EDITORS

Kelly Fullerton | Lead Story Editor

Kelly Fullerton was most recently executive story editor for ABC Family’s critically-acclaimed show, The Fosters. Previous credits include: the NBC show Next Caller and MTV’s hit comedy Awkward. Kelly received her M.F.A. in screenwriting from UCLA as part of the television showrunner track. At UCLA, Kelly was the recipient of the Sidney Sheldon award for her feature script Always a Bridesmaid, and the Zaki Gordon Award for her feature Clarity. In addition to writing, Kelly teaches as part of the professional program at the UCLA School of Theater, Film & Television as well as the MFA screenwriting program at Hollins University. In addition, she was previously on the faculty at UC Irvine.

Denia Metaxa | Cultural Editor

Denia Metaxa is an established professional in the Communications & Events Management industry for the past 11 years, undertaking the production of numerous events and live shows in Greece.

For the past 8 years, she specialized in the Greek music industry, holding the position of Events Manager at MAD TV, the no.1 music TV channel in Greece, and at Panik Live, a division of Panik Entertainment Group Ltd, a leading record label in Athens. During her graduate & post-graduate studies on Media, Culture and Society at the University of Essex in the U.K., she mainly focused on the urban dynamics and inter-relations of linguistics and symbolism with the cultural aspects of post-modern societies.

This academic and professional background combined with her personal interest in mythology and ancient cultures, as well as being a passionate bibliophile, gave Denia the unique opportunity for a new endeavor by joining a highly-esteemed team as a cultural editor for this intriguing new book series.

Hannah Emerson | Young Adult Editor

Hannah Emerson, now seventeen, has shown a passion for writing short stories about mythology since she was in elementary school. The Protogena Chronicles series was originally developed at a high summary level by Alysia Helming with her niece, Hannah, and she has remained actively involved in assisting with story development ever since. Additionally, Hannah offers a unique perspective to the series as one of today’s teenagers. Hannah received the prestigious Congress-Bundestag Scholarship to study abroad in Luebeck, Germany for her junior year in High School. Additionally, she is fluent in German, a top student of her class, a young-entrepreneur, an aspiring author herself, and has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do.

RESEARCH CONTRIBUTORS

Pantelis (Tellos) Panos

Mr. Pantelis (Tellos) Panos is the General Manager at American School of Classical Studies at Athens. Founded in 1881, the school provides graduate students and scholars from some 190 affiliated North American colleges and universities a base for research and study in the history and monuments of Hellenic civilization and is also involved in various archaeological excavations. (www.ascsa.edu.gr). With a current staff of 100 the American School has been committed for over a century to education, archaeological research, discovery of new finds, conservation and restoration of monuments, general preservation of cultural heritage and has considerably contributed to the dissemination of the Greek Culture to the international scientific community and to the public.

Tellos Panos has been very helpful in assisting Alysia Helming with her research efforts including providing private tours of the excavations of Ancient Agora and Corinth, the Archives, the Blegen Library, the Gennadius Library and the Wiener Laboratory. Additionally he introduced Ms Helming to leading experts in Greek mythology and philosophy.

Anastasia Rigatou

Anastasia Rigatou studied Archaeology and History of Art at the University of Athens and holds a MA in Human Communications and Culture. As a professional archaeologist, she participated in several excavations. Since 2013, she has worked as a licensed tourist guide.

Her passion is Athens and history, and she loves to share with visitors fascinating stories and hidden treasures of Athens and Greece.

Ms. Rigatou was Alysia Helming’s first tourist guide in Athens and greatly assisted with book research in modern Greek culture and Greek mythology.

Voula Tsouna

Ms. Voula Tsouna is a Faculty Graduate Advisor and Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and is considered a leading expert in ancient Greek philosophy, specializing in Socrates, Plato, the Socratic schools and Hellenistic Philosophy. She has published six books and over fifty articles on these topics and has been awarded many Honors including Onassis Foundation Fellowship and Overseas Visiting Fellow, St Johns College in Cambridge. She received her PhD from University of Paris, France.

Richard D. McKirahan

Mr. Richard D McKirahan is the Edwin Clarence Norton Professor of Classics and Professor of Philosophy at Pomona College. Since its publication in 1994, Richard McKirahan’s Philosophy before Socrates has become the standard sourcebook in Pre-Socratic philosophy. The work provides a wide survey of Greek science, metaphysics and moral and political philosophy, from their roots in myth to the philosophers and Sophists of the fifth century. McKirahan is also the author of A PreSocratics Reader (1996) and Principles and Proofs: Aristotle’s Theory of Demonstrative Species (1992).

