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Meet The Goodybloggers

November 9, 2009 at 8:33 pm , by

You’ve probably gotten to know us through our posts—but in case you need a cheat sheet, here’s your GoodyBlog who’s who:

If asked what single object she couldn’t live without on a deserted island, lifestyle director Amanda Kingloff would say her cordless glue gun…without hesitation. Life at work for Amanda is all about glitter, pom-poms, and re-purposing paper plates and toilet roll tubes. And come to think of it, life at home is much the same. Joys of her job include (but are not limited to): finding googly eyes in desk drawers, re-learning the marvel of making paper snowflakes, and taking the subway home with the natural sparkle of glitter on her face.
By day, assistant health and nutrition editor Amy Gorin scopes out the latest kids’ health news. By night, she takes classes toward becoming a Registered Dietitian. She’s a Florida native who loves snow—and also enjoys Scrabble, decorating her apartment, taking pictures, and attempting to cook without recipes. If you catch her daydreaming, she’s probably thinking about where her next travel adventure will take her.
Chandra Turner is the Executive Editor of Parents and the mom of Madelyn, 4, and Grant, 2. She’s always taking what she learns at work and trying it out at home, like new behavior strategies on Grant (can’t keep him out of that fridge!) and enforcing a no-whining policy for Madelyn. She’s also obsessed with any new products that could potentially make her life as a mom easier and is eager to give anything a try. Because being a working mom with a busy job she can use all the help she can get!
Assistant editor Cheryl Lock has lived in Germany, Virginia, Florida, New York, and spaces in between, discovering that babies are relatively the same wherever you go. She does not have any kids yet, but considers her rabbit and cat to be just as much fun to watch. In fifteen years time Cheryl will be: living in some far-flung country OR owner of an exotic pet store, making enough money to finally live on her own in Manhattan, and still considering taking three years off to volunteer.
Senior editor David Sparrow began his career as a sportswriter. Then he became a father, and kids—happily—became the center of his universe. Now his athletic focus is coaching his 11-year-old son, Matthew, in baseball and (still) beating him in tennis. His 6-year-old daughter, Isabella, loves princesses and just joined a swim team. David welcomes story ideas related to fatherhood, money, and education, including any thoughts on skills our kids will need (and may not be getting from school) in the future.
Diane Debrovner the mom of 6-year-old Jane and 17-year-old Abby, is learning every day how much toddlers and teens have in common. Her husband, Daniel, who was a serious blog reader before she even knew what a blog was, frequently passes along cool ideas to post. Diane is always looking for brilliant products to make busy life easier and more fun, as well as fast dinner recipes that everyone in the family agrees are delicious. She’s the deputy editor and has been at Parents for 15 years.
You know food is your life when your proudest moment to date comes from successfully planning a dinner party for a vegan, a vegetarian, and several carnivores without submitting to making 3 completely separate meals. For food editor Erica Policow, feeding her family and friends mouth-watering food (despite their dietary restrictions) is what keeps her up for the challenge of finding recipes even the pickiest of kids will want to eat. She also can’t wait for her new niece to start eating solids so she can spoil her with yummy treats.
Senior editor Jane Nussbaum is fascinated with figuring out what makes people tick (no big surprise—she comes from a long line of psychologists). She loves hanging out with her baby cousins (okay, they’re now 9, 13 and 16), any project involving a hammer or a Dremel, scouring flea-markets—and occasionally other people’s, um, trash—for cool vintage furniture, eating BBQ, and listening to NPR while attempting to cook.
Jessie Assimon is Parents.com’s assistant editor. She is obsessed with many things, including Twitter, and she should be—Jessie is @parentsmagazine’s resident tweeter. Jessie’s other obsessions: Syracuse University’s men’s basketball team (her alma mater!), celebrity gossip, The Office, and London (where she studied abroad). Although Jessie doesn’t have any kids she’s convinced that once they come along, she’ll either know everything about parenting, or rely heavily on Parents.com’s Q&A tool.
John J. O’Sullivan is the staff computer nerd at Parents (our digital art production manager). When not rocking out in the Adobe Creative Suite, he is either commuting or cooking. He is fascinated by kitchen gadgets and technology, Internet mêmes, shiny things, foodie fodder, and anything that is awesome. He’s married to his best friend and is the father of two cats. His favorite colour is PMS 1837 and his favorite emotion is bemusement.
Senior editor Judy Goldberg lives in a group house in Park Slope, Brooklyn with 14-year-old Julius and 9-year-old Oliver (both devastatingly brilliant, sweet, and awesome), one seriously hot husband Matt, Molly the dog, and two cats (Turbo and Gamma). For a long time she tried to be “cool” and “hip” but recently discovered her inner geek and now revels in it on a daily basis. Rarely seen without her laptop—affectionately known as “lappie” around the house—she loves to blog, read blogs, and play Scrabble and Scatagories competitively against her kids. When not doing all of the above she’s loving on people who do ingenious things out of stuff like Legos and baked goods.
