Bios

ANN IMIG National Director, Director/Producer Madison–A stay-at-home humorist, Ann began inflicting herself upon your internet with her blog Ann’s Rants in 2008. Her writing appears on numerous sites includingMcSweeney’s Internet Tendency and College Humor. Babble recently named her their 2011 funniest Top 50 Twitter Mom, BlogHer named her a 2010-2012 Voice Of The Year, and her 5 and 8 year old boys deemed her The Most Annoying Boss of Everything. Ann founded the live-reading series Listen To Your Mother, spurring a national movement giving Mother’s Day a Microphone. Ann also serves on the Board of Directors for Violence Unsilenced.com.

HOLLY ROSEN FINK Producer has a career that spans the world of television and publishing, including positions at Lifetime Television, Nickelodeon/MTV and John Wiley & Sons. Holly was recently an Associate Producer on the The Best of Everything at the Here Theater. As a marketing consultant and owner of her own social media consultancy, Culture Mom Media, she has managed marketing and social media campaigns for several Broadway shows and theaters including Playwright Horizons, The Public Theater and the signature Theater. Holly is the editor of The Culture Mom and regularly contributes to Savvy Source, Women and Hollywood, Family Vacation Critic and CBS.com. Holly lives in Larchmont, NY with her husband and two children.

SHARI SIMPSON Assistant Director was a BlogHer ’12 Voice of the Year in Humor which was terribly exciting until she realized she still had to clean her own toilets. Comedic playwright (Maybe Baby, It’s You, Dramatic Publishing, Inc.), screenwriter (The Passion of Danny Burke, Animus Films), blogger (Earth Mother just means I’m dusty), and actor, Shari is devoted to her church, her bemused husband, her four children (two human, two pug), and her crazy Italian mother, Mama Rose. Oh, and she has a girl crush on LTYM creator, Ann Imig, but doesn’t stalk her. Much.

VARDA STEINHARDT Producer is a native New Yorker and the full time mother to a pair of 10 year-old twins–one of whom is on the autism spectrum. She was also the caretaker of her elderly mother, who recently passed. She is a freelance writer, with her own blog The Squashed Bologna: a slice of life in the sandwich generation. In her previous life, B.C. (before children) Varda was a TV director and producer. She has also directed numerous productions off-off Broadway and worked with performance artists in the development of their one-person shows. Varda is thrilled that producing LTYM connects her deep theater-world roots with her current writing and mom-centric life.

TRACY BECKERMAN began writing after she moved with two young children to the suburbs of New Jersey from New York City as a way to find herself and share a few laughs about the endless sea of “mom bob” haircuts, minivans, and coordinated tennis outfits. What started out as a single column for a local NJ paper a few years ago turned into a hit and is now nationally syndicated to over 400 newspapers, 250 websites and reaches nearly 10 million readers in 25 states.

Tracy has appeared on The Today Show, CBS Early Show and Better TV. Her latest blog posts and column articles on marriage, funny family anecdotes, and being a “cool mom” in the suburbs can be found on her LOST IN SUBURBIA® blog (which won her the title of “America’s Top Blogger” by Lifetime Television’s hit TV show, “The Balancing Act” in 2010). You can read it here:http://lostinsuburbiablog.com.

SUSAN BUTTENWIESER‘s writing has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and appeared in the Brooklyn Rail, Atticus Review, Failbetter and other publications. She teaches creative writing in New York City public schools and in organizations for under-served populations including incarcerated women. She has been awarded several fiction fellowships from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She lives in New York City and has two daughters.

NÍVEA CASTRO is a new poet in an old form. She has been around long enough to personally have had Audre Lorde as a mentor yet young enough to follow her passions wherever they take her. She is a social justice attorney, LGBT activist and educator. Nívea has recently reinvented herself as a photographer and writer. She has been interviewed and featured on the CUNY-TV Emmy Award-winning show “Nueva York.” Her poems have been published in numerous anthologies and she has been a featured poet in serveral New York City spoken word venues. When Nívea isn’t scuba diving, oversea traveling, or photographing events, she is working on a collection of poems and proses – Profile on Closeted Users – due out in 2014 .

MARY BETH COUDAL is an award-winning journalist and blogger. Her essays have appeared in The New York Times, Salon.com and Self magazine. Coudal has been a talk show host, a stand-up comedian and a senior writer for a non-profit. She is the founder of Boot Camp 4 Writers, a collective for writers. She is working on a novel and a collection of essays. She is the mother of three lively teens and is married to an actor who has Parkinson’s Disease. She blogs at www.mbcoudal.com and lives in New York City.

JAIME FERNANDEZ ‘s writing career began during his early stand-up comedy days when he was still searching for his comedic voice. Then when Jaime co-created the comedy sketch group “Room 28″ it all came together. As one of the head writers he would oversee script submissions, and also contributed by penning, directing and starring in recurring sketches for the stage and screen.

