OUR STAFF
Andrew Johnston
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
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.
Mary Beth Bauermann
eDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Mary Beth is an American Studies and English double major from just outside of Baltimore, Maryland. On campus, she works at the Writing Resources Center, writes for Vinyl Tap Magazine, and tap dances with the Rhythm and Taps club. When she doesn’t have her nose in a book, you can find her playing guitar with her all-girl rock band and the Wham Bam Big Band, searching for zen on her yoga mat, listening to music like it’s going out of style, 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.
ELLIE KURLANDER
CHIEF OF STAFF
Ellie is a government and art history double-major from Atlanta, GA. Her passions include Pine scented candles, ABBA, cuddling with her dogs Freddie Mercury and Mo, petitioning to ban the production of all Jeep Trucks and attempting to domesticate the campus squirrels. In her spare time Ellie daydreams about founding an a cappella club for ungifted singers called the Tone Deafsᵀᴹ. Ellie’s most notable claim to fame is when her dog peed on Joe Biden’s sister.
Marion Biondi
Creative director
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.
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.
REBECCA ALTMAN
EDITOR-AT-LARGE
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.
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.
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.
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!
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!
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!
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.
Emelia MarshalL
Copy CHIEF
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!
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.
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!
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!
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
RACHEL BARDON
COPY EDITOR
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!
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.
NOT PICTURED
MadelEine Childs
BUSINESS MANAGER
Anu Desai
MANAGING EDITOR
Katie Fitzgerald
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
ian ha
copy chief
Looking for previous staff members? Spring 2023; Fall 2022; Spring 2022; Fall 2021; Spring 2021; Fall 2020