MEET OUR EDITORS
Ayheun Kim
Art Editor, Graphic Designer
Ahyeun is a fourth-year college student who will graduate with a BFA in graphic design and a minor in psychology in May 2025. Born and raised in South Korea, she is an adventurer who sees the world in a new light through her diverse cultural background and positively incorporates her unique artistic sensibilities and colorfulness into her designs. She has a deep passion for art and enjoys serving others as an art instructor and graphic designer at her church and school. She is a passionate artist who constantly strives to touch people's hearts and make a positive impact on them through creative design.
Annabel Jajtner
Art Editor, Graphic Designer
Annabel Jajtner is a Senior in DVC. Graduating this semester, after being a part of the graphic design team for Furrow. She is a creative designer that is constantly evolving and adjusting her styles of work. As a full-time student, she has a deep passion for vibrant colorful design. She love all forms of art and has expanded her skills into various artistic mediums including drawing, painting, sculpture, and woodworking.
Alex SCHwabe
Poetry Editor, Copyeditor
Alex is a third-year English major on the creative writing track at UWM. She is a storyteller, both with her writing and her speaking. She likes to write and perform fiction and poetry that deal with mental illness, hope in difficult times, and characters with a strange sense of humor. When she is not reading or writing, she can be found playing video games, talking passionately about everything from fairy tales to french fries, and being stuck in her head (in the bad and the good ways).
Anthony hagge
CNF Editor, Event Planner
Anthony is a senior at UWM majoring in English on the creative writing track. When he isn’t working or doing homework, he enjoys reading, baking, and spending time with family. He lives in Milwaukee with his fiancé Jeantte Arellano and their one-year-old dog Tonatiuh Bonita. He’s a happy uncle of three and former marine that was stationed in Okinawa, Japan. He’s been to seven countries and hopes to expand that list in the next few years.
“Those who say it can’t be done are usually interrupted by others doing it.” - James Baldwin
Aviva Hurwitz
Poetry Editor, Copyeditor
Aviva (ah-VEE-vah) is a double major in studio art and English (creative writing) at UWM. She enjoys making art, looking at art, and learning new things about art, both written and observed. When she has a free day, you can find her taking long walks around UWM's campus and the Milwaukee area. After graduation, Aviva is considering going into publishing. She hopes to continue learning and growing as a person and pursuing her artistic passion.
BEN JOHNSON
Fiction Editor, Copyeditor
Ben is a second-year English major at UWM with a passion for the arts. Outside of school, he enjoys writing fiction and poetry almost as much as playing music. Ben is also an avid rock climber, inline skater, and all-around explorer who strives to push his comfort zone every day.
BROOKE HARGRAVES
Poetry Editor, Publicist
Brooke is a third-year JAMS student with a journalism emphasis and minor in writing, editing, and publishing at UWM. She has a passion for writing, whether it be news, fiction, or poetry. Brooke is always listening to music but honestly does not have a favorite music genre. When she is not dedicating her days to school or making Spotify playlists, she enjoys drinking coffee, taking long walks, and spending time with friends.
CONAN LEE
Photographer
Conan is a 4th year student at UWM, graduating in the spring. He majors in creative writing with a minor in African and African diaspora studies. He enjoys reading and writing when he can find the time. Anything cultural and experiential will always draw his eye. His day-to-day is usually occupied with teaching composition at an all-boys high school, which is simultaneously challenging and very rewarding. His life’s goal is the pursuit of knowledge and subsequently passing it to the next generation. "The man who knows something knows he knows nothing at all." - Erykah Badu
Ducky Griesemer
Fiction Editor, Managing Editor
Ducky is a senior at UWM, double majoring in English and women’s and gender studies with a certificate in LGBT studies. In addition to their role in Furrow, they work as a bartender in downtown Milwaukee. With their limited free time, you’ll often find them playing guitar, stress baking, and battling their roommate’s (evil) cat. You can listen to their poetic works at the local National Aquarium Open Mic, exploring how to love with an uncertain future.
