Debra Solomon Baker
Debra Solomon Baker is a writing coach for college-bound youth and a recently retired middle school English teacher from St. Louis. She holds a B.A. in English and psychology from the University of Michigan and an M.A. in teaching and curriculum development from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She’s working on a collection of essays, Spirit Forward. Her writing has appeared in WhimsicalPoet, Shark Reef, Glacial Hills Review and more. She’s honed her craft through humor-writing classes and through work with essayist Ana Maria Spagna. In 2023, she received a scholarship to attend Edinburgh University, where she studied writing, traveled throughout Scotland and “rented a shepherd’s hut overlooking a castle from a work-the-land woman who said she liked my vibe.”
Gretchen Cion
Gretchen Cion is a multi-genre writer, filmmaker and educator currently teaching through Berkeley City College. She is the creator of Poetic Playlist, an online writing class for girls and gender-expansive youth. She has an M.Ed. from Hunter College, and an M.A. in English and an MFA in creative writing, both from San Francisco State University. Her essays have appeared in Transfer Magazine, Sky Island Journal and Brevity Blog. Her first short film, “Full Crow,” was a semifinalist at the Boden International Film Festival. She received an honorable mention from the Erma Bombeck’s Humorist-in-Residence Program in 2022. Gretchen is currently working on a debut novel, Trust Me, as well as an essay collection, For Shame and Other Fun Feelings! for which she has endless material.