Spoon AU is made up of members from around the world who have come together to share their common love for food at American University. Read on to learn more about who’s working behind the scenes, and if you feel inclined to join our enthusiastic and growing family, fill out our application.
Writers
Lila Seeley
Photo by Lara Chengappa
Lila is a junior in the School of Communication studying film and media with a minor in marketing. She is from Cazenovia, NY and her favorite food is cinnamon, if that counts, because it goes with anything and tastes delicious on just about everything. As a wanna-be food blogger for many years, she has found Spoon AU to be a fun avenue where she can explore her interest in nutrition and health with other like-minded students.
Hanna Lundgren
Photo by Steffanie Bosteels
Hanna is a freshman from Londonderry, NH studying communication. Since cooking and enjoying meals around the dinner table has been an important part of her family life, she loves how Spoon AU, and food in general, brings people together. One of her favorite food jokes that you can share at your next sit-down meal is “Why do watermelons have fancy weddings? … Because they cantaloupe.” You can check out her yummy creations on Instagram @SauceWithRoss.
Kathleen Lovito
Photo by Linda McGovern
Kathleen is a freshman from Chatham, NJ, double majoring in public communication and health promotion. Despite her clean eating habits and dairy intolerance, her all-time favorite food is ice cream. She says, “Ice cream is more than just a food, it’s a universally beloved experience that has a special way of bringing people together no matter the season or scenario. While mint chip is always my go-to, I’m basically cool with anything that’s not pistachio.” She also finds that there is no kitchen appliance superior to the microwave, and just imagining life without one causes her heart palpitations.
Eleanor Greene
Photo by Jeremy Davis
Eleanor majors in journalism and minors in creative writing. Her most used kitchen utensil is a sharp knife and a cutting board, but her all-time favorite is her grandmother’s 1972 KitchenAid standing mixer. She is from Grafton, MA, but you don’t have to go there to get a taste of her work. Check out her blog here.
Casey Brand
Photo by Dan Handy
Casey is from the Hostess City of the South, also known as Savannah, Georgia. She received a B.A. in print journalism when she graduated this past winter. One of her favorite food-related memories is making cookies with her mother every December. Since her family is both Jewish and Christian, they pack rugelach, gingerbread and everything in-between into tins painted with holly and snowmen. The cookies are a sweet reminder of Chrismakkuhs past. If reading her articles on Spoon isn’t enough, you can find more of her writing on her blog, Casey’s Kitchen.
Editors
Editor-in-Chief: AmiLin McClure
Photo by Lisa Azcona
AmiLin is a sophomore from Princeton, NJ. Whether encouraging people to go outside of their comfort zone to try foods like nattō, or getting people together to create something unique AKA bringing Spoon to AU, she is an instigator. She often gets made fun of by friends for her food preferences because she’s not a huge fan of sweets and she prefers to eat healthily. Yes, she’s that person who piles her plate with salad and steamed veggies, she’s the weirdo who’s part of a community garden at college, and she enjoys going to the farm to pick up her family’s weekly share.
Malissa Summer Abdulla
Photo by Mandi Mitchell
Malissa is a sophomore from Augusta, Georgia, double majoring in international studies and Arab world studies. Her most embarrassing moment with food was in 8th grade when she was at lunch with her friends, sipping on chocolate milk. Her crush was sitting next to her and a bitchy popular girl was across from her. When she went to take a drink, she totally missed her mouth and the chocolate milk ended up getting all over her face and down her shirt. Everyone saw, and needless to say, things never went any farther with her crush.
Sarah Wilson
Photo by Emily Wilson
Sarah is a freshman in the School of International Service. She is from Princeton, NJ, but this past summer she traveled to France and England with her family. While in Paris she tasted a slice of heaven at Café Varenne. She tried exquisite duck confit that melted in her mouth since it had been marinated and cooked for hours. It was served in a decadent sauce that she would’ve licked up if it weren’t for the side of potatoes and perfect Parisian baguette that soaked up every last drop.
Photographers
Photo Director: Steven Baboun
Photo by Arielle Accede
Steven is an 18-year-old sophomore studying film and media arts. He is from Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and his best memory with food was when his grandma used to make Nutella cookies. He’d help her make them all the time, but of course, his favorite part was licking the nutty chocolaty batter off the whisk. You can see his passionate love affair with photography here and on Instagram @stexxxven.
Olivia Henry-Jackson
Photo by Mahnoor Hussain
Olivia is from Baltimore, MD and is a sophomore studying art history with a minor in communication. She finds that choosing a favorite food is one of the hardest things to do, but if she had to choose just one, it would definitely be a chicken apple sausage and tortellini dish that her mom makes. Looking back on her childhood, she fondly remembers sitting at the breakfast room table with her grandfather nearly every Saturday. They would sit there cracking peanuts from the farmer’s market while chuckling over the comics section of the Baltimore Sun newspaper, simply enjoying each other’s company. You can find many of her homemade dishes at @livhenry95 on Instagram.
Ataya Reena Kanji
Photo by Jessica McQuarrie
Ataya is from Wellington, New Zealand and is a junior studying English literature and psychology. She has a strong aversion to olives because they have too strong a flavor, and she’s also not a fan of zucchini because on its own it has no flavor. However you can find some of her favorite foods, among many other things, on her photo blog. Fun fact from abroad; New Zealand’s claim to dessert fame is a dish called Pavlova, which is basically whipped egg whites, sugar and cream.
Marketers
Marketing Director: Mai Someya
Photo by Van Thahlei Dim
Mai is a sophomore studying business administration from the Golden State, more commonly known as California. She can’t stand turkey because one year at the LA fair, she got salmonella from eating a giant turkey leg. She also loves cute Tupperware because it makes packed lunches taste a million times better. Being a part of Spoon AU has been an amazing part of her college experience since she loves being surrounded by others who appreciate food as much as she does.
VP of Operations: Kelly Masotta
Photo by Stefany Gutu
Kelly is a sophomore in the School of Communication. She is studying public relations and strategic communication as well as creative writing. Besides being VP of Ops at Spoon AU, Kelly works at a fashion tech company based in NYC and India, and works as a brand ambassador for Jeni’s Ice Cream. With an interest in pop-culture, Kelly hopes to work as a PR executive in the fashion industry while munching on giant chocolate-covered Pocky sticks.
Charvi Radia
Photo by Prestige Portraits
Charvi is a freshman studying business administration with a concentration in international business and marketing. She is from South Brunswick, NJ and she loves the local artisan ice cream shop, The Bent Spoon, because they have unique flavors like basil, sweet corn and sour cream. One of her coolest food adventures she’s been on was going on a cupcake tour in NYC with one of her best friends, and she hopes to do the same in DC.
Arielle Weg
Photo by Nadine Weg
Arielle is a freshman from East Brunswick, NJ studying print journalism. The way to her heart is anything Italian. Pasta dishes are always the way to go, and she can’t pass up some good cheese and tomato sauce. Her favorite kitchen utensil by far is a melon-baller because they make any melon look ten times prettier. Aside from working on Spoon AU’s marketing team, you can find her writing at Her Campus: American and The Eagle.
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