Contributors

	Lauren Elyse Matison Co-Founder / Editor Born in Manhattan, Lauren grew up in Los Angeles, lived in Paris, Rome, and London, and is thrilled to be back in NYC, biking her vintage Schwinn Breeze and shopping for locally sourced food at the greenmarkets. She works with the Sierra Club promoting adventure and urban youth outings, and writes for the Huffington Post. She has also contributed to Los Angeles Magazine, Hearst, BizBash Media, Ideal Bite, PeterGreenberg.com, and NBC’s Today in NY show. She thanks you for traveling in the green lane.
	Vincent Crossley Co-Founder / Web Developer Vincent spends long hours developing this site, and hopes you enjoy his handiwork. In addition to web development, he enjoys photography and discovering new places to surf. Vince was born in Paris, lived in London, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Rhode Island, and now resides in the heart of Manhattan, taking every chance he gets to explore off the island. Vince graduated from Lehigh University with degrees in Design and Mechanical Engineering, and continued with a graduate degree at Carnegie Mellon University. Learn more about Vincent Crossley.
	Chérmelle D. Edwards Senior Writer Chérmelle was born in L.A. where she left her heart to pursue a life in New York. She graduated from UCLA with a degree in English and a concentration in Creative Writing. She’s traveled extensively throughout Europe and plans to explore the rest of the world one country at a time. She has written for BET, BusinessWeek, Calabar Magazine, Odyssey Couleur and the Park Slope Courier. Where there is culture, Chérmelle will have a journal and pen in hand to document the experience for a post near you.
	Caitlin O’Connell Editorial Intern Caitlin is a senior studying Journalism and Middle Eastern studies at New York University. She loves taking public transportation everywhere and above ground, subway stations make her inexplicably happy. Ultimately, Caitlin hopes to combine her passions for travel, writing, and Middle Eastern culture to work abroad as a foreign correspondent.
	Sarah Amandolare is from the Hudson Valley, where she learned to love train rides into Manhattan. Before moving to Brooklyn last year, she wrote for various publications in Oregon and Washington D.C., and taught English in Rome. She works as a writer and researcher for the travel section of findingDulcinea.com, and writes about sustainable travel for TravelMole.com. She loves Dingle, Ireland, and the Oregon Coast, and hopes to move back to Italy to eat, write, and imbibe somewhere near the Adriatic. In the meantime, she enjoys cheap Polish pastries and her backyard in Greenpoint.
	Chris Brunelle spends a large chunk of his life listening, playing, seeing, recording, reviewing, and buying music. Eating is a close second. He writes for Impose Magazine and Artsource-Newsletter.org. He spends his other work related time at a bar and freelancing in TV and video. He’s from Rhode Island. You can see him on the Rockefeller Center Ice Rink annually at the Tuba Christmas along with hundreds of other tuba players. He is a proud resident of Queens where he lives with his awesome girlfriend and semi-famous cat.
	Born on the shores of Rhode Island, Kari Molvar lived on the island of Manhattan for years before recently moving to Philadelphia. She’s been an editor at Allure and Self, and written for ELLE, Travel + Leisure, In Style, Forbes, and Style.com. Kari graduated from Brown University, where she studied art history and urban studies, and further cemented her love for the city of Providence. Her favorite form of transportation is her Nike running shoes, which have carried her over many miles near and far from home.
	Melanie Nayer is an award-winning editor and writer for various travel and online publications. She is a frequent guest on national radio shows and an expert in social media initiatives. Melanie’s goal is to bring readers the best inside information on travel, food, and culture from her experiences around the world.
	Michael C. Neal was raised in the great Midwest (Indiana), educated in the new South (Morehouse College), and was made aware of the cost of living in NYC. That last part began over seven years ago. Between then and now he usually works in Manhattan, previously as an editor at Penguin Group publishing then as a writer for Bravo Television, but he is always– always in Brooklyn. That’s because he lives in Brooklyn. Michael’s travels include, but are not limited to Barcelona, Dublin, Jamaica, London, Madrid, Montreal, Northern Italy, Puerto Rico, and Venice. He liked all those places just fine. He loves New York. And has he mentioned Woody Allen yet? He will. Visit his blog.
	Suzanne Russo is a California girl who always wanted to live in New York City. She grew up in San Francisco, studied English and History at U.C. Santa Barbara, and recently completed her MA in English at NYU. When the travel bug bites, Suzanne is known to do such crazy things as spend a month driving around the country in a Saturn named “The Squirrel” and make pilgrimages to famous festivals from Mardi Gras to Oktoberfest. She has traveled throughout Europe, Argentina, and Peru. Suzanne spends much of her time of late exploring the East Coast. She’s been working as a travel writer for the past two years and her writing has appeared in V!VA Travel Guides, EuroCheapo.com, Brides Magazine, and ClassicTravel.com.
	Caroline Seklir is a native New Yorker who remembers when the subway cost less than a dollar. She has lived in France, Ireland, Chile, and California, and recently returned to her roots as a Upper West Side resident. She is currently living in the old neighborhood, finishing her MFA in fiction and teaching University Writing at Columbia University. Every chance she gets you can find her in Montauk, living in the state park a la Swiss family Robinson and riding a longboard. She is currently at work on a novel, a collection of short stories, and a non-fiction guide to dating.
	Silvie Snow-Thomas is a semi-reformed Bostonian (but never a Yankee fan) who loves champagne, birthday cake, fútbol, traipsing through cherry blossoms, Christmas, and moonlighting as a writer. With the belief that travels with great friends are twice as nice, she’s realized that her upcoming adventures could take her around the world in 80 days, or up to Harlem on the subway to see the Little Red Lighthouse under the Great Gray Bridge. Silvie aspires to kiss the pitch at Old Trafford, practice yoga on a hillside in Risikesh, chill with Bill Bryson in Florence, and swim in the Wild Ocean off the coast of South Africa. When she’s not wandering somewhere, snapping photos and running from camera-shy hipsters in the outer boroughs and beyond, you’ll find Silvie on her way back to the places she loves most—Wellfleet, Cambridge, Santorini, and Manhattan.
	Ashwin Sodhi is a solar-powered Californian on sojourn, now making his home in the far reaches of Manhattan. He quit his job, sold his car, and left San Francisco, driven by something his dad would call ambition, and Kurt Vonnegut might call “bad chemicals.” As far as he’s concerned, they’re both talking about the same thing. In any event, he currently works as a freelance writer and new media evangelist, and his work has appeared in Flavorpill, Metro New York, and several prominent blogs and online magazines. He’s lived in Spain, trekked through India, and spelunked the underground currents of Mexico.
	Allison Tibaldi is a native New Yorker, who has lived in Rome, Tuscany, Melbourne, Toronto and Los Angeles. She frequently contributes travel pieces to Family Travel Forum, using her own children as guinea pigs as they travel the globe. She is fluent in Italian and Spanish and laughably adequate in French. Her background as an Early Childhood Educator gives her an added understanding of what it takes to travel with kids in tow. She firmly believes that the most important part of education takes place outside of the classroom, on the road, around the world. She never misses a chance to sample local delicacies, as her love for travel goes hand-in-hand with her love for food and wine.

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What is oM?

offManhattan is a travel guide for native New Yorkers and tourists alike, promoting a "greener" lifestyle. The editorial staff has mapped out and explored hot spots off the island - without a car. So embrace public transportation and welcome to oM.