His other writing credits include co-writing the official 2008 HBO New York International Latino Film Festival commercial (which he also starred in). He also wrote and starred in the comedy web-series “The Work Jerks” and “Ungirly” which were both featured in John Leguizamo’s video website URBANO.TV. His feature length comedy script “Juan Bago Saves the Day” was a quarterfinalist in the Blue Cat Screenplay Competition and his comedy pilot script “Everyday Hero” made it all the way to the Top 10 of a Spike TV Pilot Competition. His TV credits include starring in HBO Latino’s anecdote series Habla Ya! Parte 1 & 2 and being a commentator on the NUVOtv series “Latino 101″ with actors and entertainers such as Edward James Olmos and Alex Reymundo. Most recently, Jaime has also done a lot of voiceover work including voicing the character of Armando in “Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony.” and a frisky jaguar in a popular MIO Water Enhancer commercial. He also co-hosts and writes for a sketch comedy podcast called, “The PB&J Podcast” which has gained a small but loyal following in the podcast community.
KIM FORDE writes about the art of perfecting domestic failure on her blog, The Fordeville Diaries. After a Master’s Degree in Screenwriting yielded little more than a hefty student loan bill, she spent many years instead writing corporate speeches and press releases before abandoning the corporate grind in 2011 to be a full-time SAHM. Although she lived in New York City for nearly two decades, she is now a secret suburban convert with residual urban road rage. She can often be found in yoga pants and an SUV with her husband, two young kids (with a third on the way) and pug, fueling her Starbucks dependency and a managing a healthy fear of craft stores. Armed with a keyboard and an addiction to storytelling, she spends more time on blogging and social media than she’s ready to admit, and was also recently published as a contributor to the best-selling anthology, I Just Want to Pee Alone.
NICOLE GOODWIN was the recipient of City’s College’s The Riggs Gold Medal Essay Award and finalist for the Poets House 2013 Fellowship as well as the 2011 Brooklyn Film Arts Brooklyn Non-fiction Award and a fellow of the North Country Institute and Retreat for Writers of Color. Her photography was featured at the 2012 Seeing Here and Now Exhibition. A single mother, she earned her Bachelor’s of Arts in English and Anthropology from City College of New York in June of 2011. She is the former editor of the Escriba/Write, winner of the 2006 CCHA Eastern Region Small Journal Award.

DEBORAH GRAY is a native of Harlem, USA; she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology/Education from the College of New Rochelle. She’s a member of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, (The Rev. Dr. Calvin O. Butts, III, Pastor). As an active member she volunteered as a Mentor for the Blue Nile Rites of Passage Program. She’s a member of the Women’s Ministry, Sister Circle, and serves on the Welcome & Hospitality Ministry.

DeBorah is married, a mother of two, a foster mom and a grandmother. Her love for dance has earned her recognition with Mama-Lu Park’s Dancers, George Sullivan Dance Troop and The Dance Africa Celebration (Chuck Davis, Artistic Director). She’s a member of the Dance Africa Council of Elders, and Artistic Director of the Candle Bearers of Light and Love. She designed and facilitated a poetry workshop for the Children’s Aid Society/Dunlevy’s Milbank Center–Dunlevy’s Ensemble Expressing Poetry—DEEP. She also facilitated a poetry workshop for children (8-18) for the Youth Arts Academy/Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration center. As the Founder of Flowing Vibrations in Harlem and a member of Unveiled Unlocked, DeBorah enjoys home decorating, cooking, entertaining guest, and the love of her family, extended family and friends.

REBECCA LAND SOODAK has contributed to Huffington Post, Salon, Big Apple Parent and About Our Kids. In August 2008, The New York Times ran an article about an ad/rant she posted on Craigslist in search for a Nanny. The piece was picked up by the Associated Press and covered in newspapers around the world. Depending on one’s perspective, Land Soodak became the quintessential rich bitch of the Upper East Side or the droll spokeswoman for mothers fed up with perfectionist standards of the hyper-parenting ilk. A former Psychotherapist, Land Soodak’s debut novel Henny on the Couch (Grand Central) came out last year. She lives with her husband and four children in Manhattan and Litchfield, CT.
 

MARINKA is a humor writer living in NYC’s West Village with her husband, two kids and a very stripy cat, Nicki. Her personal blog is Motherhood in NYC and she dispenses weekly life-saving advice at The Mouthy Housewives .She was also the co-creator of the @PaulRyanGosling twitter meme and some of your other favorite things. Marinka is currently working on her memoir about coming to America from the Soviet Union in the 1970s, although her mother assures her that in order to write a memoir “one should be a general in a war or at least invent something.” She may be waging a war soon since she’s not the inventy type.

STACY MORRISON is an editor, author and publishing executive. Currently she is editor in chief of BlogHer, Inc., the largest network for women influencers on the web. Before digital, she was a magazine editor for 21 years, at the helm of Redbook magazine, Modern Bride and a launch (and now defunct) design magazine, One. She is author of the memoir “Falling Apart In One Piece,” which was published by Simon & Schuster in 2010. She writes about grief and resilience at FillingInTheBlanks.com.

