SPRING 2023 Staff
Looking for other staff members? Spring 2023; Fall 2022; Spring 2022; Fall 2021; Spring 2021; Fall 2020
JR Herman
editor-in-chief
JR Herman '24 is a Classics and Ancient Near East & Africa Studies double-major from Norfolk, VA. When she’s not working or Flat Hat-ing, you can probably find her engaged in some twampy activity like recreationally deciphering Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, jamming out to French bops, or sending someone the “How would a centaur wear pants” meme. What a nerd. Feel free to reach out to her to talk about anything related to Flat Hat Magazine, the ancient world, what JR stands for, favorite literary classics, overly dramatic eyeliner ideas (she is self-aware), or some other quirky and niche topic!
rebecca altman
Chief of Staff
Rebecca Altman is a government and urban studies double-major from Lower Merion, PA. Outside of Flat Hat Magazine, she is involved with the Christopher Wren Singers, the W&M Wind Ensemble, and Kappa Delta. Rebecca loves iced oat milk lattes, The Beatles, cheddar-chive biscuits, and learning about America’s highways and byways. She devotes a significant amount of time and energy to Solitaire — even the Yukon mode, which she will never master.
Vivian hoang
Chief of staff
Vivian Hoang is a junior from Fairfax, Virginia who hopes to use her History and Journalism & Mass Communications double major to uplift marginalized voices through digital media. In addition to Chief of Staff of Flat Hat Magazine, she serves as the Executive Editor of the Flat Hat newspaper, a Writing Resources Center Peer Consultant, and a Teaching Assistant in the Speech department. A dedicated journalist and diehard NPR enthusiast, she is passionate about writing and editing and aspires to work at a major publication one day. Until then, you can find her driving her Squishmobile around campus, being a public nuisance with her boyfriend at the Rec, or furiously typing away on her laptop in Swem.
Andrew Johnston
creative director
Andrew is an environmental science and biology double major from Fairfax, Virginia. He loves football, with his favorite team unfortunately being the Detroit Lions. When not working on the magazine, Andrew is most likely to be spotted in Swem listening to Billy Joel or U2 at an obnoxiously high volume on his AirPods. He also insists that pineapple on pizza is delicious, much to the chagrin of those with less sophisticated palettes.
India Turner
creative director
India (yes, like the country) is a Government and Journalism double major. She is from Boulder, Colorado, and can be found talking about her love for everything Colorado Daily. She's prone to last-minute adventures and can be found riding her beach cruiser in CW, hiking in Matoaka, and taking random car trips to new places (while listening to Christmas music, of course). When she isn't out adventuring you can find her dancing with Pointe Blank, searching for red velvet cookies at the dining halls, and getting Wawa hot chocolate. However, her budget can't afford daily hot chocolates after the first week of class, so now she just looks longingly at Wawa whenever she passes by.
Mary Beth Bauermann
executive editor
Mary Beth is an American Studies and English double major from just outside of Baltimore, MD. On campus, she works at the Writing Resources Center, teaches Cardio Dance at the Rec, writes for Vinyl Tap Magazine, and tap dances with the Rhythm and Taps club. When her nose isn't in a book, you can find her playing guitar with her band, searching for zen on her yoga mat, listening to music like it’s going out of style, eating peanut butter, and watching every TV show and film starring David Tennant. Mary Beth is a proud Beatlemaniac and if you ever ask her about The Beatles, there's a good chance that she will never stop talking.
Bailey Langhans
Managing Editor
Bailey is in the Joint Degree Programme, spending two years at W&M, and the other two planning to travel endlessly at St. Andrews in Scotland. In true English major fashion, she’s often consuming books and writing in whatever nook she can find. But even though the various books and writing materials heavily weigh down her backpack, she’s a strong believer in expanding her library. Back in Colorado, she spends her weekends snowboarding, but in Williamsburg, she switches boards to (poorly) skate over bricks while attempting not to drop her coffee.
Emma Saunders
Deputy Editor
Emma is an English major concentrating in Medieval and Renaissance Studies from Virginia Beach, VA. If she's not in her room watching trashy romance dramas with her roommate, you can find her in Swemromas with an iced tea. She will stop to pet any dog she sees on or off-campus, but she loves her two dogs Zoey and Riley most of all. She did have a My Chemical Romance phase, but don't ask her about it because she may or may not burst into tears.
