Criminal Class Press Staff

kevin picWayne White: Editor in Chief/CEO

a.k.a. Kevin Whiteley earned his MFA at California College of the Arts and his BA at Columbia College Chicago. His writing has been featured in Reservoir.com, New Expressions, and has ghost written for photographer/model/vocalist Sarah Vanderhaar. Currently, he is in the process of publishing his first novel: Chi-Town, My Town . As a loyal member of C.M.S., he is bringing Brew and Honour magazine under the wing of Criminal Class Press.

rick picRicardo Cozzolino: Art Director

Ricky Cozzolino spent most of his life in the Chicagoland area. He grew up skateboarding and going to punk and hardcore shows. Ricky has been creating from his warped and humorous imagination since before he could write his own name. He graduated from Columbia College Chicago with BA focusing on computer graphics. By trade Ricky is a video editor and has been working as such starting in high school through today. He has edited everthing from skate and music videos to documentaries and court settlement videos. Ricky is 31 years old, lives in Denver and will some day take his skateboard, a backpack and will travel the world on someone else's dime.

jay picJohnnie Walker: Poetry Editor

Johnnie Walker is a poet, a photographer, an educator, and a drifter. He has earned degrees from Columbia College Chicago (MFA Poetry '05), Museum School of Fine Arts, Boston (Post-Bac '03), and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (BFA '98). He is the author of several chapbooks of poetry. His work, aside from Criminal Class Review, has appeared in the California College of the Art’s Eleven-Eleven literary journal. He is currently finishing a 15 year photographic documentary project chronicling his travels throughout the United States. He currently lives and works on the in his hometown, Saint Louis, MO.

ru picRu Gutierrez: Web/Production Manager

Ru Gutierrez was born. He is a product of the Chicago Oi and Hardcore scene circa "in da' day". He holds a degree in Arts and Humanities and is currently studying Broadcast Media and Art History at San Francisco State University. His varied vocations include graphic design, music/entertainment, fine arts, fashion, and crime. He also enjoys fitness, art, creative technologies, collaborative creativity, and altruistic activities.

Victoria Cameron: Consultant

Hailing from Northern Vermont, Victoria Cameron relocated to Chicago where she received her Bachelor’s Degree in Fashion Design from the Academy of Design. Upon completion, she joined the staff at Blackbook Magazine as a Fashion Assistant in NYC. With a career in Fashion PR, she now freelances for various stylists. She has traveled and worked on editorial shoots for V Magazine, Details, Maxim, Blackbook, Dazed, Vman, and Noise. She has also assisted on ad campaigns for Judith Leiber and A-Link jewelry. Victoria currently resides on the Upper West Side in Manhattan

Patrick Connolly: Sales/Assistant Editor

Patrick Connolly began writing at the age of seventeen. A fascination in screenwriting led to an attempted prequel to Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction. At age twenty he attended his first writing seminar with screenwriting guru Robert McKee. He attended Emerson College and graduated in 2007 with a bachelor’s degree in Media Arts – film, working on various scripts and completing four short films. George Orwell’s Animal Farm became the catalyst in a pursuit of fiction writing after his graduation. He is currently living between Boston and San Francisco and working on his first novel.

William J. Hillman: Staff Writer

William is founder and Host of The Windy City Story Slam. The windy City Story Slam has performed Nationally and Internationally as well as received International acclaim from the press.He was co-Director of Fusion Project, an international art promotion company working in Chicago and Mexico City from 2005-2007 and was named #42 on New City’s Lit Top 50, 2009. William J Excerpts from Hillmann's novel in progress have appeared at FoggedClarity and in the Cubbie Blues Anthology as well as broadcast on Resonance FM in London, he was also chosen and honored by Irvine Welsh to read from the novel along side Stephanie Keunert at the Metro's Read Against the Recession. His poetry has appeared in Make Magazine. Two of his plays were selected to be staged as part of Columbia College’s Story Week. Hillman is excited to be on the Staff at Criminal Class Press even though he’s left his criminal days behind him, hopefully anyways.Hillman is currently a MFA candidate at Columbia College in Chicago.

Marla Seidell: PR Manager

Marla Seidell is one of the few things in this country that was not made in China, but in Marco Island, FL where her parents took a sex-crazed vacation in the '70s. She studied history in college, hustling her way into a Fulbright to Amsterdam earning a Master's degree in European Studies. A freelance journalist, Marla schleps on a million "L" rides to review restaurants and art shows in the name of contributing to a dying industry. Shortly after publishing a story in issue #3, she now cracks the hype whip on the C.C.P. staff ultimately lending her chutzpah and media savvy to a "gritty yet classy” bunch of hooligans and outlaws. She never lets us rest but we’re grateful to have her on board.

Greg Cozzolino: Numbers Guy

While Greg earned his stripes in the big city, it was too crazy for his complex brain to endure so he escaped the madness and now resides in the suburbs of Chicagoland. He earned a BA in Mechanical Engineering from the Milwaukee School of Engineering.  Currently, Greg owns an empty three-bedroom home but schemes in the basement. Influenced musically by Ricky Fine Lines who showed our man "the ropes". Greg played drums back in the day but became a soccer hooligan in college. When not juggling numbers, he’s a "Professional" dodge ball player with too many amateur accolades to count.

Nicolette Kittinger: Copy Editor

Nicolette is a writer, editor, and Chicagoan. And, depending on who you ask, probably a few other things. The title "Assistant" is a popular one; she's assistant editor of Avery: An Anthology of New Fiction and assistant producer of Windy City Story Slam. After completing her BFA in 2009, Nicolette entered the Creative Writing MFA program at Columbia College Chicago. Her work has recently appeared at Fiction Circus and Annalemma, and can be found elsewhere.

 


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