Melissa Kravitz, Publisher
Melissa studies Creative Writing at Columbia University while simultaneously pursuing a degree in Jewish Studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. She has interned at Good Housekeeping and Columbia’s School of Continuing Education. Melissa has worked at Inside New York since 2009. While being New York’s most fabulous resident consumes a lot of her time, she also enjoys running and biking, excessive amounts of shopping, visiting museums and galleries, reading chick lit, and befriending cute puppies. Melissa considers herself NYC’s ultimate pasta expert. You can read her blog or follow her on twitter.
Lidia Jean Kott, Events and Entertainment Editor
Lidia Jean is a junior at Barnard College, where she studies English and Latin. She is not allergic to anything.
Cathy Li, Dining Editor
Cathy is a student at Columbia University without a clue on what she’s studying. A native to Philadelphia, she enjoys listening to the foreign languages on the streets, dining at any and all locations, and walking around New York at night (in the safe parts).
Roger Li, Dining Editor
Roger is a student at Columbia University, prospectively pursuing a degree in political science and economics. Having come from San Diego, a city more famous for its picturesque beaches than its arts scene, he is excited to experience all that the Big Apple has to offer. In his spare time, Roger enjoys eating ethnic foods, watching trashy reality television, and of course, writing for Inside NewYork.
Amy Inhee Park, Associate Editor
Amy is a junior at Columbia University studying Creative Writing. She moved to the United States in 1999 and ever since then she fell in love with New York City. Amy loves exploring the city for new places to visit, eat, and shop! If she had to pick one way to really enjoy the Big Apple, she’d choose dining out and getting her dose of sweets. She is never afraid to try any type of food. Her favorite spot in the entire city is Columbus Circle. She loves cooking and baking. Amy has worked at Inside New York since summer of 2010. Now she writes a weekly column Amy Eats for Inside New York. She also writes for the Columbia Spectator. One day she dreams of writing her own children’s books (and perhaps illustrating them herself although her artistic abilities stopped at age seven). Visit her blog, http://picklesandgiggles.blogspot.com/
Luna Adler, Writer
Luna is a first year at Barnard College and a prospective English major. She originally hails from Charlottesville, Virginia and likes to frolick in Central Park whenever she begins to crave the smell of fresh tree bark. She hopes to travel all over the world someday, but in the meantime she paints, takes photographs, and makes sushi. She once jumped on a pogo stick 3,000 times without falling off and has always harbored the secret desire to be a pterodactyl.
Justine Ashley, Writer
Justine is a graduate of NYU’s Media, Culture, and Communications program. She writes for I-Phone Aps and such sites as Celebrity Cafe, Gather News, Smashion, Beauty and Style, and Fashion 360. She has worked as a script and book scout for such studios as Warner Brothers, Goldcrest Films International, and Eclectic Pictures. She studied journalism in Prague where she worked for In-Style Magazine. You can follow her on twitter and on gather.
Rachel Bronstein, Writer
Rachel is a junior at Barnard College studying Music with a concentration in Unemployment. When not scouring the city for gluten-free foods, she can be found singing in other languages in the Columbia Latin American Ensemble or organizing dessert-filled events as VP Membership Programming of Alpha Chi Omega sorority. Other interests include jazz piano, learning obscure trivia, 30 Rock, and Snood. Her current goal is to learn how to say “gluten allergy” in every language so she can start eating ethnic food again.
Brianna Clark, Writer
Brianna was born and raised in Maspeth, Queens. Brianna studies English Literature and Dramatic Writing at NYU. In her spare time, she enjoys writing and having adventures. Her Mom claims she’s “intense.” It’s probably because Brianna wears her socks inside out and thinks she’s funny or something. She especially loves fedoras, funny tee-shirts, repartee, good bargains, and writing that makes your heart fall out of your mouth. Thinking until her brain hurts, then thinking some more. Her biggest compliment was when a teacher called her “Hamlet.” Brianna is a dean’s list scholar and honors seminar participant at the university. She also serves on the Undergraduate Committee of Academic Affairs. She was a top five finalist in a national playwriting contest sponsored by Fidelity Futurestage in 2010, and studied at the Manhattan Theatre Club, Stella Adler Studio of Acting and the Public Theater. She’s thrilled to be writing for Inside New York. If you would like to reach Brianna, you can e-mail her here: Bcc277@nyu.edu.