Georgia Thoms
Editor-at-large
Georgia is a Biology and Classical Studies double-major from East Lyme, CT (but she's truly a Manhattanite). Apart from the Magazine, she is involved in CW Coach and Livestock Program, Pre-Vet Club, is Vice President of Pointe Blank Dance Company, and spends many hours studying Latin and Ancient Greek. Besides showing every soul pictures of her two dogs, Theodore Roosevelt and King Leonidas, she writes poetry, listens to true crime podcasts, crotchets, and geeks out over anime and basically any fandom. You can catch her consuming her body weight in Aroma's croissants whilst sprinting to her next class.
Ethan Kula
STANDARDS & practices editor
Currently calling faraway San Diego, California his home, Ethan Kula is a junior at the College double majoring in history and government. He plans to attend law school after graduating from William and Mary. Ethan serves as the Standards & Practices Editor at Flat Hat Magazine owing to his interest in constitutional law, though he has contributed articles to the Magazine. He has been on the Magazine since 2022 and looks forward to another amazing year. He loves the William & Mary campus and the history behind it, as he feels that without the past to anchor us, we could never be able to navigate our way through the stormy future.
Livia Martinez
Digital Director
Livia Martinez is from Frisco, TX. She is pursuing a Self-Designed major, Communications and Digital Media Management, and a Psychology minor. Livia loves all things film! She has a podcast with her parents called Strangelove of Movies and is the Secretary and President for the Film Society at W&M. Besides that, Livia serves as the Digital Editor for ROCKET Magazine, a member of Theta, a Staff Writer for Vinyl Tap Magazine, a Resident Assistant, a Trained WCWM 90.9 DJ, and a Social Media Assistant for Swem Libraries. But, nothing is more important to her than the Flat Hat Magazine! Livia is always on Instagram, so feel free to reach out to @liviamartinez8!
zachary lutzky
PHOTO DIRECTOR
Zachary Lutzky is a Physics major from Baltimore, MD. He spends his free time walking the woods and Colonial Williamsburg taking photos and enjoying nature. If you see Zach in the wild, there is a 75% chance he will have his camera on him with a big lens attached. Zachary is passionate about photography, science, and history. He is always willing to teach people about photography and take their photos.
Meg Castonguay
LEAD VIDEOGRAPHER
Meg Castonguay is a Film & Media Studies major and coincidental History minor from Bucks County, PA. Meg got their start in video production when they used a green screen to make a 'more realistic' backdrop for black plague victims (13-year-olds with improvised special effects makeup) in a 7th-grade social studies project. (It 100% looked like they were floating, but Meg's post-production skills have improved a bit since then.) Meg is also Interview Lead and Interim Co-Director of Humans of William & Mary and handles videography for many of the group's long-form video projects. If they don't have an iced almond milk chai in hand and a Noah Kahan track in their Receiptify, they've been replaced with a misguided but incredibly attractive doppelgänger.
JUSTIN SHERLOCK
PHOTO DIRECTOR
Justin is a Biology and Film & Media double-major from Danville, VA, Hampton, VA, and Gainesville, FL (military family). On campus, he is involved with many things photography-related: photo club, The Flat Hat newspaper, and intro photo! He’s currently going through a slight Kacey Musgraves phase, but only Golden Hour. His favourite social media sites are LinkedIn and Tinder. In between classes, you can usually find Justin listening to lo-fi hip-hop beats or casual indie pop on Sadler terrace. He believes Taco Bell creates the foundation for vegetarians worldwide and considered writing a strongly-worded letter to the CEO when potatoes were discontinued (the spicy potato taco is the most joyous food in this world).
Ryan Goodman
Photo editor
Ryan is a sophomore from Virginia Beach majoring in Government and minoring in Film and Media Studies. He's also a photo editor for The Flat Hat and a part-time photographer for Tribe Athletics. He loves his two cats, Callie and Hobbes, and is usually procrastinating on actually doing any of his schoolwork, running around taking photos, or editing those photos.
Hannah Montalvo
Photo editor
Born in Dallas, Texas, and raised in Hong Kong, Hannah is a prospective Film & Media Studies Major and Marketing Minor with a passion for every creative hobby there is. Her love of photography began with a family camcorder, and it has only expanded from there. If she’s not busy overbooking herself, you’ll find her picnicking in the sunken gardens, dancing with the Zodiacs dance crew, or playing volleyball in Adair. She has three cats (ask her about them!), two sisters, and one major addiction to retail therapy. She thinks it’s genetic. She’s very consistently on Instagram @havnana if you want to talk to her, or just invite her to get matcha lattes and she’ll be there!
sam gasteiger
SOCIAL MEDIA editor
Sam is a Public Policy major from Fairfax, VA. Outside of Flat Hat Magazine, he is also on the marketing team for ROCKET and is a brother of APO. His hobbies include shopping, listening to podcasts, romanticizing anything on Pinterest, and obsessively curating his Instagram feed (@samgasteiger). You can probably find him walking around campus listening to music, waiting in painfully long lines for a Bake Shop bagel, or being loud in Marketplace with friends.
