Masthead

Meet the Toyon Staff!
VOLUME 72
Spring 2025

Jamilla Hashem

Special Guest Editor

Abdulaziz Akila

Special Guest Editor

Soph Robson

Managing Editor
Graduate Publishing Fellow

Soph Robson (they/them/she) is a first-year graduate student in the Applied English Studies program. They got their undergraduate at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in English, and have worked in high school English classrooms for many years. Their research focus is in how spoken word poetry can be a mode of radical resistance for those who have experienced gendered violence, allowing survivors to reclaim agency, navigate trauma, and be a form of transformative justice. They have written and performed many spoken word poems at shows throughout their time in college. They hope to become a professor and remain a poet-activist in their local community!

Ellis Nickel

Print & Digital Publishing Team

Ellis Nickel (he/him/his) currently serves on the print and digital publishing team on Toyon Multilingual Magazine as Digital Commons Manager. He is a third-year English student with a minor in Literary Publishing. He is a transfer student from Los Angeles Pierce college where he graduated with three associate degrees: in English, Social Science, and Art and Humanities. Besides writing, he is passionate about activism, history, anthropology, folklore, and music, interests that strongly influence his creative and academic work. Being a queer man, Ellis feels strongly about representation in media, adding to his skill in critical analysis. But his favorite thing to see in poetry and fiction is pop culture references, especially when they are used as metaphors. This is Ellis’s first time working on a publication, and he is excited to contribute, learn, and be part of the cause.

Anna Janousek

Audiobook & Spoken Word Team

Anna Janousek (she/her) is a member of the Toyon spring semester Audiobook and Spoken Word team. She is a senior English student, graduating in the spring, and hopes to pursue a career in editing and publishing. Anna has a passion for the literary and visual arts and has spent her life creating by drawing, painting, and writing. In her free time she loves to read, watch movies, and spend time with her family.

Nai Gonzalez-Herrera

Marketing & Publicity Team

Naidely, known as Nai (she/her/ella), is a part of the Marketing and Publicity Team. She is a first-generation and third year student majoring in English with a concentration in Education and minoring in Literary Publishing. Nai is from the Bay Area, where she loves spending time with her big family, friends, and dog, Konan. In Humboldt, being an Admissions Ambassador and Delta Phi Epsilon’s Vice President of Programming, keeps her an extrovert. She enjoys taking walks with her roommate, and going to the beach with her friends. During moments of silence, you can find her reading—finding only the best books for her future high school classroom library.

Addy Muelrath

Marketing & Publicity Team

bio to come

Daria Smith

Print & Digital Publishing Team

Daria Smith (she/her pronouns) is a transfer student at Cal Poly Humboldt with senior standing, majoring in English. She is a transfer student from College of the Sequioas. After graduating, she hopes to attend a teaching credential program to become an English teacher. She has been published in two journals for her poetry and has worked on a newspaper at her community college, as well, which will help with meeting deadlines and getting a feel for the publishing industry. She is currently a part of the Print and Ebook team for Toyon. When she’s not working on her degree, she’s out adventuring at the Arcata marsh or up in the redwoods.

Luke Mellom

Marketing & Publicity Team

Luke Mellom (he/him) is an senior undergraduate student at Cal Poly Humboldt in the English Department and is staffed under the Marketing, Publicity, and distribution team role for this Springs’ Toyon journal. He also is also the Vice President of the Creative writing club that focuses on practicing to interpret creative works and provide prompts for students to think creatively. His writing interests include topics of environmental justice, activism, and poetry as a way of service for other people. He has past experiences working on publications such as starting his high school's first podcast, being head of the entertainment section for the school's online paper, and having a year of study as a journalism student. He plans to continue studying at Humboldt as an Applied English Masters student in the Fall of 2026 with focus on analyzing creative nonfiction.