Chantalle Dumonceaux, Writer
Chantalle was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA. She decided the weather was too pleasant and at age eighteen, she moved to Paris where she was a student at the American University of Paris for two years. Besides studying, she enjoyed the cuisine of Europe, the Middle East, and South America through extensive travels and insatiable curiosity. She decided the food was too good in Paris and at twenty, she took a year off of college and worked in Zurich doing statistics and research for a media company. Then she decided that the work was too rewarding so she transferred to Barnard College where she is currently majoring in Economics. She may decide that the quality of her education is too high and there are too many opportunities in New York, but until that happens, she is in love with the city and all it has to offer. In rare instances of free time, she goes to technology and entrepreneurship related meetings and events, the theater, tries new restaurants and bars, tries new activities, takes long walks leading nowhere, and flies her toy helicopter around Central Park. Don’t expect too many Thai food recommendations because she is allergic to peanuts.
Carey Dunne, Writer
Carey is a senior at Barnard College, originally from New York City. She is studying English and Studio Art, and writes and illustrates for the Columbia Spectator and Inside New York. She has reported for the Norwood News and the Huffington Post. Her favorite spot in the city is the Central Park Ramble.
John Dewar, Writer
Born and raised in Dayton Ohio, John moved to New York in August 2010 when he began his freshman year at NYU where he studies Dramatic Writing at the Tisch School of the Arts. Since then he has found a new spiritual home within the city and made the decision to stay throughout the summer so that he can widen the scope of his writing and broaden his career options. With ambitions to write for both TV and film, John continues to develop ideas and projects in the hopes of someday breaking into the script writing business. You can follow his blog at http://uberfilm.tumblr.com/ or his twitter.
Simon Frisch, Writer
Simon was born in Manhattan, though he often pretends to be French, and has not yet found occasion to leave the borough as a fourth-year composition major at The Juilliard School. He is most likely to be found at pianos, conducting crazily to himself on the street, or gorging on food at any of New York’s establishments. His most recent performance was of music he wrote in collaboration with a choreographer classmate (for what it’s worth, Natalie Portman came). This year he is interning at W. W. Norton & Company, writing for Inside New York, and suffering over graduate school applications.
Emma Imber, Writer
Emma is an Economics student at New York University, with an unofficial second major in exploring NYC’s fashion and dining scenes. The city is her paradise, and she looks forward to sharing her experiences through Inside New York. You can check out her style blog at http://YoungandinStyle.com.
Claire Heyison, Past Dining and Food Editor
Claire is a junior at Barnard College, studying French and Arabic literature, and is currently INY‘s unofficial Connecticut correspondent and m-dash abuser. She has probably seen more of New York this summer than she has in all her 20 years living right outside of it, and is extremely grateful to Inside New York for making her go out of her way to explore. When she’s not running around reporting on various events, desserts, and concerts she can be found reading on Metro North, blogging about teaching herself to cook, and eating Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cake at The Little Pie Company.
Courtney Ho, Writer
Courtney is a junior at Fordham University where she studies Economics and Mandarin. Often identified as an “overenthusiastic carnivore,” she is very open-minded about food and has consumed everything from bull testicles in Beijing to croissants in Paris. She enjoys watching Food Network and dreams of being an Iron Chef when she is not reading The Economist. In addition to writing for Inside New York, she also writes for the culture section of The Ram for Fordham University. When she is not watching Food Network or analyzing graphs, she practices Krav Maga and Brazilian Jiujitsu.
Averi Israel, Writer
Outmaneuvering the quarter life crisis, Averi is thoroughly enjoying New York City living. As a junior at Columbia University, she loves all things film, theatre, and dance. When not writing for Inside New York, Averi can often be found working on her screenplays, singing along to musical soundtracks, or exploring the city and talking about life with her lovely friends.