EDENA VIST
CNF Editor, Event Planneer
Edena is majoring in English with a concentration in creative writing and minoring in American Sign Language. When not engaged in their studies, Edena enjoys spending time with their two best friends, searching the aisles for their next read, or fixating on their next short story. Edena aspires to be a published novelist and short story writer after graduating.
ELISE ROSE LEONARD
CNF Editor, Fundraiser
Elise is an emerging dance artist and writer exploring the intersections of art, purpose, and activism. She is in her junior year studying dance and creative writing at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. After college she aims to make a difference through nonprofit arts organizations, expanding the reach of creative expression and education. A current passion project is Elise's student research position under Professor Tiffany Kadani, where she is developing an open access online platform dedicated to teaching ballet wholistically for all bodies.
Emily Rivera
Art Editor, Layout Designer
Emily is currently attending UWM majoring in design and visual communications at the Peck School of the Arts. Outside of school, Emily enjoys drawing, painting, and spending time with her two dogs. After graduation, she hopes to help small businesses by doing graphic design work that can support and improve their marketing and social media strategies.
Fridarose hamad
Editor-In-Chief
Frida is excited to come back to Furrow as an Editor-in-Chief this semester, working with Sophie, Charli, and Nat! She was previously a managing editor and layout editor Furrow in 2023. She also loves doing research for UWM's Office of Undergraduate Research and UWM's School of Public Health. She spends her time playing puzzle games on her phone while listening to audiobooks or writing poems about her cat Hanouni.
HANNAH NELSEN
Fiction Editor, Layout Designer
Hannah is double majoring in film and creative writing with the intent to graduate in the spring of 2026. She can be observed endlessly jumping from idea to idea while working on screenplays and casually experimenting with any writing form that even remotely interests her. Beyond being immersed in the deeply personal and introspective writing lifestyle, Hannah loves to explore a good food scene and watch obscene amounts of TV shows no one has ever heard of before.
JACKIE KHANMOHAMMADI
Poetry Editor, Publicist
Jackie is a senior at UWM majoring in journalism, advertising, and media studies (JAMS) and minoring in English. Her affinity for writing and storytelling makes her want to work for makeup or skincare brands on their creative team as a brand storyteller and maybe publish a book one day as a poet. Outside of school, she loves her iced coffees, going to the gym, talking with her friends, and spending time with her younger siblings.
KAYLEE DAY
Fiction Editor, Publicist
Kaylee is a junior at UWM, majoring in English (open focus) and minoring in business. While working in Furrow, she works at Goodwill. In her free time, she loves to bake, participate in activism for disability rights and mental health, watch tv/movies, write, explore new places, thrift/resell, hang out with friends and family, and do anything clothing related and creative. She is hoping to become a published author someday with her own book series and to write her own best-selling memoir as well as become a successful business owner.
KAYLEE ELIZABETH PIKULA
Art Editor, Graphic Designer
Kaylee is studying design & visual communication and photography at UW-Milwaukee. She enjoys all things visual art and is expanding her horizons to work closely with writing and poetry during her time at Furrow!
LIA SMITH-REDMANN
CNF Editor, Copyeditor
Lia Smith-Redmann is a Wisconsin-based writer, dancer, and choreographer. She is currently an intern for Cream City Review and a research assistant at UW-Milwaukee, where she’s pursuing her degrees in English and dance. Her work has been featured in a variety of literary journals and her writings for the stage have appeared across Wisconsin and have been awarded the Women’s and Gender Studies Award from UW-Milwaukee and second place in Hampshire College’s Comedic Monologue Competition. She’s passionate about interdisciplinary, revolutionary, and cultural art.