Ranjani Krishnan
Social Media editor
Ranjani Krishnan is an Economics major from Edison, New Jersey who once almost missed a flight back to campus because she was Canva-ing too hard. On campus, she is involved with the South Asian Student Association and Tribe Innovation. She crochets excessively, and her favorite projects so far have been making animals with no arms and legs for her nephew. Ranjani loves her nephew very much by the way, and she will show pictures of him to anyone who asks (or doesn’t). If you’re looking for Ranjani on campus, head to the clicky first-floor computers at Swem where she’ll probably be clicking away.
Inaya Mir
Style DIRECTOR
Inaya is a sophomore from Vienna, Va. Her main personality trait is having two cats and will still talk to you for hours about One Direction. She is in Griffin Bhangra and has been playing soccer for most of her life. She is currently on ROCKET’s team for ASTRAL and has been on their Production team in the past. She is super excited to be working at Flat Hat and can’t wait for all the visions to come to life!
Carson Belmear
Style Editor
Carson is a Government & History Major from Pittsburgh, PA, but he’s moving to Jersey City this semester! Carson enjoys everything Lorde related, specifically Solar Power, going to the beach, taking pictures, writing, swimming, and fashion. You can usually find Carson on Jamestown Island (his favorite spot in the area). His favorite shows and movies include Steven Universe, The Last of Us, Grey’s Anatomy, Scream, The Shining, and the Hunger Games. He is on Production with ROCKET Magazine, and his Instagram can be found at @carsonbelmear.
Hannah McMinn
Style editor
Hannah McMinn is a freshman from Raleigh, North Carolina. This is her first semester on the Flat Hat Magazine as a Style Editor, and she is so excited!
Leyah Owusu
Style editor
Leyah Owusu is a Marketing major and Chinese Language and Culture minor from Richmond, VA. She loves expressing her creativity through fashion! Aside from Flat Hat Magazine, Leyah is a member of William and Mary’s fashion publication ROCKET Magazine. She served as Style Editor for ROCKET’s FW ‘22 issue and currently serves as Director of the magazine’s fashion show ASTRAL. In Leyah’s free time, she enjoys thrifting, concert going, and content creating. Check out her fashion and beauty content on Instagram and Tiktok @leyahowusu!
Grace Rivera
Style editor
Grace is studying government, music, and media (although she is open to having her mind blown). She will tell you that she is from Spring Hill, FL, but she moved to Newport News, VA, three years ago. She loves Gilmore Girls, maybe a little too much. Usually, you can find her in Swem with an iced caramel chai attempting to study, walking around Colonial Williamsburg, or at the Goodwill. Grace loves music of all genres, so if you see her feel free to give her recommendations!
Sharon Sandler
Style editor
Sharon Sandler is a Psychology major from Miami, FL. Aside from the magazine, she is a research assistant in a psychology lab and a production team member for Rocket Magazine. She loves to sleep and if you ask her she almost always remembers some part of her dream. If she’s not sleeping, she loves to listen to music and read on her kindle. She will try to convince you to invest in one. Unfortunately, Sharon also struggles to budget her dining dollars so you can always find her in any establishment that accepts them, her favorite being Bake Shop!
Clara Whitney
Style editor
Clara Whitney is a Film and Media Studies major from Falls Church, VA. Aside from Flat Hat Clara is a member of the ROCKET digital team, a committee member of AMP Live, and a member of Delta Delta Delta. Clara loves all things art related, in her free time she enjoys going to museums, writing music (stream Indigo Boulevard!), shopping, daydreaming about the perfect outfits on Pinterest, and of course, watching movies. Clara is always looking at pictures of chimpanzees on her Instagram explore page so if you find any good ones send them her way @clara.whit.
Portia Dai
Copy Editor
Portia Dai (pronounced Por-Sha Dye) is an English and Education double-major from Fairfax, VA. When she isn't doing work at Lodge 1 (and probably sipping on a peach smoothie), she enjoys hiking with friends and recently discovered she loves trekking up snow-covered trails. She also needs everyone she meets to know that her favorite animals are ducks and that she is up for a game of Word Hunt on Game Pigeon at any time. She recently got on BeReal and gets extremely excited whenever it goes off — add her @portiaduck.
Eleanor Grant
Copy editor
Eleanor Grant is a Public Policy major from Arlington, VA. Her hobbies include eating ice cubes, gabbing with friends, playing Ticket to Ride, and perfecting the art of miniature craft. If you need bagel recommendations, look no further. She believes in Everything Bagel seasoning supremacy and frequently partakes in a Goodies Goodie from the Bake Shop. In addition to her bagel exploits, she can be found sampling various teas and forgetting that her body cannot handle coffee.
