Our People
OUR PEOPLE
Alice Klein
OWNER, EDITOR/PUBLISHER
Alice is the owner and editor/publisher of NOW, which she co-founded in 1981. In addition to her role as NOW’s media matriarch, she is a writer, social entrepreneur, one-time doc filmmaker, eco-feminist and unapologetic social change advocate. Her passion for independent, progressive media that speaks truth to power, brings marginalized voices into the mainstream and reflects the creativity and beauty of the city back to itself has been a constant for close to four decades. Alice is also the president of the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression and serves on the board of Toronto’s Centre for Social Innovation and the Washington D.C.-based Association of Alternative Newsmedia.
Enzo DiMatteo
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
Enzo was born in Belgium and emigrated with his family to Canada in the heat of Trudeaumania. He grew up in the city’s west end and cut his teeth in journalism in the 90s covering cop stories and whatever madness skinheads in the neo-Nazi movement were up to. He is a winner of numerous writing awards and the only (alleged) Commie banned from entering Cuba. It’s complicated. Claims to fame: champion wood-chopper.
Kevin Ritchie
SENIOR CULTURE EDITOR
Kevin has worked as a journalist for 20 years, first as a general assignment reporter in the daily newspaper world before being sucked into the glamorous life that is arts and entertainment coverage. For the past 10 years, he’s primarily covered music, television and film for a variety of trade and consumer outlets. He began contributing to NOW’s music section in 2010 as a reviewer and pop star interviewer, and now edits the culture pages.
Lulu El-Atab
ART DIRECTOR
Lulu designs and develops creative concepts for NOW’s print edition. She also provides the artistic vision and direction for photo shoots and features. Lulu moved to Toronto in 2010 from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to attend OCAD University, where she received a BA in design. In her spare time, she works out, meditates at her yoga classes, dances to electronic/house music and is continually trying new restaurants. She lives with her twin brother in downtown Toronto.
Michelle da Silva
LIFE & SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR
Michelle covers stories related to community and culture, with a particular interest in millennials, race and gender equity, mental health, DIY and tech. In 2017, she was awarded a Next Gen/Diversity Scholarship from the Association of Alternative News Media. Michelle moved to Toronto in 2015 from Vancouver, where she worked at The Georgia Straight. In her spare time, she loves riding her bike, going to museums, trying new restaurants and watching stand-up comedy. Michelle lives in Dufferin Grove with her rescue cat.
Glenn Sumi
ASSOCIATE ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR (STAGE/FILM)
Glenn started writing for NOW’s theatre section in 1997 with his much-missed colleague Jon Kaplan. Currently, he edits and contributes to the film and stage sections. He sees approximately 280 live stage shows (plays, comedy shows, dance and opera) and 150 movies a year. His mother once described his job to someone as “Seeing The Lion King.” For three years he was a weekly pop culture commentator on CTV News Weekend With Scott Laurie, and he still reports occasionally on CBC, CTV, TVO and Global TV when he’s not in a dark theatre, editing or writing reviews, or reading a book. He can’t stand people who talk or use their phones at the theatre.
Norman Wilner
SENIOR WRITER
A life-long Torontonian, Norman became the senior film writer for NOW in early 2008. Previously he had reviewed films for Metro newspapers across Canada and covered every video format imaginable (yes, even Beta) for a Toronto Star column from 1988 to 2006. He served as secretary and vice-president of the Toronto Film Critics Association from 2008 to 2016 and has been a member of the features jury for Canada’s Top Ten. A member of the international film critics’ organization FIPRESCI, he’s sat on festival juries in Toronto, Montreal, London, Vienna and Palm Springs. He hosts NOW's monthly free screenings at The Royal and TIFF's Reel Talk: Sneak Previews at TIFF Bell Lightbox. He’s also the host of your new favourite podcast, SOMEONE ELSE’S MOVIE [someoneelsesmovie.com]. Norm lives in Little Italy with his wife, the magnificent knitwear designer and author Kate Atherley, and their terrible dog.
Richard Trapunski
MUSIC EDITOR
Richard has been covering Toronto’s music scene for over a decade – first at NOW as a young, relatively unjaded freelancer, then as the editor-in-chief of Chart Attack, and now back home at NOW. He’s served on the jury for both the Polaris Music Prize and the JUNOs and has been nominated twice for best music journalist at the Canadian Music and Broadcast Industry Awards. (He lost both times to Alan Cross.) Richard was born in Toronto and came of age in the beer-soaked rock clubs that are now sadly endangered. He’s an over-thinker when it comes to music, but generally likes any genre you can throw the word “weird” in front of. He was once called a “mush-brained millennial blogger” by a Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter and “actually a pretty good guy” by a Juno-nominated director.
Natalia Manzocco
FOOD WRITER
Natalia is driven to find the human element in each new restaurant and bar – the thing that sets them apart from Toronto’s crowded food scene and makes their story worth telling. She has written about style, technology, life and travel for the National Post, Toronto Sun, blogTO and Metro, and contributed to the 2017 edition of the Fodor’s Toronto travel guide. Natalia is also the director of PINK MARKET, Toronto’s LGBTQ art and craft fair, and plays guitar in the band Weak Hands. She enjoys good thrift stores and terrible puns. Look for her next to the cheese plate.