LILY HEIDORN
Fiction Editor, Copyeditor
Lily is a senior majoring in English with the hope of turning her adoration for the written word into a career in copyediting. When she isn’t busy interning for Cream City Review, she enjoys reading, playing video games, listening to music, and having deep discussions about unimportant things. To Lily, there’s nothing more satisfying than crafting the perfect sentence.
MATT LAMPLEY
Fiction Editor, Web Editor
Matt is a senior majoring in English with a focus on creative writing and plans to graduate in May 2025. He enjoys writing fantasy. He spends his free time working on short stories and adding to his manuscript which he hopes will be published one day. When he is not in class or writing, he enjoys playing tabletop games and drinking tea.
NADA ABDULJALIL
CNF Editor, Web Editor
Nada is a senior at UWM majoring in English and psychology with a minor in communication. In addition to Furrow, Nada is a podcast intern for UWM’s student podcast Panther Tracks and an intern at Still Waters Collective. Her creative nonfiction work and research have been presented at UWM’s annual Honors College HARPY conferences and the Midwestern Modern Language Association’s annual conference. When she’s not working on her senior Honors thesis or speculating (trying not to be angry) about the patterns of the world, she’s reading, journaling, making bad art, in therapy, analyzing movies, or cooking.
NATE SAUNDERSON
Art Editor, Graphic Designer
Nate is a fourth-year student majoring in design & visual communication and minoring in writing, editing, and publishing. When they are not glued to their computer designing in Adobe, they enjoy illustrating stories through comics, learning theoretical physics, and consuming all forms of fiction.
Natalie Starks
Editor-In-Chief
Natalie is majoring in Design & Visual Communications at UWM, where she enthusiastically engages with fellow artists and art-appreciators and works as a Production and Design Team Lead at UWM's Planetarium. She is thrilled about all things related to art and design and is excited to keep pushing out creative and colorful energy into the world!
MEET OUR INSTRUCTORS
Sophie Nunberg
Lead Instructor, 2025
Sophie Nunberg is a French-American writer from the foggy hills of San Francisco. She is a PhD student in English and Creative Writing at UW-Milwaukee. Her writing has been printed in anthologies, made into installation art and published online by Allium, Cleaver Mag and Rejection Lit among others.
Charli Spier
Graduate Student Instructor, 2025
Charli Spier is a PhD student in Creative Writing - Fiction at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, where she is also a reader for the Cream City Review. She received her MFA in Fiction from Western Michigan University, where she was the Managing Editor of Third Coast, and her MA in History from UC Berkeley. Her short fiction has appeared in Passages North, the South Carolina Review, the San Antonio Review, and other journals.
Valerie Laken
Faculty Advisor, 2010-present
Valerie Laken is Associate Professor of English at UW-Milwaukee. She is the author of the novel, Dream House (Harper, 2009), which received the Anne Powers Award, and the story collection, Separate Kingdoms (HarperPerennial, 2011), which was longlisted for the Story Prize and the Frank O'Connor International Story Award. Her work has been published in multiple journals and has received a Pushcart Prize and honorable mentions in the Best American Short Stories.