Mr. McKirahan assisted Alysia Helming with research regarding ancient Greek philosophy and treated her to an experience at the prestigious Athens Club.

Sha Coleman

Ms. Sha Coleman has enjoyed a successful 21-year career in molecular biology, diagnostics and genomics research. She was a member of the original team that worked on mapping DNA at the Human Genome Project of the National Human Genome Research Institute through her work at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for several years. For the past 8 years, Ms. Coleman has worked as a Senior Scientist at Roche Molecular Systems, Inc.

Matthew Coleman

Mr. Matthew Coleman is an adjunct professor of radiation oncology at the University of California Davis School of Medicine and a senior biomedical staff scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. He received his Ph.D. in molecular biochemistry and cellular biology from Boston University and has authored over 100 publications in peer-reviewed journals, published proceedings, abstracts and book chapters covering a diverse breadth of molecular biology and biochemistry. He has over 17 years’ experience characterizing genomic responses of genotoxic stressors such as ionizing radiation, and holds five US patents related to biomarker discovery and detection. Mr. Coleman has been very active in the development of advanced biochemical techniques utilizing nanoparticles.

Sha and Matt Coleman designed the description and symptoms for the nano-plague in the Protogena Chronicles™ series, referred to there as the Scourge on Gaea.

COLLABORATORS

Kinari Design / James Charles

James Charles is a founding partner in Kinari Design, with offices in London, Los Angeles and Athens. Architects and Engineers from Kinari are bringing the magical world of “Protogenesis” to life by creating sketches, designs and animations of significant structures inspired by the book and “The Protogena Chronicles” book series.

Born and raised in London James apprenticed with prestigious design firm Roche Bobois in the early eighties. After subsequent travels to Paris and Milan to develop his own design style he was asked to open Roche Bobois USA, in Miami and Atlanta, in the late eighties. He then spent the next four years travelling the US and opening additional Roche BoBois studios before settling down in Los Angeles where he lectured on the art and understanding of contemporary design at the Interior Design Institute (IDI), and continued to Design for notable individuals in the Sporting, Finance and Corporate world.

Since that time, James has received several awards from prominent competitions including the Beverly Hills Decorating Contest and the British Design Award. James’ work has been published in various local and international publications and he has appeared on various television shows including Househunters International, Good Morning America, Channel 7 news, HGTV and E! Entertainment. James has provided his expert design services to such celebrities as Tina Turner and Sean Connery and he was recently invited to join the world design team collaborating on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, the cutting-edge of new aircraft design. With collaborations extending into Fashion (Chanel, Jessica McClintock, Louis Vuitton) to Hospitality and Resorts, his appetite to leave his mark in design has covered many arenas.

Philip Tsiaras

Since 1974 he made more than 80 one-person exhibitions, including: Seattle Museum of Art, The National Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki, Mannheimer Kunstverien, Mannheim, Bernier Gallery,Athens, Studio Palazzoli, Milan, Shea & Beker Gallery, New York, Margulies/Taplin Gallery, Miami, Tegnerforbundet Gallery. Oslo, Museum Santa Apollonia, Venice, Gallerie Dominion, Montreal, Swank/ The Regency-Intercontinental, Hong Kong, Newport Art Museum, R.I., Villa Reale, Monza, The Currier Museum, N.H., Spazio Cavallieri di Malta,Syracusa, Pinakotech of the Cyclades, Syros, International Contemporary Art Fair, Istanbul, Bienalle of Photography, Torino, De Novo Gallery, Sun Valley, Cento St. Benin, Aosta, Pinakotech of Ithaca, Museum ofContemporary Art, Crete, Museum of Photography, Thessaloniki, Stella Art Foundation, Moscow, Museum of Modern Art, Shenzhen.

Tsiaras works in a great range of media–painting, photography, glass, ceramic, and bronze. He has exhibited in the Venice Biennale three times and produced a ten foot bronze sculpture on the Grand Canal entitled “Social Climber”.

Philip Tsiaras has been the recipient of many national prizes: The American Academy Award for Poetry, The Thomas Watson Fellowship, New York State C.A.P.S grant, two N.E.A. National Endowment Grants for Arts, nomination for the Blickle Stiftung International Photography Prize, Germany and The Generali Assicurazioni Gold Metal Award for “Civilita” Venice.

Philip Tsiaras’ works are widely collected in corporate, private and important museum collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Fifteen books and catalogues are attributed to his work, most notably monographs published by Electa and Mondadori books, and a book of photographs entitled, “Family Album” published by Contrasto, Rome. A recent 30-year retropsective of photography entitled Philip Tsiaras- SUPEREAL was published by the Muesum of Photography Thessaloniki.