Radheyan Simonpillai
STAFF WRITER
Radheyan's first assignment for NOW was reviewing the Ice Cube heist comedy First Sunday. That was back in January 2008, while he was completing his MA in Cinema Studies at the University of Toronto and working as a TA in film history. He’s been covering Cube and much more ever since. Born in Sri Lanka and raised in Scarborough, Rad currently lives in Leslieville with his wife and two adorable kids. He is also the film critic for CTV’s national breakfast show Your Morning, and regularly contributes to CTV News Channel and CBC Radio. Rad has never won an award.
Samantha Edwards
STAFF WRITER
Samantha writes about a range of topics including politics, music, books, feminism and race issues. Even though she now lives in Brockton Village, she still considers herself a Parkdalian. When she’s not reporting, Samantha likes exploring new neighbourhoods on her bike, baking and watching way too much TV.
Samuel Engelking
STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Samuel’s fascination with photography was first ignited by iconic mid-20th-century photographers like W. Eugene Smith, Man Ray, Edward Weston and Sebastiao Salgado, to name a few. Influenced by portrait, editorial, documentary and fashion photography, he finds inspiration in music, design, culture and film. In his spare time, he loves going to the beach, checking out live music and exploring the city on bike.
Susan G. Cole
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
Susan is a journalist, author, playwright and former senior entertainment editor at NOW. A graduate of Harvard, where she co-founded the university’s first women’s collective, Susan is a feminist activist and musician – she started Toronto’s first all-women rock band in 1978 – with a focus on violence against women. She has written two books on the subject, Pornography And The Sex Crisis and Power Surge: Sex, Violence And Pornography (both Second Story Press). Her play, the groundbreaking comedy A Fertile Imagination about two lesbians trying to have a baby, has been produced seven times across the country and she has edited Outspoken, a collection of scenes and monologues from Canadian lesbian plays (Playwrights Canada Press). She writes about film and politics and is currently NOW’s contributing books editor.
Sarah Parniak
CONTRIBUTOR
Sarah is a drinks writer and beverage professional with a bottomless curiosity for liquids. She’s currently the Canadian brand ambassador for Seedlip, the world’s first non-alcoholic distilled spirits. In a former life, she spent most of her time behind bars and has represented Canada in international bartending competitions.
Adria Vasil
CONTRIBUTOR
Adria is the environmental journalist behind the Ecoholic column and best-selling author of the Ecoholic book series. Adria started the Ecoholic column back when she was a staff news writer at NOW in 2004. She’s since been profiled in every major Canadian newspaper (including the cover of NOW twice), and chances are you’ve seen her face on CBC, CTV and on TVO’s Green Heroes. She lives with her partner around Little India in Toronto’s east end and loves long walks on the beach (for real – she lives super-close to the water), late-night painting sessions, all wacky things meditation-related and anywhere with either good wine or big trees. And if you’re wondering how her Greek/French Canadian family pronounces her name, it’s uh-DREE-ah, like Maria.
Carla Gillis
CONTRIBUTOR
Formerly NOW’s music editor, Carla continues to write for the music section about the health of Toronto and Canada’s music scenes, DIY communities and issues related to race and gender, in addition to providing criticism and artist profiles. She has an MFA in creative writing from UBC, and was twice nominated for music journalist of the year by the Canadian Music and Broadcast Industry. Originally from Halifax, Carla has been in indie bands since her teens and currently performs with heavy rockers Overnight. She volunteers for Girls Rock Camp Toronto, is a juror for the Polaris Music Prize, PRISM Prize and the JUNO Awards, and studies at the Toronto Institute for Relational Psychotherapy.
PRODUCTION
DIGITAL INNOVATION & ANALYTICS MANAGER
ROHAN ICHAPORIA
PRODUCTION SUPERVISOR
SHARON ARNOTT
INTERACTIVE PRODUCER
SOFIA WARDEN
DESIGNERS
MONICA MILLER, PIPER KILLEN
DIGITAL COMMUNICATION & IT SPECIALIST
KEVIN JERVIS
MARKETING / ADVERTISING SALES
ENGAGEMENT MANAGER
DUSTIN ACETI
SENIOR MARKETING EXECUTIVE
BARBARA HEFLER
SENIOR MARKETING EXECUTIVE
BEVERLEE EAST
MARKETING REPRESENTATIVES
CHRISTIAN ISMODES, LEN MILLEY, SCOTT STRACHAN
CLASSIFIEDS / ADULT CLASSIFIEDS SALES
GARY MCGREGOR
COPY EDITING / PROOFREADING
JULIA HOECKE
KATARINA RISTIC
PROMOTIONS
PROMOTIONS ADMINISTRATOR
PUBLISHER'S OFFICE
OFFICE MANAGER & EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT
BUSINESS
HR MANAGER
ANGELA MONCADA
PAYROLL & BENEFITS MANAGER
BRENDA MARSHALL
CREDIT MANAGER
RAY COULES
CREDIT DEPARTMENT
RICHARD SEOW
ACCOUNTING ASSISTANT
LOGA UDAYAKUMAR
CIRCULATION
CIRCULATION SUPERVISOR
DRIVERS
RON DUFFY, JENNIFER GILLMOR, DEAN CRAWFORD, PAUL DAKOTA, PATRICK SLIMMON, CHRIS MALCOLM
HOPPERS
RACHEL MELAS, LUCAS MARTIN, STEVE GODBOUT, JAYSON GALLOP