Our SQUAD
Anthologester
We’ve come to realize Amy is short for master editor, organizer and all things anthology-related.
Amy Onorato
More about Amy
Amy Onorato is a journalist and digital media professional living in New York City. When she’s not writing, you can typically find her exploring somewhere or something new — whether its outside on a trail, on the streets of the city, or curled up with her cat with her nose in a book.
Anthologester
Aaron makes quick work of readying our anthologies for print. Not an i remains undotted, nor a t uncrossed.
Aaron Perez
More about Aaron
Aaron is a Junior in St. John’s University majoring in English, minoring in Music. He has a strong passion for the arts and any creative means of self-expression. Despite his reluctance to read poetry when he was younger, Aaron now spends much of his time diving into the works of various poets and scribbling down my own lines of verse. When not writing poetry or worldbuilding for his next fantasy story, Aaron spends time playing guitar, doing pyrography, drawing, and learning any other artistic medium that sparks his interest.
Développeuse
With just a few keystrokes, Stephanie makes WordPress kneel before her and bend to all our coding wishes.
Stephanie O’Hanley
More about Stephanie
Stephanie is honored to be of service to Uptown Stories and for this opportunity to blend a longtime love of WordPress with new web development skills. She lives near Montreal. You’ll find her at stephanieohanley.com
Ideal Intern
No job is too little or too big for Daniel – he just dons his red cape and leaps all the buildings we put in front of him.
Daniel Ortega-Venni
More about Daniel
Daniel just graduated from Columbia University, double majoring in Computer Science-Mathematics and Creative Writing. He has volunteered with Uptown Stories for several years and is now interning. He can usually be found listening to music, playing sims or getting way too invested in a new show.
Ideal Intern
What can we say about Hugh? All the good things, of course. He’s all we could want in an intern and more.
Hugh Stoll
More about Hugh
Hugh is sweet, sensitive, and full of secrets. He likes to draw and play video games in his free time, and loves cats.
Social Media Savant
Alice is all in on everything she does. She’s making big things happen in our online communities.
Alice Dauchez
More about Alice
Alice Dauchez is a sophomore at Wesleyan University where she is majoring in English. When she’s not volunteering, you can find her devouring books, watching cooking/drag competitions and attempting to do yoga.
Social Media Savant
When it comes to Instagram and Facebook, Yaritza is a master at knowing what our communities want.
Yaritza Sencion
More about Yaritza
Yaritza is twenty-something year old film and book lover. She graduated from SUNY Oswego with a B.A. in Cinema and Screens Studies, and spends most of her free time going to art museums, watching film analysis videos, or reading. She also co-hosts a podcast named Trope Trophy where she discusses tropes used in film and video games with her sister.
Webcrawler
We’re grateful to Laura for using her extraordinary skills and extra time to help us with our site.
Laura Ho
More about Laura
Laura is grateful to be able to combine her passions for WordPress and event production as a WordPress developer for Elevation 3D and Melange Media. She can be found at lauraho.net
Worker Bee
Threna makes numbers and data fall in line, helping us see how much we’re growing semester by semester.
Threna Baishnab
More about Threna
Threna is a junior at Hunter College majoring in mathematics and minoring in psychology. She’s always a had interest in the STEM field but also loves working with kids! In her free time she likes to listen to music and spend time with my family and friends.
Worker Bee
Spencer’s can-do attitude and stellar attention to detail make us wonder what we ever did without him.
Spencer McQuaig
More about Spencer
Spencer McQuaig is an 18-year-old volunteer taking a gap year after graduating from Bronx Science. In Fall 2021, he is going to study English and Art History at Swarthmore College. Spencer is also a singer-songwriter with music on Spotify, an avid reader, and a proud theater nerd.
Worker Bee
Frances is going the extra mile to organize and edit student work, so we can get our next anthology printed.
Frances VanderMeer
More about Frances
Frances is an upstate-New York native, currently working as a Management Consultant out of Washington DC. She is a 2020 graduate of Middlebury College with a degree in International Politics & Economics and French. Her love for writing, storytelling, and kids brought her to Uptown Stories, and in her spare time you can find her baking, reading, or sailing.
Workshop Wizard
As a Workshop Wizard, Coy provides extra support to instructors in our creative writing workshops.
