Dr.Tyler Mills is the author of the memoir The Bomb Cloud (Unbound Edition Press 2024), which received a Literature Grant from the Café Royal Foundation NYC. Her poetry guidebook, Poetry Studio: Prompts for Poets, a pedagogical book for new and experienced poets, appeared in June 2024 from the University of Akron Press. A poet and essayist, Tyler’s work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Guardian, The New Republic, the Kenyon Review, The Believer, and Poetry, Lit Hub, River Teeth, The Rumpus, and more. She is the author of the poetry books City Scattered (2022), Hawk Parable (2019), Tongue Lyre (2013), and co-author with Kendra DeColo of Low Budget Movie (2021). She has a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois-Chicago, teaches for Sarah Lawrence College’s Writing Institute, and lives in New York City.

Dr. Vik Shirley is a poet, writer, editor and educator based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Her publications include Some Deer, (Broken Sleep, 2024), Corpses (Sublunary Editions, 2020), Disrupted Blue and Other Poems on Polaroid (Hesterglock, 2021) and Strangers Wave (zimZalla, 2023). In the UK, Vik’s work has appeared in such places as Poetry London, PN Review, The Rialto, Magma; in the US: Gone Lawn, Rejection Letters, The Indianapolis Review and Tiny Molecules. Vik co-edits Surreal-Absurd for Mercurius and Firmament online for Sublunary Editions. She is a Poetry School Tutor and has a PhD in ‘Dark Humour and the Surreal in Poetry’ from the University of Birmingham. Vik also founded Disrupted Blue Indie Press Publicity and works with small presses all over the world. In May 2025, Vik’s third photo poetry collection Persona Digitalia was selected for the inaugural P5—PhotoWorks series.

Jennifer Nulsen is best known for her work as a Grammy nominated audio engineer, having worked across North America as either recording engineer, editing engineer, mastering engineer, or assistant engineer, with such artists as the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops Orchestra, Renee Fleming, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, SO Percussion, Yo-Yo Ma, Cleveland Orchestra, Hilary Hahn, Conspirare, Bela Fleck, Virginia Symphony Orchestra, and Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, among others. She has produced concert recordings for the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, McGill Symphony Orchestra, and the Yale School of Music (producing several live multi-camera orchestra web streams). She also produced studio recordings for theatrical chamber orchestras at the Hartt School in West Hartford, CT, for nationally recognized theatre productions. An active freelance engineer, Jennifer has worked as a recording and editing engineer on many album releases, as well as editing and mixing engineer on national television broadcasts, and regularly records and mixes classical, rock, jazz, and pop artists for single and EP releases. Jennifer is a three-time Grammy nominee and a three-time finalist in the international Audio Engineering Society Student Recording Competition, having received the Traditional Acoustic Gold Award in Los Angeles in 2016. She was also the winner of the 2018 Eleanor Stubley Sound Recording competition, and a recipient of the 2016-2017 John R.E. Bradley Award for Excellence in Sound Recording. She received two Bachelor of Music degrees in music production and technology and piano performance from the Hartt School at the University of Hartford in 2016. She has also completed a master's degree at McGill University in the Sound Recording program, for which she received several fellowships, including the Audio Engineering Society Educational Foundation grant and the Bruce Swedien honorarium. She completed one season at the Banff Centre in Banff, AB, four seasons at the Tanglewood Music Center (two of these as Ozawa Hall Senior Engineer), and one season at the Aspen Music Festival and School as the Head Media Engineer, mastering and distributing concert broadcasts to American Public Media, the European Broadcasting Union, and local media outlets.

During the year, Jennifer is the recording engineer for the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, an editing engineer for the San Diego Symphony, a mix and editing engineer for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and a guest recording engineer and stereo mastering engineer for the Cleveland Orchestra. She was a podcasting engineer for Condé Nast Entertainment, where she mixed programs for The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Conde Nast Traveler, and Bon Appetit, and is currently a mix engineer for Symphony Space's long-running program, Selected Shorts, and a broadcast engineer for the Metropolitan Opera's Sirius XM and Live

in HD broadcasts. She recently received her first three Telly Awards for work with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra as mix engineer, and three Mid-Atlantic Emmys for television programs she recorded with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. Jennifer is also part time faculty at the New School's College of Performing Arts in 2024.

