The Vital Voice

Darin Slyman:

CEO & Publisher

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As a former celebrity stylist, Darin Slyman brings over 15-years experience from the style industry. From styling celebrity clients, producing photo shoots and contributing to various print, radio and TV outlets, The Webster Alumn has been inside and out of this fabulous fashion world. In 2009, Darin switched up careers and is now the publisher of the Vital VOICE Magazine where he enjoys bringing LGBT media to the forefront for the St. Louis Market.  Darin’s fresh approach to LGBT media has taken Vital VOICE to a whole new level.  “I want to showcase, exonerate and promote anything and everything that is awesome about the LGBT community."      

Colin Murphy:

Executive Editor

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Celebrating over 20-years in LGBT media, Colin Murphy is Executive Editor and Senior Writer for Vital VOICE Omni Media.  He has written for numerous community publications since 1991 and his “1 Out of 10 Ain’t Bad!” is one of the longest running columns in St. Louis.  He attended Southwestern Illinois College and Saint Louis University. An avid gay history buff, Colin is a member of the St. Louis LGBT History Project and collaborates with the LGBT Archives at UMSL. He is a member of  the Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association and Vital VOICE Advisory Board.  Colin is a former Vice President of The Late Knights of Pythias and a former Vice President and President of Metro East Pride of Southwestern Illinois. He is presently Secretary of The LGBT Center of St. Louis, Secretary of The LGBT Center of St. Louis Scholarship Committee and member of the Miss Gay Midwest America Board.  In 2010 he was honored as a St. Louis Pride Parade Grand Marshal and is the recipient of the 2010 Missouri Award and 2011 New Day Award presented by the Miss Gay Missouri America Pageant. In 2012 Colin received the MEPSI Board of Directors Legacy Award for his service as a Founder and Vice President of the organization.

Jimmy Lesch:

Associate Publisher

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Jimmy “No Show” Lesch is the communications guru for Vital VOICE Magazine where he designs marketing strategies and social media campaigns for the company’s public relations department. He is one of only two VV interns to become masthead staff. The St. Louis native began his multimedia and design career in the 8th grade with his first self-designed website dedicated to his favorite pop icons: The Spice Girls. Jimmy is also one of the hottest VJs on the LGBT scene and celebrated for his run at Showtunes Tuesdays at The Loading Zone and Erney’s 32. When he’s not in the VJ booth, you can find him bingeing on Bravo’s TV or as he calls it, “research and development for my reality show, ‘No Show Knows,’” - Coming fall 20XX.

Matt Jamieson:

Staff Writer

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Matt Jamieson is a staff writer with the Vital VOICE team. He previously interned with Vital VOICE in 2010, where his Monster Ball concert review was passed onto Interscope Records with positive acclaim. He graduated from Webster University in May 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. When not slaving away at the office, Matt loves all things pop culture, and is one of the biggest fans of drag you can find. (Seriously, it’s ALL he talks about.) Matt also hosts his own podcast “Matt’s Media Medium” - where he has interviewed such guests as techno DJ Brad Walsh and RuPaul’s Drag Race judge Michelle Visage.

Andrea Piamonte:

Art Director

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Andrea is Texas born and Texas raised with a strong passion for graphic design. She graduated from Mizzou with a Magazine Journalism major and specialization in Magazine Design. She's also dabbled in creating designs for newspapers, websites and iPad applications. After college, she then decided to stick around in Missouri and moved to St. Louis. After interning for a few months, she joined the Vital VOICE staff in December 2012. Although graphic design is her first passion, she also enjoys carpentry, country music, writing, photography and anything involving beef or steak.

Janae Johnson:

Business Manager

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Janae was introduced to Vital VOICE through volunteering at The LGBT Center of St. Louis. She loved the diverse, open-minded, and driven personalities of her peers and mentors within the LGBT community. After working 6 years in dentistry, Janae decided to switch careers paths and pursue media. It was the perfect field for her out-spoken and flamboyant personality. Janae is currently the assistant of Darin Slyman, the CEO and Publisher of Vital VOICE. Learning all the ins and outs of the publishing world has been exciting and fresh. She is currently completing a  degree in Corporate Communications and Marketing, to have a better understanding of the business aspects of the publishing world.

Tim Brenner: 

Chief Photographer

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Tim Brenner graduated high school in 2007 and started at Jefferson College that fall.  While in his first semester of college, Tim started as a business major, but after two semesters he decided to change his major to his true passion: photography. While still studying photography in school, Tim received his first big break after meeting Darin Slyman at one of Vital VOICE’s major events: V².  After finishing his three month internship - Tim was offered a position at the magazine as a photographer and he immediately accepted. Tim is on the move in the community and known for his hard work and dedication.

Mikey "The Cocktapus" Berner:

Photographer

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A modest individual that came out of no where in a flash of photography, Mikey is a St. Louis native that has bounced around broadening his career span since the age of 15. He was fortunate enough to find a sales company that gave him the options to move all over the U.S. and he ran with it. He has met lots of wonderful people in his journey from St. Louis, Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Ohio and Kansas City. When he decided it was time to make a career change, he headed to the Golden State and graduated from The California Culinary Academy in San Francisco.  He moved back to the Lou to be closer to his elderly grandmother and his mother where he came out to his family and was received with a very positive welcoming. Since his culinary degree, he has done parties for celebrities such as Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Barry Manilow, Tiger Woods and President George W. Bush. One day he decided to pick up a camera and had a natural eye for photography.  His name "The Cocktapus" came about because he has dated members from both sexes in the past and he has never had a problem choosing who he wanted to be or wanted to be with: "I've just been myself with whatever I did, be it sales, cooking, bartending, photography, it doesn't matter. I'm a very confident individual and we only get one shot at life, so we might as well be great at it."