Tiffany Lo, Writer
An avid lover of sugar, spice, and everything nice, including food, red velvet cupcakes, long walks and dogs, Tiffany is a senior at NYU who is currently figuring out where to take her dual Journalism and Psychology degree. After studying Journalism in Prague, eating goulash while writing about the education system, she realized that the best way to live is to go where life took her, and to make the best of things. This is how she found herself writing for Inside New York. You can follower her on twitter, or pick up amNewYork, where she is a contributor. They have great crosswords.
Erin Marino, Writer
Erin is a senior at Columbia University majoring in Religion. After she graduates she has no idea what she wants to do but knows whatever she does she will be doing it in New York City! She is a shopaholic and an animal lover (a Mommy to her rescued kitty Winnie). In her spare time she likes to try out new vegan recipes. You can find more of her work @ http://erinmarino.tumblr.com/.
Simone Marie Martelle, Writer
Simone Marie Martelle was born in Minnesota, but raised in Toulouse, France. She received her BSc. in International Relations from the London School of Economics and is now an MFA Playwriting student in her final year at Columbia University’s School of the Arts. She works as an intern in the Photography Department at Condé Nast Traveler magazine and as a Communications & Conferences intern at Theater Communications Group. Her play ‘The Three Bears’ performed at the San Francisco Fringe this September and she is currently working on her thesis play, ‘Broken’, with mentor & Pulitzer-Prize winning playwright David Lindsay-Abaire. To read more about her, please visit www.simonemartelle.com
Amanda Pickering, Writer
Amanda is a student at Columbia University studying English Literature and Anthropology. She likes reading, adventuring, organizing, and ukulele-ing. Sometimes, she remembers to update her twitter.
Alice Preminger, Writer
Geetika Rudra, Past Features and Fashion Editor
Geetika was born in Queens, raised on Long Island, and studies at Columbia. She’s a published writer, an honorary member of Coldplay, and lover of TV. If she had her way she would be a hair model, best friends with Julian Assange and feared by Sarah Palin. Geetika was dining editor for Inside New York 2012. Follow her on twitter or check out her blog: gggeetika.blogspot.com
Katie Rietberg, Writer
Katie is a junior at Barnard College, majoring in English Literature and Music. Besides writing for Inside New York, she also works as an RA and interns at a documentary film production company (the upcoming documentary is about Mayor Koch and NYC in the 70s and 80s). Writing for INY is Katie’s perfect job; she loves exploring the city and finding literary, film and TV sites. She hopes to someday live in the Village (near “Little Britain,” to develop her accent), and perform in “Shakespeare in the Park.”
Angelica Sedgwick, Writer
Angelica is a junior at Barnard College studying English Literature and Spanish. She is a Hermosa Beach, California native which explains her affinity to the sun and appreciation of good Mexican food. She likes to spend her weekends exploring New York’s food, music, and art scenes and is excited to share what she finds with you.
Sandy Torres, Writer
Sandy studied Journalism and Corporate Communications in Riverdale, NY at the College of Mount Saint Vincent. She has contributed to Time Out New York and has a personal blog, shotsoflife.wordpress.com. You can also follow Sandy on Twitter!
Christina Vlahos, Writer
In addition to writing for Inside New York, Christina is a contributor to the Columbia Spectator and the Columbia Roidis Forum. She enjoys writing lifestyle pieces as well as reviews of eateries around Manhattan. Christina is from Port Washington, NY (on Long Island), although her entire family hails the now fiscally importunate Greece as their homeland. She is a likely English major with a concentration in Modern Greek. She enjoys traveling, photography, cooking, and quoting Saturday Night Live skits.
Jenny Xu, Writer
Jenny is a potential English Major at Columbia University. Originally from Lawrence, Kansas, she still hasn’t gotten over her initial excitement over living in New York and hopes to visit every single neighborhood in the city. When she isn’t wandering her way through the five boroughs and getting lost on the subways, Jenny tries to keep up with her daily editing gig at Spectrum, the online counterpart of the Columbia Daily Spectator, and eat as much dark chocolate and street food as possible.
