Members

Mackenzie Lad is a photographer, writer, and journalism student at Concordia University in Montreal. Before that, she grew up in the peripheral of Toronto feeling like she was missing out on something. These days she is most often found behind a camera or with a notebook in hand, asking too many questions to quell her insatiable curiosity. Her interests include art and activism, gender and sexuality, media criticism, diaspora communities, and immigration.

She is the Editor of Photography at The Concordian. Her photography and writing has appeared in various publications online and in print.

Maha Tazi is a Ph.D. student in the Communication Studies Program at Concordia University. Her research interests focus on the recent developments of the feminist movement in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, where the rise of fourth wave feminism is concomitant with the Arab Spring and its aftermath. She is interested in exploring how feminist activists are fighting on several fronts in the MENA region today, incorporating aspects of conflict-resolution, good governance, human rights and social justice to women’s rights advocacy. Currently, Maha is also teaching (TA) a Media Criticism course at Concordia University.

Previously, Maha studied International and Middle Eastern Studies in Morocco, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, as well as Women’s Studies at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques (Sciences Po) Paris. She also worked and volunteered with several women’s NGOs in the Middle East and North Africa region, such as Association Solidarite Feminine in the city of Casablanca, where she helped single mothers learn a new profession and re-integrate into a society that once shattered them. She was also a volunteer writer with Ananke Mag, an online interactive platform based in Dubai and engaging women across the MENA (and beyond) on issues pertaining to women’s rights.  More recently, she held the position of Program Manager with Empowering Women in the Atlas, a social initiative which aims to engage rural women in economic growth and sustainable development in the Atlas Mountains in Morocco, prior to moving to Canada.

Montréal native, Shanice Bernicky is currently a Masters student in the Media Studies program at Concordia University. Coming from a background in Communication Studies with a focus on video production, she is currently pursuing a research-creation type thesis which explores the segregated hair salon industry in her hometown.

When she is not in the CJ building at Loyola Campus (which is rare), she works as a video editing assistant. One project through editing can become many, it is all about rearranging the scaffolding to access new levels of engagement. 

Aurelia is a Master in Media Studies student at Concordia University. She completed her Bachelor of Arts in French linguistics and minored in Cultural History at the University of Turku in Finland. Her research focuses on the representation of Arabs and Muslims in Western political discourse perpetrated through Islamophobia and Orientalism looking at rhetoric and policy, specifically.

Previously, she worked in a research group that produced a report called Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Press Coverage, which was presented at the EU as well as in events related to the ethics of journalism. Aurelia has a multi-cultural background having grown up, worked and studied in several countries.

Maya is an MA student in Media Studies at Concordia University. Her interests include feminist media studies, critical race theory, queer studies, affect theory, and art and design. Her current Masters’ project considers how intimacy and privacy are conceptualized through digital feminist critique, particularly by way of ephemeral, collective, and ambiguous practices and texts. She received her BA (Honours) in Communications from the University of Calgary.

In her spare time, Maya likes walking and listening to comedy podcasts, reading about fashion and design, and drinking coffee with her friends.

Nicole is pursing her Masters in Media Studies at Concordia University, exploring the relationship of cosplay (costume play) and black identity; more specifically, how the embodiment of various fictional characters can obstruct archetypal characterizations of black identity and offer a space to play with race and signification.

Nicole possess an insatiable hunger for literature, having a BA in English literature, and you can either find her with her nose in a book or drafting up a story. 

Katayoun is a Masters student from Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, Germany where she studies Linguistics. Her research interests include the Influences of race and gender within the context of advertisement through media and theories of communication.

Her current research is on visual media discourse analysis concerning race and representation in media advertisements. 

Maya Hey is a cross-disciplinary researcher, food-maker, and educator, combining her backgrounds in nutrition, gastronomy, and movement to investigate ways that engage the everyday eater. New to Montreal, Maya is a doctoral candidate in the Communications Department at Concordia University as a Faculty of Arts and Science Fellow and a Concordia University Public Scholar (2018-2019). Her current research investigates the relationship between humans and microbes by way of fermented foods, using feminist theories and discourses of contamination to better understand discriminating tastes and practices.

She is co-founder of Food, Feminism, and Fermentation, author of the experimental cookbook EAT M.E., and researcher at the Milieux Institute for Arts, Culture, and Technology. Prior, she has conducted various research projects related to food: on a post-Fukushima food system, on Japanese ferments with the Nordic Food Lab, and on the antioxidant scavenging power of polyphenols in grapefruits at the University of Notre Dame. She completed her master’s degree in Food Culture and Communications at the University of Gastronomic Sciences and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in dietetics and biochemistry.

Bipasha is a native Montrealer who’s currently a Master’s student in Media Studies. Her research explores extremism and masculinity within the context of Canadian statehood.

Some of her passions involve discussion and awareness of a melange of subjects including politics, literature, food, health and psychology! En plus, elle parle quatre langues.