Composer, trumpeter, santur player, vocalist, and bandleader Amir ElSaffar has been described in the New York Times as “the celebrated trumpeter and composer who explores vital connections between jazz and Arabic music.” A recipient of the Doris Duke Performing Artist Award and US Artist Fellowship, and Hodder Fellowship at Princeton University, ElSaffar has earned an international reputation for his work combining jazz and western classical music with the microtonal Maqam music of Iraq and the Middle East.

Photo by Maria Baranova

Jessica has been working as a film and television editor for over a decade, on projects ranging from documentary to narrative to experimental.

Jessica recently edited the feature documentary In The Room, directed by Brishkay Ahmed, produced by the National Film Board (NFB), which had its world premiere at the Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) 2025, and won the VIFF audience award in the Showcase category. Prior to that, Jessica edited the feature documentary WaaPaKe, directed by Dr. Jules Arita Koostachin (produced by the NFB), and received a Leo nomination in the “Best Picture Editing - Feature Length Documentary” category; WaaPaKe also won the award for Best BC Film at VIFF in 2023, where it premiered.

Other recent editing work includes the documentary, The Salmon's Call, directed by Joy Haskell and the narrative short The Scribe of Samhain directed by Angie Nolan. Jessica also edited Ahnahktsipiitaa (Colin Van Loon)'s cinematic VR piece, This Is Not A Ceremony, (produced by the NFB) which premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival; Jessica was also one of the editors for Baljit Sangra's feature documentary Because We Are Girls, (produced by the NFB) which premiered at Hot Docs in 2019 and was selected as the opening film for the 2019 DOXA film festival.

Jessica holds a Master of Fine Arts in Documentary Media from Toronto Metropolitan University's School of Image Arts, as well as a Graduate Diploma in Communications from Concordia University, and a Bachelor of Arts from McGill University. After graduate school, she completed a video editing practicum at The Banff Centre.

Photo credit: Jesse Winter Heading

Since late 2017, Herrod has been touring with Pink Martini across the US, Canada, Mexico, South Korea, and Europe. Outside of performing arts centers and jazz clubs, Herrod is regularly featured with major orchestras across the US, and has shared the stage with artists such as Lalah Hathaway, Brian Blade, Vince Mendoza, Renee Fleming, and many more. 

With “a voice like a beacon of hope” (Seattle Times), vocalist Jimmie Herrod brings singular power and expressivity to his globe-trotting career as a singer, songwriter, and entertainer on stage and screen. Herrod first came to worldwide prominence as a finalist on the NBC nationally broadcast television show, “America’s Got Talent,” earning the rare “Golden Buzzer” recognition from actress Sofia Vargara and returning the following year on the AGT All-Stars series.

Image credit: Jimmie Herrod, photo by Paisley Lee.

Edna Vazquez is a fearless singer, songwriter, composer, and guitarist whose powerful voice and musical talent transcend the boundaries of language to engage and uplift her audience. She is a creative musical artist with a vocal range that allows her to paint seamlessly with her original material, an intersection of Mexican Tradicional, rock, pop and other genres. Edna’s passion for music and performance grew from her bicultural roots and, with songs deeply rooted in universal human emotion, she has travelled far and wide spreading her message of light, love and cultural healing. 

Vazquez has grown as a musical artist and collaborator over the last years, touring all over the world since 2017 with the acclaimed “little orchestra” Pink Martini, while still performing as a solo artist as well. In the past, she led her own band projects, the Edna Vazquez Quartet, the rock band No Passengers, and the latest, the Edna Vazquez Band. Vazquez also participated in the Latin Grammys with the all-female mariachi fusion band from New York City, Latin Grammy 2017 winners, Flor de Toloache, and accompanying Natalia Lafourcade that night. 

In 2022, as a soloist, Vazquez participated in two great events, one in Canto en Resistencia (Power to the People!) with the LA Philharmonic, with Davendra Banhart, Ile, Silvana Estrada, Rodrigo Amarante, Jorge Glem, and conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. She also appeared at The Hollywood Bowl with the acclaimed pianist Lang Lang and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, performing DESTINO (1946), a film collaboration between Salvador Dalí and Walt Disney. 

With Pink Martini, Edna Vazquez has performed with major Symphonies and in legendary concert venues all over the world, including London’s Royal Albert Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, Red Rocks, the Montreal Jazz Festival, and many more. 