Coy Jacobs
More about Coy
Coy Jacobs is an Illustration Junior at Parsons and is happy to be volunteering at Uptown stories. He is interested in animal rights and rescue, has seven rescue chickens. Coy is going to be a professional artist in the near future and we can say we knew him when.
Workshop Wizard
As a Workshop Wizard, Sam provides extra support to instructors in our creative writing workshops.
Sam Losee
More about Sam
Sam is a poet and flower farmer from the Hudson Valley in NY. Currently, she is a junior at Columbia College studying Poetry and English, at least, until they add an Arts & Crafts major. She loves fairytales, befriending the local fauna, and swinging her heart out in Riverside Park.
Workshop Wizard
As a Workshop Wizard, Franzi provides extra support to instructors in our creative writing workshops.
Franzi Nace
More about Franzi
Franzi is fiction writer from Pittsburgh, PA. Currently, she is a junior at Columbia University studying English and concentrating in Russian Literature. Franzi loves magical tales, going for extremely long walks, and breakfast sandwiches.
Join us
Adwords Authority
If the mysteries of AdWords are second nature to you, keep reading. Google gives us $10K in Google Ads each month – and we need help using that opportunity to spread the good word about Uptown Stories.
Your Name here
Anthologester
The Anthologester helps edit and lay out the print anthology published at the conclusion of each semester.
Your Name here
D.O.E. Diplomat
Help us communicate with your school’s administration, literacy teachers, PTA, and parent community.
Your Name here
Essay Writing Tutor
If you’re a writer, an editor, or teacher who would like to use your talents for good, this is your chance to help shape the future! We’ll be assisting students with their high school essays, giving them the best chance to go to the high school of their choice.
Your Name here
Granter of Wishes
Help us secure funding by writing one grant proposal. We’ll familiarize you with our programs, goals and financial needs and assign you a grant. You’ll compile the information, compose, and together we’ll hit send on a proposal.
Your Name here
Ideal Intern
Interns are knights in shining armor: dedicated to the details, willing to conquer every task, and dependable throughout the semester. If you’re eager to learn the skills to own whatever life throws your way, come be a part of the inner workings of Uptown Stories.
Your Name here
Photo Phenom
Our young writers are picture perfect, and we have a bizillion photos to prove it. We need someone to help us create an official, searchable library. If you’re organized, consistent, and can think – forgive the pun – big picture as well as in thumbnail detail, you’re the librarian we’re looking for.
Your Name here
Press Liaison
Communicate with local media and develop relationships, spreading the word about our pay-what-you-can program. Skills: excellent telephone and email etiquette, experience writing effective press releases.
Your Name here
Researcher of Fun Facts
Let’s get meta – help us find research about the positive impact of writing (especially creative writing), youth development, stats about our neighborhood, and other fun facts that support the Uptown Stories mission.
Your Name here
Scholastic Scholar
If you understand the fine details of the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards (or are willing to learn them) our writers could use your help navigating the waters.
Your Name here
Social Media Savant
Use your magic to help us find interesting content to share with our Uptown family on Facebook and Instagram. Info on publishing opportunities, writing and art, and book recommendations are top on our list, but we’re open to suggestions. If you think you can help us grow our following, let us know.
Your Name here
Uptown Ink Assistant
Uptown Ink is our online magazine that showcases essays, poems and comics from our posse of young writers and artists. If you have the desire to support the posse with your editing skills or WordPress experience, we could definitely use your assistance.
Your Name here
Volunteer Sleuth
The backbone of Uptown Stories is our mighty Small Job Squad – volunteers who know how to get things done. We’re in need of a Sleuth who can find the greatest volunteers in all the land who are willing to help get a variety of jobs done, supporting the mission of Uptown Stories.
Your Name here
Worker Bee
If you like crossing off things on your to-do list, and have a few hours to give during the week, we have a multitude of small but important tasks that need to be taken care of.
Your Name here
Workshop Wizard
Workshop wizards provide extra support to instructors in our writing workshops. Duties can include taking attendance, helping students one-on-one or in small groups with their writing, and assisting with the preparation of the end of semester readings and anthology.
Your Name here
Zapier Specialist
As a Zapier specialist, you’ll be able to help make our systems run as Zapier intended them to – with efficiency! We’re a tiny organization so every Zap created means more time with our young writers.
