Charles Malone
Advisor

Charlie Malone joined Brainchild as the faculty advisor shortly after Gutenberg brought the concept of movable type to Europe. He believes that arguing about literature and art remains one of the best ways to understand ourselves and the world we live in. Charlie brings his experience from working with the Center for Literary Publishing at Colorado State, Wolverine Farm Publishing, and CrayfishMag at Furnace Run Press to help the team navigate this process each year. Charlie also serves as the Assistant Director of the Wick Poetry Center here at Kent State.

Marisa Bennett
Editor-in-Chief

Marisa Bennett is a Senior at Kent State University at Stark. She majors in English and has a minor in Creative Writing. This is her second year as Editor-in-Chief, and her third year on Brainchild as a whole. She is active in clubs on her campus and happily works as a Senior Writing Tutor. During her downtime, she enjoys playing video games with friends, writing poetry and fiction, playing DnD, and spending time with her cats Ember, Poptart, and Merlin.

Ari potter
Creative DIRECTOR

Ari Potter is a senior at Kent State University pursuing a BFA in Visual Communication Design. This is her second year on the Brainchild design team and first year as creative director, and outside of Brainchild she works as a designer for the Division of Student Life on campus. When she’s not working or at school, she enjoys drawing, knitting, crafting, and spending time with cats.

Liz Brunner
art director

Liz Brunner is a junior at Kent State University pursuing a double major with a BA in Psychology and BFA in Sculpture with a minor in Africana Studies. For work, she’s currently a Resident Assistant in Manchester Hall and an Arts Ambassador on campus. She strives to be an active leader on campus and serves as the president of Black Art Students United. She believes creating is only the beginning to the creative process. To finish an artwork, or piece of writing, it must be shared. Oftentimes we keep these vulnerable pieces of ourselves close to our chest when they need to be offered to the world instead.   

Carolyn Vargo
Co-Art editor

Carolyn Vargo is a junior getting a B.F.A. in Art Education major. She loves to do all forms of art from printmaking to ceramics and spend time with her friends and family in her spare time.

clara brown
DESIGNEr

Clara Brown is a sophomore at Kent State University, majoring in Sociology with a minor in Design. She currently works with the University Libraries at the Service Desk, smiling and wishing good days to as many people as possible in the mornings.

Aryn kauble
EDITOR

eloise bennett
editor

Eloise Bennett is a Junior at Kent State University, double-majoring in Anthropology and Art history with a minor in Japanese. This is now her second year on Brainchild as an editor. In her spare time, she enjoys reading Japanese literature, learning how to do various crafts, and embroidering patches on her friend’s clothes. Eloise would also like to thank her cat, Yoko, for inspiring her in everything she does.

esther morris
designer

Joaquin Shuman
editor

Joaquin Shuman is a junior at Kent State University, majoring in Physics with an interest in astrophysics and minoring in creative writing. This is his first year editing with Brainchild and his third year with Kent’s planetarium club. When he’s not juggling school and work, Joaquin loves spending time with his friends, skateboarding, listening to music, and travelling with family.

Lauren Cohen
Editor

Lauren Cohen is a senior journalism major with a minor in creative writing. This is her third year with Brainchild on the editing team. An aspiring journalist, she believes in bringing awareness to the most important stories in communities, whatever the format may be. In her free time, she enjoys going for walks, listening to Taylor Swift, and hanging out with her sisters.

Maddison Evans
Editor

Maddison is a fifth-year senior at Kent State University, double majoring in Zoology and English with a minor in Creative Writing. This is her third year as an editor for Brainchild and her second year as the president of Writer’s Bloc, Kent State’s creative writing club. When she isn’t busy with classes and clubs, she is often writing fiction (and occasional poetry), drawing, bird watching, playing video games, or being harassed by her cat Eclipse.

Muriel Bourn
designer

Muriel Bourn is a junior at Kent State University, majoring in Visual Communication Design with a minor in Animation Game Design. This is their first year working with Brainchild as a designer. They also work with the College of the Arts as an IT technician, and are involved with Kent’s Anime Society. Their favorite animals are squirrels, and it’s a non-insignificant part of how they ended up at Kent State. Between classes and work, they love to draw, build models, create stuffed animals, play video games, and hang out with friends.

olivia asp
designer

Olivia Asp is a junior at Kent State studying Visual Communications Design with a minor in environmental science. She works as a designer at the university library and is involved with H2O church. She loves painting, reading, sewing, journaling, and hiking in her free time!

Rinoa Chech
Editor

Rinoa is a senior at Kent State Stark Campus studying English with minors in Creative Writing and Women’s Studies. This is her first year at Brainchild, where she serves as an editor. You can find her making content for the Stark campus English department social media, reading profusely long fantasy novels, or drawing fan art of her own novel characters.

virginia Doherty
Editor

Virginia Doherty is in her final year at Kent State, where she is double majoring in Economics and History with minors in Marketing and Art History.  This is her third year as an editor with Brainchild, and she also serves as Managing Editor of The Burr. When she’s not editing, she enjoys trying (and abandoning) obscure crafts, writing poems and reading better ones, and feeding Churus to her cat.