Nina Hoang
Copy editor
Nina Hoang is a sophomore majoring in Marketing and minoring in Psychology. She's an international student from Vietnam who loves travelling, cycling, jamming to Bruno Mars, making DIY crafts, and taking walks in CW on sunny days. Beside Flat Hat Magazine, she currently serves as Vice President/DEI chair for her a cappella group Passing Notes and works as a Community Consultant for the STEP office. She's also on the Executive Board for Alpha Kappa Psi and is an active member of Nu Kappa Epsilon, Zodiacs Dance Crew, Vietnamese Student Association, and Women in Business. If you ever catch her a ordering a caramel macchiato at Swemromas (her life simply isn’t full without them), come up and say hi; she loves meeting new friends!
Emelia MarshalL
Copy editor
Emelia is a Psychology major with a minor in Management & Organizational Leadership from Sterling, VA. When not in Swem (she usually is), you can find her speedwalking around campus even though she is already on track to be 10 minutes early to class. Good luck keeping up. She prefers to eat anything but dining hall food but usually ends up at a dining hall anyway because she can't go a day without socializing. If you can't find her on her computer or buried in her books, chances are she is exercising in some form and trying to get out of her own head! Or out in the sunshine, which she loves to a fault!
Connie Ryu
Copy editor
Connie is a Biology major and Public Health minor on the pre-medicine track from Burke, Virginia. Outside of Flat Hat Magazine, she works in biology research, volunteers regularly as an APO brother, and serves as the vice president of KASA. In her free time, Connie enjoys crocheting while binge-watching a new show (currently finishing Gilmore Girls). She also loves taking personality tests and prides herself in her ability to correctly guess Myers-Briggs personality types. If you run into her on campus, it will most likely be in line for an iced latte as she has a severe caffeine addiction.
Lena Smith
Copy editor
Lena is a Junior majoring in English and Psychology from Vienna, Virginia. She is an executive member of the Dog Street Journal, the Bird Club of William and Mary, and the Appalachian Music Ensemble. Chances are, you will see her roaming around campus with binoculars searching for wildlife! She is as comfortable outdoors as she is with staying in to play Mariokart and Minecraft for hours on end. She also enjoys building an encyclopedic knowledge of anything literature and film- while she may not have seen or read it, her trivia skills will kick in. She is beyond excited to lend a hand in producing the next issue of the Flat Hat Magazine!
Sam Beirne
Design editor
Sam Beirne is a current sophomore serving as Design editor for Flat Hat Magazine. She recently declared a double major in Art History, focusing on critical curatorial studies, and Anthropology. She enjoys museums in her free time and her favorite place to be is New York City (even though she is from Richmond, VA). She is so excited to help design the articles this semester!
Marion Biondi
Design editor
Marion is a Psychology major and still figuring out which of her thousand interests she will choose to minor in. She is from New Jersey (along with half of campus, it seems), just a few minutes from Princeton University campus. Outside of the magazine, she is a passionate Wellness Ambassador for the Wellness Center and a member of Humans of W&M. Marion is full of guilty pleasures, including laying in bed for hours on end, indulging in film scores, and thinking about her next spicy tuna roll. Despite her introverted tendencies, Marion won the friendliest superlative in 8th grade, so feel free to say hi if you see her.
Audrey Gunnlaugsson
Design editor
Audrey Gunnlaugsson is planning to major in History and Economics. She's from Jacksonville, Florida—go Jags! When she's not designing for the magazine, she loves to listen to music, read, and chat with friends at Aromas over a wondrous chai latte. She is proudly in the top 0.001% of Taylor Swift listeners on Spotify and can talk about her music forever if you let her. Harry Styles takes up the remainder of her heart, so she is indeed a child of divorce (although Taylor will always be #1). On Wednesday nights, she is enjoying her time at Tribe Scribes, and is always open to stopping for a quick Saddy soft-serve break, since it's obviously her favorite food. Her favorite book is by far The Great Gatsby, although Daisy Jones and the Six is up there too. If you ever need to bribe her, come prepared with a 1989 vinyl, Ben and Jerry's ice cream, and a 10 Things I Hate About You CD.
