelance writes. She also regularly contributes to Avenue magazine.

Breanna Mroczek is an Alberta-based freelance writer and former editor of Where Edmonton, Where Calgary, and Avenue Edmonton. Her work has been nominated for several AMPA awards, and she is the recipient of AMPA’s Volunteer of the Year award for her work on Glass Buffalo magazine.

Robert Newman is the creative director at Newmanology. He was previously the creative director for Real Simple, This Old House Ventures, and Reader’s Digest, the design director for Entertainment Weekly, Cottage Living, New York, Details, Vibe, Fortune, and The Village Voice, and has consulted for AARP, AAA, TV Guide, and more. He lives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City.

Colleen Nicholson is a Toronto-based book and magazine art director with an alarmingly ambitious coffee habit and a penchant for pithy bios.

Nisha Patel is the Poet Laureate Emeritus of the City of Edmonton. An award-winning disabled and queer artist, she is a Canadian Poetry Slam champion and holds a master of arts in cultural studies from Queen’s University. Her debut poetry collection, Coconut, is out with NeWest Press, alongside her latest chapbooks. Her second book, A Fate Worse Than Death, will be out with Arsenal Pulp Press in spring 2024. She is a recipient of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Medal and the Edmonton Artists’ Trust Fund. She is currently finishing her master of fine arts in creative writing at the University of British Columbia, where she is writing a graphic novel and children’s books.

Kim Pittaway is the co-author, with Toufah Jallow, of Toufah: The Woman Who Inspired an African #MeToo Movement, which the New York Times called “riveting” and “propulsive,” and, with Dr. Samra Zafar, of Unconditional: Break Through Past Limits to Transform Your Future. She is a cohort director in the MFA in Creative Nonfiction program at the University of King’s College in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and an award-winning journalist with publication and broadcast credits that include Hazlitt, Chatelaine, Reader’s Digest, More Magazine, Best Health, Cottage Life, The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, CBC Radio’s The Current, Tapestry and others. She is the former editor-in-chief of Chatelaine, a recipient of a Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal, the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Canadian National Magazine Awards Foundation (and an 8-time NMAF finalist), a co-winner of a Canadian Science Writers’ Association Award with her sister the journalist Tina Pittaway, and a finalist for the American Society of Journalists and Authors service writing award. She is a past president of the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia and the National Magazine Awards Foundation.

Principal and Creative Director, Thomas Porostocky started his design career in the NYC magazine industry. After realizing he was far too independent for a cushy office job, he started his own studio, The TOM Agency, a multi-disciplinary firm focused on infographics and illustration-based design.

Thomas has a Bachelor of Design from ACAD (Calgary) and a Masters from the School of Visual Arts (NYC). He was included in Print Magazine’s Top 20 Under 30, and has had his name and work appear in numerous Design Annuals, Books and Art exhibits. When he’s not designing, he’s lusting after cars he’ll never own.

Anicka Quin is the VP of Content at Canada Wide Media, where she leads the editorial teams of Western Living, BCBusiness, BCLiving, TVWeek and Vancouver magazines. Under her leadership, these regional brands have gained a national reputation, regularly winning top honours at the Canadian Online Publishing Awards, National Magazine Awards and the Editor’s Choice Awards. She got her start in small magazines, including Alternatives Journal and id Magazine, and spent a decade teaching communications at Capilano University.

Photograph by Evaan Kheraj

Christina Reynolds is a freelance journalist based in Calgary, in Treaty 7 territory. She’s been the executive editor of ELLE Canada and the editor-in-chief of city magazine CalgaryInc. She has also worked at the Calgary Herald, ROBTV and CTV.

Pete Ryan was raised on a farm in the middle of nowhere. He’s a former college professor, former art director and former Ontarian who currently calls Nelson, BC home. Pete makes illustrations for Time, the New York Times and a variety of publications in Alberta. A global warming alarmist, golden retriever enthusiast and late ‘90s hardcore punk survivor, Pete can be found on a trail, in his garden or inside his studio.

Graham F. Scott is a Senior Content Designer at Shopify and a former editor at Maclean’s, Canadian Business, Precedent, and This Magazine.

