Nan Cao ("Mentor Emerita," illustration) is inspired by surrealistic imagery and her daily life in New York. She has worked with clients including LinkNYC, School of Visual Arts, and Spectrum, to name a few.
Jennifer Chen ("Creature Comfort") has written for print and online, including pieces in The New York Times, O: The Oprah Magazine, Real Simple, and Bust. Her debut YA rom-com book, Artifacts of an Ex, will be published by Wednesday Books in 2023.
Marshall Clarke ("The Mind Riehls," photography) is a native of Baltimore and a freelance photographer who specializes in editorial and documentary photography. In 2001, he started a photography program for Baltimore City youth and now runs the after-school program Access Art.
Emily Flake ("I Quit! Ditto," illustration) describes herself as a cartoonist-writer-performer-teacher-illustrator. Her art can often be found on the pages of The New Yorker.
Katy Steinmetz ("Unbreaking Promises") is a freelance journalist based in Flagstaff, Arizona, and an adjunct journalism professor at Northern Arizona University. Her work has appeared in publications such as Time, Fortune, and The Guardian.
Jack Tamisiea ("Lemurs in Captivity") is a Chicago-based science writer covering the nexus of natural history and environmental science. His work has appeared in a variety of publications including Scientific American, National Geographic, and Hakai Magazine.
Image credit: Brett Ryder
On the cover
Illustrator Brett Ryder teases the feature story "Creature Comfort" with a menagerie of camera-ready animals, both domestic and exotic. It's an apt introduction to our cover story about alum Thomas Edling, chief veterinary officer for American Humane. The assignment was close to Ryder's heart, as he has perhaps the "smallest dog in the world," a miniature chihuahua named Bella. "She is a fierce protector of the house, though probably not very effective," he reports.