Monica Bagnoli
Graphics editor
Monica is a Psychology major and a Linguistics minor from Orlando, FL. She spends her time between classes running to and from Swem, either to cram in a little work or to claim her desk spot for a shift at the Reeder Media Center. Aside from work, she is involved in ROCKET Magazine as Photo Editor, occasionally snaps photos at sports games for TribeAthletics, banters with kids for a research study with the W&M Child Language Lab, designs graphics for Student Assembly as an Undersecretary of Outreach, and rolls out her yoga mat in the Wellness Center as frequently as possible. You won't see her scurrying around with her typical Canon Camera body and 200mm lens duo this semester, as she is studying abroad for Spring 2023 at St Andrew’s, but she is eager to return to W&M with stories of her time abroad and to support her friends at their events in the fall!
Grace Cohen
Graphics editor
Grace Cohen is an Environmental Science and Hispanic Studies double-major. She is from Boston, MA. Besides drowning in schoolwork, Grace is often found playing the piano, sketching, or watching Netflix. She is also on the women's rugby team at William and Mary. Grace's spirit animal is a banana slug.
Zoe Davis
Graphics editor
Zoe is an Art History major (and hopefully English minor) from Massachusetts. She enjoys drawing and reading, even if she hasn't read a book unrelated to schoolwork in roughly three months (though her consumption of manga has never been higher). She also likes to run, and spends way too much time on tumblr watching re-uploaded TikToks. You can find her haunting Swem library or wandering around the woods.
Isabel Li
graphics editor
Isabel is a Psychology major from Richmond, VA, meaning that she is, in reality, from a tiny town fifteen minutes from the city that was created purely for census purposes. Aside from her role as Graphics Editor, she juggles two research labs, one of which is a data science lab (Isabel cannot code), and both of which keep a consistent sleep schedule a distant fantasy. She enjoys drawing in her free time, but often she can't sit still long enough to actually finish anything. On campus, you can usually find her powerwalking at a frightening pace from old to new campus or staring lifelessly at the long lines in front of the Sadler grill.
Syeda Safdar
Graphics editor
Syeda is a Computer Science and Studio Art double major from Chesapeake, Virginia. She likes spending her free time drawing on her iPad, crocheting, or looking at cat videos. In the wild, you may likely see her emerge from Andrew's Hall from a late Studio Art class session. She got involved with Flat Hat Magazine's Graphics section to gain more experience with graphic design and illustration. She creates more art in her free time on her Instagram page, @ssafdar.arts!
Danielle Seay
graphics editor
Danielle is a double major in Art and English, primarily using those skills to draw fan art of her favorite books or little ghosts doing as they please. She is a self-proclaimed grandma as her favorite activities include crocheting, reading, and drinking tea. She has four Instagram accounts, including a Bookstagram and Art account, but doesn’t like using the app all that much. Even though she is a declared English major, she had a tough time writing this bio.
Arianna Stewart
GRAPHICS EDITOR
Arianna Stewart is a Self-designed Creative Writing & Production major and an Innovation & Entrepreneurship minor from Richmond, VA. Outside of her work on the magazine, she also produces weekly recurring comics, Bits & Pieces and Fuzzy, for the Flat Hat Newspaper. Arianna also owns a small business, iDrawPets, where she sells custom-colored pencil portraits of pets and animals. One of her portraits has hung in the U.S. Capitol. Art aside, Arianna is a huge foodie and loves trying new dishes. Feel free to reach out with restaurant suggestions! She also enjoys traveling and learning new things. Her go-to media and book genres are satire, mystery, and thriller. You can easily spot Arianna on campus by looking for the color red.
Emily Han
BEAUTY DIRECTOR
Emily has been in love with makeup and hair since middle school. From doing prom makeup to doing eyebrows, she loves to make people feel their best!
RACHEL BARDON
production assistant
Rachel Bardon is a senior majoring in English from Buckingham, Virginia. She always finds the weirdest places on campus to read (either for class or for fun). When she’s not nose-deep in some type of literature, she enjoys acrylic painting on literally anything, taking naps, watching random movies and TV shows (right now The Sopranos and Bojack Horseman (for the second time), and BLASTING music in her headphones. Rachel loves to dress in different styles, so her closet is a mix-and-match variety. She is so excited to put her artist skills to use for Flat Hat Magazine!
Nevaeh Galluccio
Production Assistant
Nevaeh Galluccio is a freshman on track to major in economics and minor in theatre. Besides the Flat Hat, she's also a member of ROCKET Magazine and the W&M Film Society. You can catch her performing in student-run theatre performances and singing with her band Pink Lemonade at the Meridian!
Julia Varner
production assistant
Julia Varner ‘25 is a psychology major and GSWS minor from Lynchburg, VA. She plans on pursuing a career in entertainment law and management. Outside of the Flat Hat, Julia is a part of Phi Mu Gamma Alpha and does freelance artist management out of Richmond.