James Smith is a marketing and communications director at PCL Construction, where he leads strategic storytelling and brand initiatives across the company’s heavy industrial operations in Canada and the United States. He has more than 20 years of experience in communications, marketing, and editorial leadership—including 15 years at PCL. Before joining PCL, he held senior roles at EPCOR and served as a senior online editor for Sun Media. James is known for shaping clear, compelling messaging that supports organizational goals and elevates stakeholder engagement.

Stephen Smith is a writer in Toronto, a sometime contributor to The New York Times, Canadian Geographic, McSweeney’s, and Geist. He’s author of the book Puckstruck: Distracted, Delighted and Distressed by Canada’s Hockey Obsession (2014), and steers a blog at puckstruck.com that keeps an eye on hockey history and culture.

Annie Stoltie is co-publisher/editor-in-chief of Adirondack Life magazine, named the International Regional Magazine Association’s Magazine of the Year in 2023. She has worked in the magazine industry for more than 25 years, first in the editorial department at Good Housekeeping, later heading north from New York City to the Adirondack Park.

In addition to writing and editing hundreds of stories for Adirondack Life, her work has appeared in the New York Times, Forbes, Cottage Life, Yankee and Newsweek. She’s also co-author of The Explorers Guide Adirondacks (W. W. Norton).

Stoltie teaches writing and editing to students at SUNY Potsdam, where she was writer in residence from 2016 to 2019. She has led workshops for the Adirondack Center for Writing and taught creative writing at the Ray Brook Federal Correctional Institution. Stoltie is currently on the board of directors of the International Regional Magazine Association and a judge for the American Society of Magazine Editors’ National Magazine Awards, based at Columbia University.

Kat Tancock is co-founder of custom content agency Tavanberg, whose clients include RBC Ventures, The Beer Store, United Way and M&M Food Market. Previously an instructor of web editorial at Ryerson University and an editor at Canadian Living, Best Health, Reader’s Digest and Food & Drink, she has written on travel, health, food and business for publications including the Globe and Mail, the San Francisco Chronicle, Western Living and Canadian Business.

David Topping is an experienced digital media leader obsessed with delivering news better, and a fan of big swings, rolling with the punches, and occasionally mixing sports metaphors. He is currently a consultant helping publishers of every size shape industry-leading projects, products, and strategies.

Carolynn Van de Vyvere is a former journalism instructor, writer and editor. For the past nine years, she has been the communications principal at IVY, a Calgary-based marketing agency.

Janice Van Eck, R.G.D., is a freelance designer specializing in magazine and book design. She is passionate about typography, dynamic photography and visualizing data. Her clients, who range from large corporations to young entrepreneurs, are based in Canada, the United States and the UK. They include Faith Today, Cleanfarms, The Centre for Agri-Food Benchmarking, OVMA, MBC and Westminster Seminary.

Leslie Vermeer is a professor of communication studies at MacEwan University in Edmonton and has been writing and editing professionally for 30 years. Alberta’s political economy and Alberta’s publishing history are two of her academic interests.

Chandra Vermeulen is a Calgary-based Graphic / Communication Designer and Sessional Instructor at the Alberta University of the Arts. Chandra’s work has been recognized by Communication Arts, Coupe Magazine and The Mohawk Show.

Lisa Whittington-Hill is the publisher of This Magazine. She also works as a circulation, marketing and fundraising consultant for small magazines and is an instructor in the magazine publishing program at Centennial College in Toronto. Her writing has appeared in The Walrus, Hazlitt and Longreads. She is currently writing a book for Bloomsbury’s 33 1/3 series on Beauty and the Beat by The Go-Go’s. Girls, Interrupted, her collection of essays on how pop culture is failing women, will be published by Vehicule Press in 2023.

Jackie Wong is a senior editor at The Tyee, a digital magazine for British Columbia. She edits the Weekender, The Tyee’s weekend culture section. She has previously reported on social policy, drug policy and housing issues. She has also worked as a writing instructor, facilitator and as a program manager in the local non-profit community. Her writing has appeared in art books, alt weeklies, anthologies and magazines across North America.