Valerie Bautista

Marketing & Publicity Team

Valerie Bautista (she/her/ella) is a fourth year English major with a minor in Creative Writing. Before attending Cal Poly Humboldt, she was a Liberal Studies major at Ventura College, but quickly realized that her love for writing trumped all. Valerie focuses most of her creative nonfiction pieces on real world/political issues, and believes that doing so is a crucial way to spread awareness–this is also why she has such high admiration for what Toyon stands for and showcases. Along with producing a number of essays, stories, and screenplays ranging from many genres, she also has experience in digital media. She has gained over eighteen thousand followers through her work, has created her own website, has her own blog, and always makes sure to use her platform to speak on issues she is passionate about. Valerie is excited to use these skills as a member of Toyon’s Marketing, Publicity, and Distribution team, and hopes to one day work as a screenplay editor or creative writing teacher.

Ariana Cooke

Audiobook & Spoken Word Team

Ariana Cooke (she/they) is a part of the Audiobook and Spoken word team. She is an English major and senior at Cal Poly Humboldt. She is passionate about music, films, and literature. Lately, she has really enjoyed writing poetry and creative nonfiction. She is part of Cal Poly Humboldt’s college radio station, KRFH, where she serves as the music team manager, helping to organize all of the station’s physical and digital music. After she graduates in the spring, she hopes to continue writing and get her teaching credential. She looks forward to contributing to the Audiobook and Spoken Word Team this semester.

Lindsay Albert

Audiobook & Spoken Word Team

Lindsay (She/Her) is an English major and Senior at Cal Poly Humboldt. She is minoring in Art and Philosophy, and also taking piano classes at school where she performs and accompanies other musicians. She is part of the Audio team at Toyon, and is excited to hear everyone’s voices and work with contributors. Her past experience is pretty miscellaneous, including working as a botanical illustrator for the rangeland and wildlife department of CPH, interning at a non-profit law office centered around technology accessibility, volunteering at Y.E.S. (Youth Education Services), and gardening. Her interests mainly include drawing, reading, piano, and spending time outside.

Matthew Babcock

Audiobook & Spoken Word Team

Matthew Babcock (he/him) is an Audiobook and Spoken Word staff member at Toyon, aspiring Author, and Cuesta Community College Alumni. He is working towards a Bachelor's Degree in English at Cal Poly Humboldt to hopefully one day publish novels of all genres and lengths. Failing that, he hopes to one day be a professor of English, if only to spend his days with other creative people. Matthew desires to spend his days in peace, playing video games and harassing his rambunctious cat Jay Catsby.

Juno Montrose

Juno Montrose is an English Major and Transfer student at Cal Poly Humboldt. After gaining a quarter of experience of editing for a literary magazine at UC Santa Cruz (and wrestling with adobe indesign), they are excited to once again contribute to a publication by helping with visual design of the magazine and providing original artwork to be used by Toyon in issue 72.

Susana "Ana" Ruvalcaba

Typesetter, Book Designer

Ana Ruvalcaba is a senior at Cal Poly Humboldt in pursuit of her bachelor’s in English and hopes to get her master’s degree in either Research or Experimental Psychology. She strives to explore the individual mind and its functions to ensure a lasting legacy through contributions to culture. Some of these contributions including, but are not limited to, writing novellas, plays, and voice work such as radio, podcasts, and book narration.

Lily Bartholomy-Tollbom

Print & Digital Publishing Team

Lily is an English Major Senior working as part of the Print Team on Toyon. She has experience from a brief time at Parsons School of Design before transferring to Cal Poly Humboldt. She currently works in administration at her local fire department in Southern Humboldt and enjoys Wildland firefighting in the summers. She hopes to pursue grant writing for forest health and prescribed fire, and rural workforce development.

Tabitha Di Domenico

Marketing & Publicity Team

Tabitha Di Domenico (she/her) is in her senior year as a transfer student in the English major with a minor in Native American studies. She’s part of theToyon 72 Marketing, Publicity and Distribution team. Tabitha works at the Cal Poly Humboldt Library as the Social Media and Marketing Student Assistant which notably includes writing and publishing the Library’s e-newsletter. She has over 2 years experience as a student library page in academic libraries and will pursue a MLIS post graduating from Cal Poly Humboldt to become a Librarian.Tabitha has a passion for creative writing with a goal in becoming a published author in the genres of fiction and poetry. As a indigenous woman she wants to explore Tribal library work and grow Indigenous representation.