FORMER EDITORS
Lily Lalios (Editor-in-Chief)
Dal Du Mez (Editor-in-Chief)
Annaliese Kunst (Managing Editor)
Elyse Ark
Bird Berg
Danny Calderon
Evan Ceman
Jason Don Christensen
Nick Gamble
Noelle Gómez
Michael Janssen
Andrew Kim
Jasmine Leclair
Jakob Mork
Ava Myhre
Tessa Naylor
Lily Passarelli
Hazel Ramos
Abby Schroder
Liv Sheppard
Natalie Starks
Max Stern
Noah Strzykalski
Noah Vincent
Cody Burt (Editor-in-Chief)
Fridarose Hamad (Managing Editor)
Madelyn Schneider (Managing Editor)
Mackenzie Bergemann
Matthew Byers
Jo Baker
Jaidon Boyd
Jacob Collins
Alison Dewers
John Dewey
Liam Dooley
Dally Du Mez
Emma Filzen
Kaitlyn Hein
Sam Kelley
Lily Lalios
Janae Mancheski
Daniel Mellor
Hannah Perez
Macy Ortner
Emily Taylor
Anna Weltor
Kristian Zenz
Syd Vinyard (Editor-in-Chief)
Cody Burt (Managing Editor)
Zoë Brown
Vivian Coenen
Simeon De Valk
Tayler Drew
Olivia Faleta
Leah Fischer-Toerpe
Evelyn Hinton
Madeline Hornok
Tasneem Jassar
Tabitha Kerr
Tanya Khazin
Wyatt Koelsch
Haley Krueger
Grace Lubinski
Mandy McAllister
Nicholas Oscar
Neve Schauer
Haneul Seo
Shepherd Silver
Kahrima Winston
Emily Fedewa (Managing Editor)
Tyler Acker
Katie Beeman
Lauren Breunig
Kaitlyn Diskin
Rae’ven Eddy
Erika Jacobsen
Carly Minor
Lindsey Naze
Abby Pipho
Andrea Riley
Bill Stephens
Libby Thomas
Syd Vinyard
Natalie Wallace
Patrick Weary
Melissa Wesloski
Casandra Zimmerman
Shelby Zwintscher
Tristan Adams (Managing Editor)
Daniel Clinton
Lizbeth Gama
Allie Habeck
Robbie Imbrie
Valerie Johnson
Cass Kieck
Faith LeMay
Aleah Merriwether
Amanda Niebauer
Nick Orfield
Cal Owens
Elliott Vickrey
Grace Winter
Brittany Wetter
Morissa Young (Managing Editor)
David Acosta
Natalie Bagniefski
Nathan Adam Beadel
Matthew Brandfass
Katie Durant Schultz
Rachael Kohler
Mia Krantz
Kayley Lane
Rachel Lapow
Rachel Radomski
Joe Schmidt
Hayley Stumbris
Jordan Sykes
Katie Turyna
Sara Weiss
Tesia Zeitlow
Eddie Ahrenhoerster
Meghan Calderone
Jessie Choinoski
Paul Crowley
Mai Yer Hang
Stephen Jensen
Shenandoah LaRock
Keyllyn Emily Lock
Malachi Lyonsdove
Deanna Schneider
Kat Skjoldager
Callie Weers
Katrina Brinkman
Hannah Bulgerin
Scott Clark
Paul Dixon
Brian Eisel
Nat Froiland
Nicholas Gruber
Alena Hansen
Jennifer Johnston
Margaret Kennedy
Lauren Lisak
Christina Luick
Rachel Lynn
Kayci Bodart
Kearstin Estrada
Nick Fitzpatrick
Jessica Gollwitzer
Melissa Holck
Alexandra Howard
Andrew Mathwick
Lorna Pecard
Benjamin Smart
Rachel Stuplich
Emily Talapa
Alex Tubbs
Matthew Wamser
Rebecca Bohdalik
Max Bradshaw
Eric Buenning
Jack Ceschin
Leah Froats
Megan Gray
Jacob Herzfeld
Carli Knudten
Casey Kyles
Chelsea Morrow
Amanda Puerzer
Rehanna Skonecki
Nick Tabat
Angelika Villafuerte
Tyler Ford
Theresa Gamble
Sarah Grzezinski
Joshua Hancock
Alexander Knox
Spero LoMenzo
KrisAnne Madaus
Brian Malloy
Chelsea Moskow
Tanner Rogers
Nick Tabat
Nicole Timblin
Matt Farr
Maddy Hughes
Tanner Irons
Rachel Kinnard
Veronika Kunath
Lexi Majack
Rachel Niemann
Amber Scarborough
Monica Thomas
Emily Tobias
Sharon Jessica Van Leuven
Jess Wichman
Jason C. Wilkerson
Margaret Wilson