Our Team
Cate Clother, Founder &
Editor in Chief
Cate Clother is an artist and educator living in the mountains of far northern California (unceded land of the Winnemum Wintu and Okwanuchu) with her husband and three children. She received her Bachelor's in Fine Art from Westmont College and her Master's in Sustainability Education from Portland State University. Cate founded Cordella Press in 2014 in honor of her grandmother.
Jordan Souza, Prose Editor
Jordan Souza is a writer, editor, and educator living in Portland, Oregon. She co-founded Lilun Magazine and is currently at work on a novel about a woman turning toward and away from home. Words, nature, and her two wild daughters are her constant source of inspiration.
ZenChristian Davis, Poetry Editor
ZenChristian Davis is a fiction writer turned poet, new author, teaching artist, youth slam coach, and overall a storyteller residing in Tampa, FL. She received a BA in creative writing and psychology from the University of South Florida and went on to compete in regional and national slam team competitions as well as becoming the Workshop Director for Heard Em Say Youth Arts Collective. Her works have appeared in USF Thread and IO Literary Journal and more can be found at zenchristianmott.com. In 2018, she self-published her first poetry book, The Burned House Resurrects.
Molly Kugel, Ecology Editor
Molly Kugel is the author of The Forest of the Suburbs (Five Oaks, 2015), gheasaibh (dancing girl press, 2021) and Herbereavarium (Tolsun, 2022). Her poems have appeared most recently in The Bennington Review, CALYX, the Mid-American Review, Cider Press Review, and Subtropics. She earned a PhD in English and Literary Arts from the University of Denver.
Karuna Kasturi, Food Editor
It’s hard to make changes. Yet the very recognition of needing change is already a monumental and courageous leap forward in creating the deep rumblings of transformation. Karuna’s work is to intently examine and interpret those deep rumblings and through it, build bridges, empower community, and compassionately guide society forward. She is led by her interests in food, culture, philosophy, trauma and resilience, photojournalism, and solo traveling as ways to advance her education and understand humanity’s suffering and meet its needs. In addition to her work at Cordella Press, Karuna is also Membership and Marketing Manager at San Diego Food System Alliance and serves on the International Mental Health Association Board of Directors. She is passionate about trying as many pastries as humanly possible, from every country around the world, while talking about writing a sitcom one day.
Erica Faison, Slow Fashion Editor
Erica Faison began altering thrifted clothes and making simple pieces for herself at age twelve after her mother taught her to use a sewing machine. She later studied fashion marketing and graphic design, finishing her degree in graphic design feeling that she already possessed the skill and vision to make and sell fashion. Erica creates jewelry and accessories from natural fibers, and up-cycled, handmade, screen printed, and hand painted clothing, sold in local shops, Philadelphia’s Punk Rock Flea Market, and Philly Folk Festival’s juried shows. Her creations and tastes are generally defined by sustainability, recycling or natural materials, problem-solving, and comfort infused with an urban-hippie-EDM-witch vibe. She enjoys making and altering pieces for herself and her two daughters and calls Pottstown, Pennsylvania home.
Laura Creamer, Beauty Editor
Laura Creamer is a mother, a caregiver, and a death doula living in Portland, Oregon. She loves makeup, nail polish, and meditative beauty routines. She was born into a family of artists, studied psychology in college, and is endlessly curious. Laura is interested in continuing to cultivate a healthy relationship to her personal aesthetic choices and helping others to do the same. She hopes her contributions to Cordella will be a platform for discussion on inclusive beauty standards, care for the self, and healthy individuality.
Reyzl Grace, Copy Editor
Reyzl Grace is a transfeminine Ashkenazi librarian and writer originally from Cascadia but currently diasporized in the Midwest. She holds master's degrees in both library science and religious studies and has done editorial and design work—both paid and volunteer—for the Association of Jewish Libraries, the American Theological Library Association, and the Feminism & Religion blog, in addition to literary journals like the Alaska Quarterly Review, P. Q. Leer, and Subliminal Interiors. Creatively, she works in both English and Yiddish (and occasionally other languages) and is both personally and professionally engaged with issues of linguistic equity and cultural rights, with a special focus on how libraries can best support minoritized language communities. This work frequently intersects LGBTQIA+ rights and heritage and queer theory as well, and one of her many faults is not knowing when to stop talking about Eve Sedgwick and 'reparative reading' at parties. More of her work can be found at reyzlgrace.com or by following her on Twitter @reyzlgrace.
Madeleine Barnes, Editor at Large
Madeleine Barnes is a writer, visual artist, Mellon Foundation Humanities Public Fellow, and English PhD student at The Graduate Center, CUNY. She co-curates the Lunar Walk Poetry Series, and teaches at Brooklyn College. Her debut full-length poetry collection, You Do Not Have To Be Good, was selected as a winner of Trio House Press’ open reading period and was recently published in 2020. She is the author of three chapbooks: Women’s Work from Tolsun Books, Light Experiments from Porkbelly Press, and The Mark My Body Draws in Light from Finishing Line Press. A Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania native, Madeleine currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
Samantha Fioriglio, Illustrator
After graduating from Temple University with a degree in Journalism, Samantha Fioriglio spent five years as an editor and designer for Digital First Media and as administrative assistant at Community Arts Phoenixville. She works as a freelance artist specializing in portraiture. A selection of her artwork can be found at artbyafan.com.
Chris Clother, Illustrator
Chris Clother is an artist and illustrator originally from Portland, Oregon, who works primarily with pen and pencil. He received his Bachelor’s in Fine Art from Portland State University in 2006, and his Master’s in Interdisciplinary Arts from Sierra Nevada College in 2019. He is an art professor at College of the Siskiyous in Weed, California and an art teacher for local elementary and high schools. Chris has been illustrating for Cordella since its founding in 2014. He lives with his wife and three children in Dunsmuir, California. See more of his work at chrisclother.com.