BARBARA PATRICK, passionate owner of Bitty Birdie Design, is a quilter and fabric artist who lovingly turns vibrant fabrics into keepsakes of many types. She is also a wife and mother to three children in three different schools in Newtown, CT. Barb functions at two speeds — efficiently OCD or asleep. When Barb grows up she hopes to be a movie critic, professional organizer, interior designer, author or Parisian pastry chef, but first she needs a nap. Barb is jazzed by overspending on decorating her charming vintage home; travel to the Caribbean, Lake Como or anywhere really; being with friends; drinking green tea; and consuming an endless supply of sugar; as well as sewing, reading and writing. This is Barb’s debut into weaving words together for all the world to see. You may contact Barb at barb.patrick@gmail.com or www.bittybirdie.com

LAURA PRUDEN is an actress, a storyteller, and a mother of two living in Manhattan. She has performed original monologues at The Comedy Union and Word-A-Rama in Los Angeles, and in NY at the Neighborhood Playhouse, the Estrogenius Festival, the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) Bootstrap Festival, and repeatedly at Dixon Place, where she will premiere a new monologue in April. On stage, Laura received critical acclaim for her work in INCENDIARY AGENTS at the New Ohio Theatre in NY, and raves for originating four roles in the west coast premiere of Amy and David Sedaris’ THE BOOK OF LIZ. Small Screen includes Law & Order: SVU, The Daily Show, and Onion News Network. Laura studied acting at Northwestern (BA) and CalArts (MFA), taught at Second City, and received a 2011 NYFA scholarship for her solo work.

SOFIA QUINTERO began her first career as a policy wonk, after graduating from Columbia University with a BA in history-sociology and an MPA from its School of International and Public Affairs. Then in 1999, the self-proclaimed Ivy League homegirl decided to heed the muse. Since then Sofia has published five novels included Divas Don’t Yield and her award-winning young adult debut Efrain’s Secret. She has also contributed to the anthologies Juicy Mangos, Dirty Girls, Names I Call My Sister and What You Wish For, the proceeds of which fund libraries for the children of Darfur. Most recently Sofia earned an MFA in writing and producing TV as Long Island University’s TV Writers Studio and was nominated for a Women’s Media Center Social Media Award. Sofía’s 4-part series about her breast cancer experience was published by Cosmopolitan for Latinas, and the television series she co-created Sangria Street was recently optioned.
ELIZABETH (KIZZ) ROBINSON is an actress, writer, singer, blogger, photographer, animal advocate, and administrative ninja. She grew up listening not only to her mother, but to other strong New England women and role models. She has created and performed three cabaret shows, including her most recent, Back Where I Belong, which will return to the New York stage this summer. Robinson has written and performed her own work and the works of others in the US and the UK. She lives in Brooklyn with her dog and two cats and wishes they would listen to their mother more often.

SANDY RUSTIN is an actress, playwright, and mom. Her sketch comedy musical about parenthood, Rated P (for parenthood), opened to critical acclaim Off-Broadway at the Westside Theatre in 2012 and can now be seen playing at regional theatres around the country. Sandy appears regularly at The Upright Citizen’s Brigade in “Gravid Water” (named “Best Improv Show” by Time Out NY). She serves as Co-Artistic Director of Midtown Direct Rep (www.midtowndirectrep.org), blogs at Rated P for Parenthood, teaches drama and improv comedy all over the tri-state area, and makes a delicious gluten free/dairy free lasagna that her children will actually eat. Sandy is currently developing material with Nickelodeon’s new network, Nick Mom. Her play The Cottage, a comedy in two acts, is in development. Her website is www.sandyrustin.com

SASHA SCHREINER has been honing her storytelling skills as a preschool teacher and day camp director for the past 20 years. She is excited for this opportunity to share with an older, hopefully less germy, if not slightly more hygienic audience. She has the unbelievable privilege of being called “Mom” by three spectacular human beings, Coby, Lily Mae and Camden, and currently runs Blue Rill Day Camp in Airmont, N.Y. with her equally spectacular husband. Sasha dedicates her free time to two things, writing and adding to her 30 year old pig collection, fully aware that the first of those passions is considered more socially acceptable than the second. She lives in HoHoKus NJ.

VIRGINIA WATKINS is a freelance writer and editor living in the Berkshires with her husband, two children, and a dog. She has taught Creative Writing, English and yoga but is now focused on writing and is currently working on short stories and an adventure novel for middle school children. Virginia was a featured writer at the 52/250 reading at the KGB Bar, performing her story, Abilene. With a number of film scripts under her belt, she has recently embarked upon a play that focuses on a weekend spent with her sisters, moving their aging mother out of their childhood home. Good times. She lives in Sheffield, Massachusetts.

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