Denny Patterson:

Contributing Writer

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Denny joined the Vital VOICE team as an intern in May 2012. Born and raised in Granite City, Illinois, Denny originally wanted to pursue a career in theatre performance. It wasn't until his junior year in high school where he discovered his passion for journalism. Denny attended Southwestern Illinois College (SWIC) for his first two years of college. While at SWIC, he contemplated on what he wanted to major in once he transferred to Millikin University in 2011. With a love for writing and a love for theatre, Denny decided to combine the two by majoring in English Journalsim and minoring in Theatre. Millikin is where Denny currently attends and he is set to graduate in December 2013. By joining Vital VOICE, he hopes this is a start to continually advance with LGBT media. Denny says that without the constant love and support from his family and friends, he would not have the courage to pursue his goals.

Hanna Botney:

Contributing Writer

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Hanna is a Bucknell University graduate, class of 2012, with a major in Religion and a minor in Women’s and Gender Studies.  After spending most of her life as an avid equestrian she decided to switch career paths and took PR/Marketing and writing classes at UMSL and Webster University.  While working as a Marketing & Communications Intern at Missouri Baptist Medical Center, she got her first taste of formal writing.  This sparked the idea to combine her passion for the LGBT community with her love of writing, which is when she reached out to Vital VOICE.  She is excited to dive into the lesbian community in St. Louis and share her experiences and observations as an out, femme, gay woman.  When she is not frequenting Novak’s, you can find her with her horse, Kremlin, who is the only man who will ever hold her heart.

Thiago Martins de Magalhães:

Contributing Writer

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Thiago was born in São Paulo, Brazil. He grew up there and has studied English since he was 11 years old. He has always loved to write and studies foreign languages. In 2007, he came to the USA for the first time in an exchange program and attended Waterloo High School for a semester. Two years later he decided to come back to the St. Louis area and attend McKendree University, where he graduated last December with a major in History and minors in Journalism and Music. He started at Vital VOICE in September 2012 and has been a member of the team ever since.

Colin Lovett:

Contributing Writer 

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Colin is a teacher, entrepreneur, activist, writer and salesman.  Actively involved in uniting the St. Louis LGBT Community, he is board president of The LGBT Center of St. Louis, has served on the board of directors of Pride St. Louis, and uses his free time trying to make a difference for oppressed members of society.  Colin has taught youth with developmental disabilities for Special School District and currently co-owns a school of self defense for adults with developmental disabilities.  He was selected by the Regional Arts Council as a 2011 Community Arts Training Fellow, where furthered his training in community empowerment.  Addicted to Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky and the Romantics, Colin plays double bass with the St. Louis Civic Orchestra, of which he used to serve as the President of the Board.  Currently, Colin is a benefit analyst with Express Scripts, International.

Corey Stulce:

ContributingWriter &

West Coast Bureau

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Corey Stulce has contributed to the Vital VOICE for nearly a decade, and in 2008, moved West to the San Francisco Bay Area with his partner, Kendall Stulce, and their critters. He now works in marketing and community outreach, promoting animal rescue. Corey "retired" full-time from magazine and newspaper editing, but could never completely give up the entertainment writing jones. He now writes a weekly column on comedy for NBC, and released a book, "Laugh Lines: Conversations with Comedians," which was a culmination of interviewing dozens of prominent comics over the last 15 years. (He started writing it when he was 6.) You can follow him at twitter.com/coreywrites.

Chris Andoe:

Contributing Writer &

West Coast Bureau

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Chris Andoe is a writer, storyteller and activist who wanders the West, from St. Louis to San Francisco. Always in the fray, the crown wearing Andoe's been interviewed by NPR & CBS, has been quoted everywhere from CNN to The St. Louis Post Dispatch, and has had pieces tweeted by The New York Times. With his fearless style, curious nature, unique perspective and magnetic lust for life Andoe keeps his followers entertained with tales of his adventures. Whether climbing through abandoned buildings in East St. Louis or interviewing San Francisco's most colorful characters, he's going to walk away with an entertaining story. In addition to his "Tales of the Emperor" column in the Vital VOICE, Andoe writes about politics for the influential AMERICAblog.com.

Andrea Braun:

Theatre Correspondent

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Andrea England Braun attended the University of Missouri and received a Ph.D. at St. Louis University in 1994. She has long been active in the arts as a performer, a teacher at Webster University, and now as a reviewer and free lance dramaturg. In the past, she was a Kevin Kline judge and a member of the boards of The Orange Girls and Muddy Waters Theatre. She lives in Kirkwood and Lafayette Square, and is proud to be associated with both  Vital VOICE and KDHX Radio.

Curtis Comer:

Columnist

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Curtis Comer has been writing for over ten years and his short stories have appeared in numerous anthologies. His first novel, “Midnight Whispers: The Blake Danzig Chronicles,” was published by Bold Strokes Books in October 2010 and he just completed work on the sequel, “Ghost of a Chance: The Blake Danzig Chronicles." In 2012, his book of his essays, "(Not Quite) Out to Pasture" - many published right here in Vital VOICE - was published by Walrus Publishing and has been presented for consideration for the Lambda Literary and the Stonewall Israel Fishman Non-fiction Awards. Curtis lives in St. Louis with his partner, Tim, and has been writing his column, (Not Quite) Out to Pasture for Vital VOICE since 2009.