In 2017, Vazquez released an EP album with Pink Martini entitled “Besame Mucho” and featuring her original single “Sola Soy.” And in the Summer of 2025, Edna Vazquez released her new album “Te Esperaba,” a collection of mostly original compositions based in traditional Northern Mexican styles like Banda and Norteño, and also in traditional Mariachi. Edna is proud to continue to venture into these traditionally male-dominated genres with her powerful interpretive voice.

One of the most recognized and trusted voices in the United States, Ari Shapiro has spent a decade as host of NPR’s flagship evening news program, All Things Considered, and the podcast Consider This. He has reported from above the Arctic Circle and aboard Air Force One. He has been a question on Jeopardy and an answer in the New York Times crossword puzzle. Among his many journalism accolades, he has won three national Edward R. Murrow Awards, the American Bar Association’s Silver Gavel Award, and was named Journalist of the Year by NLGJA, the association of LGBTQ+ journalists. His debut memoir, The Best Strangers in the World: Stories From a Life Spent Listening, was an instant New York Times bestseller. He also hosts the reality competition show,The Mole, on Netflix. His 12-part course for Wondrium, “The Power of Storytelling,” received a Gold Telly Award. As a performer, he has been a frequent guest singer with Pink Martini since making his debut at the Hollywood Bowl in 2009. He has performed with the band in some of the world’s most storied venues and recorded songs in a variety of languages. He also tours the country with the actor Alan Cumming in their two-man show, Och and Oy: A Considered Cabaret, as well as with his own original solo show, Thank You For Listening: An Evening of Songs and Stories. Ari was born in Fargo, North Dakota and grew up in Portland, Oregon. He lives in Washington, DC, with his husband and two dogs.

Image credit: Ari Shapiro, photo by Emil Cohen.

Raised on a plant nursery in rural Indiana, Pink Martini bandleader Thomas M. Lauderdale began piano lessons at age six with Patricia Garrison. When his family moved to Portland in 1982, he began studying with Sylvia Killman, who served as his coach and mentor until her passing in 2023. Thomas has appeared as a soloist with numerous orchestras and ensembles, including the Oregon Symphony, the Seattle Symphony, Portland Youth Philharmonic, Chamber Music Northwest and several collaborations with Oregon Ballet Theatre. In 2008, he played Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F with the Oregon Symphony under the direction of Christoph Campestrini.

Active in Oregon politics since he was a student at U.S. Grant High School (where he was student body president), Thomas served under Portland Mayor Bud Clark and Oregon Governor Neil Goldschmidt. In 1991, he worked under Portland City Commissioner Gretchen Kafoury on the drafting and passage of the city’s civil rights ordinance. He graduated with honours from Harvard with a degree in History and Literature in 1992. He spent most of his collegiate years, however, in cocktail dresses, taking on the role of “cruise director” … throwing waltzes with live orchestras and ice sculptures, disco masquerades with gigantic pineapples on wheels, midnight swimming parties, and operating a Tuesday night coffeehouse called Café Mardi.

 Instead of running for political office, Lauderdale founded Pink Martini in 1994 to play political fundraisers for progressive causes such as civil rights, the environment, affordable housing, and public broadcasting. In addition to marking three decades as bandleader of Pink Martini, Lauderdale has also completed three long-awaited collaborations with longtime friends in the last decade. In 2018, he completed Love for Sale, an album of jazz standards with singer/civil rights leader Kathleen Saadat, that began as a gift to a few friends and ended up being a Billboard Jazz charts-ranking album the month it was released. In 2019, Thomas Lauderdale and members of Pink Martini collaborated with the international singing sensation Meow Meow on Hotel Amour. Spring of 2023 saw the release of Thomas Lauderdale Meets the Pilgrim's, his collaboration with Portland’s own surf-rock indie icons, Satan’s Pilgrims, that was three decades in the making. Currently, he is collaborating with the iconic Iranian singer Googoosh on a forthcoming album, and working on new tracks with Pink Martini. 

On top of being a bandleader and pianist for Pink Martini, Lauderdale currently serves on the boards of the Oregon Symphony, Pioneer Courthouse Square, and the Confluence Project with Maya Lin. He lives in Portland with his partner Hunter Noack.

Image Credit: Thomas Lauderdale, photo by Alexia Arrizabalaga.