Our Staff

Shelley Ambrose

Executive Director

Shelley has been a newspaper reporter, a radio producer, a television producer, a producer of events large and small, a committed volunteer, and a lover of books, magazines, conversation, and Canada. In 2006, she joined The Walrus. In her spare time, she clips newspapers and makes lists.

Jessica Johnson

Executive Editor and Creative Director

Jessica is an award-winning journalist who has worked with a range of North American publications, including the Globe and Mail, National Post, Saturday Night, Lucky, Elle, and The New Republic.
follow @ejessicajohnson on twitter

Carmine Starnino

Deputy Editor

Carmine was one of the founding editors of Maisonneuve magazine and a senior editor at Reader’s Digest Canada. He has published eight books, including This Way Out (2009), which was nominated for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Poetry, and two collections of literary essays. Leviathan (2016) is his most recent collection of poetry. He was a finalist for PWAC’s Editor of the Year in 2011.  
follow @cstarnino on twitter

Samia Madwar

Managing Editor

Samia previously worked at Up Here and Canadian Geographic magazines. In her spare time, she specializes in impromptu travel.

Lauren McKeon

Digital Editor

Lauren is an award-winning journalist. Her work has appeared in Toronto Life, TVO, Chatelaine, Hazlitt, and Best Canadian Essays 2017. Her first book, F-Bomb: Dispatches from the War on Feminism (2017), was shortlisted for the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize.

Hamutal Dotan

Senior Editor

Prior to joining The Walrus, Hamutal edited long-form features for the Globe and Mail, commented on politics for the CBC, and led an online magazine to become the first to win a National Magazine Award without ever having issued a print edition.

Viviane Fairbank

Editor

Viviane has written and fact-checked for Harper’s, NPR, TVO, Toronto Life, and Smithsonian, and she was nominated for best new writer at the 2017 National Magazine Awards. She also studies mathematics.

Harley Rustad (on leave)

Features Editor

Harley is the author of Big Lonely Doug: The Story of One of Canada’s Last Great Trees (2018). He has written for the Globe and Mail, Outside, the Guardian, and Geographical.

Daniel Viola

Features Editor

Previous to his work at The Walrus, Daniel was the editor-in-chief of Maisonneuve.

Erin Sylvester

Copy Editor

Erin’s work has been published in the Ryerson Review of Journalism, Torontoist, and the Calgary Herald.

Fellows

TD Chair on Disability and Inclusion: Sarah Trick

Sarah is the inaugural TD Chair on Disability and Inclusion. In this newly created position, thanks to generous funding from TD, Sarah is assisting The Walrus in exploring issues related to disability and inclusion across all platforms throughout 2019.

Facebook Fellow: Sarah Melton

Chawkers Fellow: Étienne Lajoie

JHR Indigenous Editorial Fellow: Oscar Baker III

Adventure Canada Fellow: Max Binks-Collier