With the start of a new school year comes a new team of Student Aides and Graduate Assistants. Click below to find more about them!
Ayana Underwood
Ayana Underwood is currently in her third semester as a Student Aide for Pace University’s MS in Publishing Program. She earned her BS in Chemistry from Duquesne University in 2016. She worked in a biochemistry lab conducting research and later created polyurethane coatings at Bayer Material Science. She realized lab work was not her passion, and after taking a comics analysis class, she knew she wanted to pursue a career in the comic book industry. This led her to Pace! She’s since written for pop culture platforms including Black Girl Nerds and Women Write about Comics. You can find her reading a comic or splurging on cosplay stuff when she’s not obsessing over cat photos or eating pizza!
Shani Starinsky
Shani Starinsky is an incoming Publishing grad student living in New York city. Born and raised in Israel, Shani always wanted to live in the US. She speaks 4 languages and hopes to pick up a new one every year. After earning her BFA in Fashion Design from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY and working in various fashion houses she crossed over to fashion buying. Shani is pursuing a masters in Publishing in the hopes of breaking into fashion magazine editing and ultimately plans to one day start her own.
Delaney Anderson
Delaney Anderson is a first-year graduate student in the M.S. in Publishing program working towards a career in production and design within the publishing industry. She stayed in her hometown of Pensacola, FL to attend the University of West Florida where she received bachelors’ degrees in communications and English. While at UWF, Anderson was a staff writer for the student-led newspaper, The Voyager. She also worked in content creation, presentation development and social marketing while she was a Peer Educator with Wellness Services on campus. She left Florida quickly following graduation to attend the Denver Publishing Institute in Colorado during the summer of 2019 and made her move to NYC soon after. Delaney is grateful for the opportunity to work at Pace University Press and looks forward to her future in publishing.
Francesca Leparik
Francesca Leparik has always held books close to her heart since her mother first read her The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch. Born and raised on Long Island in New York she went north to SUNY Oswego where she received her bachelor’s degree in English. During her time at Oswego she was the secretary of the school’s literary magazine, The Great Lake Review. She is looking forward to exploring all the different opportunities that this program has to offer. Francesca is thrilled to be a part of the Pace University Press!
Karolina Blaziak
Karolina is a first year graduate student at Pace in the M.S. in Publishing program. When growing up in Richmond, Virginia, Karolina always found opportunities to work on their creative side, whether through photography, writing, or graphic designing. While earning their B.A. in English with a concentration in Writing and Rhetoric at George Mason University, they worked on the school’s literary magazine as an Executive Editor, and realized their passion for the world of publication production and design. They hope to work with books in the future, particularly with their favorite genres of YA, Historical Fiction, and LGBT literature, whether they be editing manuscripts, designing book covers, formatting e-books, or running an imprint — and they’re excited for the opportunities the position of Social Media Graduate Assistant will provide them.
Abigail Schiano
Abigail Schiano is the new Multimedia Lab Graduate Assistant for the 2019-2020 school year. Born in Virginia Beach, VA, Abby always had a passion for both reading and writing. She graduated from Longwood University, a small institution in the even smaller town of Farmville, located in the heart of Virginia. There she earned her BA in English and Creative Writing. After taking various writing workshops she soon discovered her love of editing. With this discovery finally came the answer to the daunting question–– “what are you going to do with your life?” Once she realized she wanted to become an editor, a quick Google search led her to Pace University’s MS in Publishing program. She’s excited to learn about the different aspects of the industry and she’s extremely grateful for the opportunity to study in New York City. After obtaining her MS in Publishing, Abby hopes to work with Young Adult novels as they were what first led to her love of all things literary.