Slate Culture Creators & Guests

Dana Stevens is a movie critic and co-host of the Culture Gabfest.

Cheyna Roth is a journalist and audio producer. Currently, she is a podcast producer for Slate and frequent host of its gender and feminism podcast "The Waves." She is also an adjunct professor of journalism and law at Aquinas College.Roth began her career as a prosecuting attorney. She left the practice of law to in 2016, earned her masters degree, and became a documentary filmmaker, podcaster, and freelance writer. She began her journalism career as Capitol reporter for the Michigan Public Radio Networka, and she hosted the podcast "MichMash."Roth's work has appeared in Broadly, Bustle, and on NPR. Her first book, "Cold Cases: A True Crime Collection," was published in 2020.Roth received her J.D. from Michigan State University College of Law and her M.A. in Journalism from Michigan State University.

Stephen Metcalf is a critic, essayist, podcaster, and screenwriter. He is co-creator and host of the Slate magazine's "Culture Gabfest."Metcalf's work has appeared in The New York Times, New York Magazine, Slate, The Guardian, The Atlantic, and The New Yorker. Metcalf has taught at Yale, University of Pennsylvania, and NYU. He was a visiting faculty member at Bennington for Fall 2018.

Julia Turner is a Senior Fellow at the University of Southern California's Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership & Policy. She is a co-host of Slate's "Culture Gabfest" podcast.Previously, Turner was the Senior Vice President for Content Business Strategy at the Los Angeles Times.

Marissa Martinelli is a film critic. She is currently an associate editor at Slate magazine.Martinelli received her M.A. in English from the University of St Andrews. While there, she was an editor for the film section of the University's newspaper, The Saint.

Nicole Cliffe is writer. She currently co-writes a parenting advice column at Slate called "Care and Feeding." She is known for having co-founded and co-edited the website The Toast with Daniel Lavery.Cliffe became known as a writer for her Tumblr "Lazy Self-Indulgent Book Reviews," as well as her book review column on The Awl "Classic Trash." She became a full-time writer when she joined the Awl-network site The Hairpin, where she became book editor and met her future collaborator Daniel Lavery.Cliffe and Lavery left The Hairpin to co-found and co-edit The Toast. After the Toast shut down, she wrote as a freelancer, writing advice columns for Elle and Catapult's magazine. She became an advice columnist and co-writer of the "Care and Feeding" parenting column at Slate magazine.Cliffe was raised in Kingston, Ontario. She received her B.A. in English from Harvard College.

Paul Sepuya is an American photographer and artist. His photographs focus heavily on the relationship between artist and subject.

Veralyn Williams is a journalist and radio producer. She tackles questions of identity, social norms, and community. Currently, she is senior producer for WNYC's "The United States of Anxiety."Previously, Williams produced the WNYC shows "Radio Rookies" and "The Stakes." For Slate Magazine, she has produced the shows "Represent," "The Waves," and Panoply's "Family Ghosts." She also worked as managing editor of Brooklyn Deep, a digital investigative news, analysis, and data website chronicling neighborhood change in Central Brooklyn.Williams received her B.A. in Mass Communication and Media Studies from Hunter College.

Aisha Harris is a writer and editor in the Opinion section of the New York Times, where she covers culture and society.Previously, Harris was an assistant television editor on the Culture Desk at The New York Times, and prior to that, she was a culture writer and editor for Slate Magazine and host of the film and TV podcast "Represent."Harris received her B.A. in theater from Northwestern University and her M.A. in cinema studies from New York University.

Karen Han is a screenwriter, tintin enthusiast, and Slate staff writer.

Susan E. Matthews is a science reporter. Currently, she is a News Director at Slate, where she hosted season 7 of the podcast "Slow Burn."Matthews received her Bachelor's degree in Environmental Studies from Dartmouth College, where she worked at the college newspaper, and her Master's degree in Science, Health, and Environmental Reporting from New York University.

Joan E. Biren is a feminist photographer, and filmmaker.

Sheena Wagstaff leads the Museum's program and collection of modern and contemporary art, including painting, sculpture, architecture, design, decorative arts, and multi-disciplinary installations.

Ezra Dyer is an automotive journalist. Currently, he is a Senior Editor and columnist at Car and Driver Magazine.

Dana Covarrubias is a costume designer at HBO.

Dr. Carlos Hoyt is an author and speaker challenging the construct of race and showing how to escape the trap of the Racial Worldview.

Simon Doonan is the Creative Ambassador-at-Large of the New York City-based clothing store Barneys.

Producer Daniela Taplin Lundberg is the Founder of Stay Gold Features, an independent film finance and production company. Her recent producing creditsinclude Kasi Lemmons' Harriet, starring Cynthia Erivo in an Oscar-nominated role and Alma Har'el's Honey Boy which was nominated for four Indie SpiritAwards. She also produced Together Together starring Ed Helms and Patti Harrison, directed by Nikole Beckwith, which premiered at the 2021 SundanceFilm Festival in the Dramatic Competition section and was distributed by Bleecker Street; as well as Joe Bell, starring Mark Wahlberg and Connie Brittonand was distributed by Roadside and Vertical. Prior to launching Stay Gold, Lundberg was a co-founding partner of Red Crown Productions where sheproduced Cary Fukunaga's Beasts of No Nation and Michael Showalter's Hello, My Name is Doris. She was previously a partner at Plum Pictures where she produced over 20 films, including Golden Globe Best Picture winner The Kids Are Alright. She was named to Variety's 2020 Women's Impact Report and is therecipient of the 2020 Hollywood Critics Association Producer of the Decade award. Lundberg is a member of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts andSciences as well as of YPO (Young President's Organization). She is a graduate of Princeton University and lives in Connecticut with her husband and threechildren.

Thomas Mison is a film actor, television, voice artist, and writer.