Board of Directors
Andreea Ritivoi | Christopher Warren
| Sharon Dilworth
Editorial Staff
Ed Simon | Editor
ed[at]beltmag.com
Ed is a writer and editor from Pittsburgh, and the author of several different books, including An Alternative History of Pittsburgh (Belt Publishing, 2021). As a freelance writer, his work has appeared at The New York Times, The Washington Post, McSweeney’s, The Atlantic, and The Paris Review Daily, among dozens of others. In addition to his work at Belt, Ed is also a staff writer for The Millions. Ed manages Belt’s day-to-day operations, edits stories, essays, poetry and commentary, and coordinates fundraising efforts.
Jessica Manack | Development Editor
After studying at Hollins University, Jessica Manack returned to her hometown of Pittsburgh, where she lives with her family. She has over two decades of experience in marketing communications, supporting both corporations and nonprofits, including Handmade Arcade, which she co-founded in 2004. She is the recipient of a Curious Creators Grant for her writing, which focuses on the history and experiences of the women of northern Appalachia. At Belt, her responsibilities include audience engagement, membership maintenance, event coordination, and grant management.
Chris Harvey | Creative Director
chris[at]beltmag.com
Chris is a veteran, artist, and graphic designer from Akron, Ohio. He is the former Art Director of the Akron Devil Strip, and in 2019 he was recognized as an “Akron Art Library” artist by the Akron Art Museum and Akron-Summit County Public Library. Chris curates the look and feel of Belt magazine, including site layout, editorial illustrations, story art, and photo essays, among other things.
Camille Baron | Financial Officer
Camille is the founder of Baron Financial, a professional services firm that provides bookkeeping services to small businesses. She blends thirty years of business experience with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Dayton (M.I.S.) and an MBA from Cleveland State University.
Staff Writers
Emiliano Aguilar | Staff Writer
Emiliano is a Mexican-American native of East Chicago, Indiana. He is a lifelong resident of “the crossroads of America,” holds a few degrees from Midwestern colleges, and is currently in the Department of History at the University of Notre Dame. His first book project explores the complexities of the ethnic Mexican and Puerto Rican community’s navigation of machine politics in the 20th and 21st centuries to further their inclusion in municipal and union politics in his hometown. At Belt, Emiliano hopes to continue to elevate the stories of the region’s political history and its Latina/o residents.
Avery Gregurich | Staff Writer
Avery Gregurich is a writer living and working in Marengo, Iowa. He was raised next to the Mississippi River and has never strayed too far from it.
Raechel Jolie | Staff Writer
Raechel Anne Jolie (she/they) is the author of the critically-acclaimed memoir Rust Belt Femme, which was the winner of the Independent Publisher Book Award in LGBTQ Nonfiction, an NPR Favorite Book of 2020, and a runner-up for the Heartland Bookseller’s Award. She is the former engagement editor for Belt Magazine.
Vince Guerrieri | Staff Writer
Vince Guerrieri has always been a Rust Belt kind of guy. He grew up in Youngstown and graduated from Bowling Green State University. He’s worked at newspapers in Pittsburgh and throughout Northern Ohio, and has written for multiple other outlets, including Popular Mechanics, POLITICO, Defector, CityLab and Mental Floss. He lives in the Cleveland area with his wife and daughter.
Yanick Rice Lamb | Staff Writer
Yanick Rice Lamb is a journalist, author and educator from Akron, Ohio. She is a professor and former chair of the Department of Media, Journalism and Film at Howard University, where she is pursuing a doctorate in medical sociology. Yanick is also co-founder of FierceforBlackWomen.com.
Anjulie Rao | Staff Writer
Anjulie Rao is a journalist and critic covering the built environment. Based in Chicago, much of her work reckons with the complexities of post-industrial cities; explores connections to place and land; and exposes intersections between architecture, landscapes, and cultural change. She is a Lecturer at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the Architecture/Interior Architecture and New Arts Journalism departments, and Adjunct Faculty at the Illinois Institute of Technology’s department of Landscape Architecture + Urbanism.
Emma Riva | Staff Writer
Emma Riva is a novelist and art writer who serves as the managing editor of UP, an international online and print magazine covering graffiti, street art, fine arts, and their intersections in popular culture. Emma has written over 50 pieces on graffiti and street art all over the world, from Belfast to Denver. She is also the author of Night Shift in Tamaqua, an illustrated novel set in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley. She lives and works in Pittsburgh.
Ryan Schnurr | Staff Writer
Ryan Schnurr is a writer, professor, and author of In the Watershed (Belt Publishing, 2017), and he is the emeritus Editor of Belt Magazine. He lives in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Julia Shiota | Staff Writer
Julia Shiota is a writer and editor from Minnesota. Her fiction and nonfiction work have appeared in Catapult, the Asian American Writers Workshop, Poets & Writers and elsewhere. When she isn’t writing or reading, she’s most often knitting or listening to Prince.
Ashley Stimpson | Staff Writer
Ashley Stimpson is a freelance journalist who often writes about climate change, conservation, and wildlife. Her work has appeared in the Guardian, National Geographic, Popular Mechanics, WIRED, Longreads, and elsewhere. Ohio-born and Maryland-based, she has also called Kansas and Indiana home.
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