Health editor Kara Corridan is lucky enough to have a heads’ up on breaking medical news and direct access to the country’s top pediatric experts. She tries to apply as much of what she learns to raising her daughters, 5-year-old Julia and 2-year-old Lila. She’s grateful that she can change almost any unwanted behavior from Julia by trotting out “A doctor at work told me we have to do it this way.” For now, anyway.
Editorial assistant Karen Snyder Duke lives in a 1-bedroom apartment with her husband, Nathan, and tabby cat, Madison, both of whom often act like small children. So while this aunt of three has no kids of her own, she’s always on the lookout for mommy basics—things to help organize the clutter, entertain the captives and generally make life easier. In her spare time, she can usually be found reading magazines, perusing home stores and design sites, or obsessively watching football and basketball.
Katie Thomas, Babies Editor for Parents.com, looks forward to bringing you the latest and greatest news, info, products and tips when it comes to the sweet little ones in your lives. Originally from New England, Katie’s an avid Red Sox fan and Cape Cod-loving gal with a penchant for country music and a good margarita. She lives in downtown NYC with her cute husband, Steve and sassy English bulldog, Violet.
As the magazine’s news editor, fan-girl Kourtney Eidam employs her once-useless knowledge of TV, movies, and all things Internet-related to write about entertainment and edit our blog. She has six nieces and nephews, and three of them are old enough to have Facebook pages (but sadly, only two will “friend” her).
Michael Kress, the executive editor of Parents.com, is thrilled to work at a place where he can write about the witty and wise things his kid says and call it work. More importantly, his 4-year-old, Adira, loves this job because of the occasional free samples daddy brings home for her. When not tending to ye olde website, Michael enjoys cooking (and eating), following the never-dull (and never good) New York Mets, and, despite being the web guy, reading actual newspapers and magazines.
Paula Kashtan, Parents.com’s pregnancy editor, has never been pregnant. However! She knows so much about the topic and enjoys talking about it enough that mealtimes with friends can sometimes get awkward and uncomfortable. (Fact: Most people are not interested in epidurals and episiotomies while they eat.) When she’s not talking about maternity, she’s likely watching the Boston Celtics (particularly Kevin Garnett), shopping for more dresses or enjoying the squash soup that her roommates lovingly prepare for her. (Every kitchen needs a taster.)
Associate editor Rachel Morris’ desk is usually strewn with kids’ fashion samples, and she brings her favorite finds to GoodyBlog so that your kids can be as stylish as their mama. A few of her favorite things are: her running shoes, Halloween costumes, road trips, the summer and the number 3. She also makes a mean mac-n-cheese.
Ruth Hannon, assistant to the editor-in-chief, enjoys blogging about beauty booty and anything her nephew, Patrick, would love! Random fact that’s very exciting for his aunt and assorted fan club members: Patrick was the adorable pumpkin on the Parents October 2006 cover!
Ordinary Muggle and Toddler Editor Sherry Huang is a super big kid at heart. She confesses to owning a Gryffindor scarf, humming High School Musical songs, pondering Team Edward vs. Team Jacob, watching Disney Channel shows, and constantly adding to her children’s picture book collection. She loves blogging about anything related to Harry Potter and children’s books and polling parents for their thoughts.
As a self-proclaimed green guru, associate lifestyle editor Taryn Mohrman has great affection for all things eco-friendly yet practical. In addition to scouting out fun new eco finds, she covers the market for home decor, gadgets and gizmos, and anything problem-solving. Taryn loves the color yellow, beautiful throw pillows, power tools, homemade vanilla cupcakes, and sharing her great product finds!
When Parents and American Baby staffers are having a hair or nail emergency, they turn to Tracy Perez, beauty director for both magazines. A self-proclaimed beauty junkie, she has trouble finding room in her tiny studio apartment for her impressive collections of lip gloss, shampoo, and face cream. In her spare time, she enjoys watching funny movies, doing yoga, and being an honorary aunt to her best friend’s daughter, Maggie.
As the Parents.com intern, Urja Dave spends much of her time picking up everyone’s slack…err helping everyone out! She believes Parents has prepared her for all things pregnancy, birth and beyond. On the weekends, she’s busy exploring the city and frequenting flea markets. Her favorite is Green Flea Market (the selection of vintage jewelry is phenomenal). She also likes to spend her Saturdays hitting up Bergdorf’s to try on a coveted pair of Christian Louboutins (she may or may not have a savings fund just for them).

More than you ever wanted to know about all of us, wasn’t it? Now join our GoodyBlog Facebook group and tell us about yourself!