Randi Moxi grew up in an animal shelter in West Virginia that was run by her grandmother, Sally. She’s seen firsthand how out of control the pet population is in America and asks that you please rescue and spay and neuter your pets. She hopes you treat all animals as the individuals they are and learn their preferences together through communication and proper, positive and loving training methods.

She was exposed to all dog breeds throughout her childhood but did not fully understand the plight of the most bullied breed in the world, pit bull type breeds, until moving to Chicago. Pit bulls are superior in intelligence, strength, and loyalty. When taught to do wrong things, they are efficient in accomplishing what they are asked or made to do to survive. Animals teach us so much and we must help save and guide them to better lives than this. Teaching important lessons through pit bulls to children is her way to give back to the breed that has changed her life in more positive ways than she could ever describe.

Randi Moxi shifted careers at the age of 44 to bless children and rescue animals through the gift of story. She is a motivational speaker and a featured school enrichment assembly presenter, empowering children in pre-k, elementary, middle and high school.

Randi lives in the suburbs of Chicago with her loving husband and 5 amazing pit bull mix fur children. She is a former Marketing Director, Event Producer, Brand Strategist, Beauty Queen and Pageant Director.

Lisa is a contemporary folk singer-songwriter with a flavorful hint of Latin rhythm and spice. Lisa’s performance history includes: church choir, theater kid, solo singer-songwriter, vocals and guitar in various duos and bands, and as a vocalist with a Grammy-nominated Latin jazz big band. Over the years Lisa sang on renowned stages, most notably at the Petrillo Bandshell for the Chicago Jazz Festival, Park West, the Old Town School Folk & Roots Festival, the Adler Planetarium, and at Wrigley Field singing the National Anthem for Cubs games.

Upon having children, Lisa's paid gigs transformed into exclusive cribside lullabies and toddler storytimes. This season as a new mom - full of wonder and sometimes chaos - left her without the time or energy for writing songs. After a decade flew by, Lisa thought perhaps she had forgotten how. Finally, when the pandemic hit in 2020, isolation at home with her family, a new puppy, and an old piano stirred her creative spirit. Lisa and her little ones filled their time playing music together. Amid the devastating events in her community and the world, her children's innocent laughter and musical curiosity became her muse. Lisa started crafting stories and dreams into powerful songs that resonate with listeners of all ages. These songs, written at a time of creative reawakening, form the heart and the backbone of Lisa’s latest project: her first studio album, which was released in May 2024.

Frontega is an alternative/Indie Band from Grayslake, IL.

Kaylee Staral is one of TMJ4's Waukesha County Reporters.

Kaylee joined the TMJ4 newsroom as a multimedia journalist in March of 2023.

A former TMJ4 intern, Kaylee was born in Kenosha, but grew up across the state line in Grayslake, Illinois.

With family in Wisconsin, Kaylee spent much of her childhood tailgating Brewers games, wandering around the State Fair, and eating plenty of Saz’s mozzarella marinara.

In 2019, Kaylee moved back to Milwaukee to attend Marquette University where she received a degree in Journalism with minors in Digital Media and Communication Leadership.

While in college, she spent time as an intern reporting with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, winning awards for her work covering the Waukesha Parade Tragedy. She also interned with CNN Newsource in Atlanta before spending a final semester abroad in Rome, Italy.

James Klise is a high school librarian in Chicago, where he advises the school's book club and gay-straight alliance. He also writes novels for young people, including Love Drugged, a Stonewall Honor book, ALA Rainbow List selection, and a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award.

Nicole M. Hewitt is a middle grade author living in the Chicago suburbs with her husband, three grown kids, and three overly-enthusiastic pups. She hates to run, but she succeeded in finishing a marathon. (It was for a good cause!) She enjoys nature but doesn’t see nearly enough of it in Illinois, so her family travels as often as possible. She also loves to sing and can often be heard spontaneously composing incredibly profound songs about the fluffiest members of her family (the dogs, in case you weren’t sure). Her debut middle grade novel in verse, THE SONG OF ORPHAN’S GARDEN, releases on January 21, 2025.

MAYA ODIM is a poet and performer who purposefully mounts work in performance spaces that challenge occidental framings—and imaginings, of performance and the performer. Of African American, Igbo and Afro-Cuban lineage, Maya is a dual citizen of Nigeria and the United States who lives in Chicago and travels often. Maya’s self published chapbooks are titled: Places Where We Can Imagine, and Planets, Gourds and Traveling Staffs. More of Maya’s work can be found here: www.mayaodim.com and here: @mayaodim. Maya is currently an MFA Writing candidate at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

MAYDA DEL VALLE was born and raised on the Southside of Chicago. She is the author of The University of Hip Hop and a winner of the 2016 Drinking Gourd Chapbook Poetry Prize from Northwestern University Press. Her full-length collection, A South Side Girl’s Guide to Love and Sex, was published on Tia Chucha press. She appeared on six episodes of the HBO series Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry, and was a contributing writer and original cast member of the Tony Award winning Def Poetry Jam on Broadway. She began her artistic career at the Nuyorican Poets Café, where she was the 2001 Grand Slam Champion, and went on to become the National Poetry Slam Champion in the same year. She was the youngest poet, and the first Latinx person to do so. She has appeared in Urban Latino, Latina Magazine, Mass Appeal, The Source, The New York Times and was named by Smithsonian Magazine as one of America’s Young Innovators in the Arts and Sciences. Oprah’s “O” Magazine selected her as one of 20 women for the first ever “O Power List”, a group of visionary women making a mark in business, politics, and the arts. She has performed at venues across the world, including the White House in May of 2009, by invitation of President Obama and the First Lady.

NOEL QUIÑONES is an Emmy award winning Puerto Rican writer, educator, and performer. He has performed on stages across the country including Lincoln Center, Harvard University, BAM, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Stanford University, and the Honolulu Museum of Art and his work has been showcased on Huffington Post, Vibe, Tidal Music, Latina Magazine, Medium, Univision, Remezcla, Mitú & elsewhere. You can find his most recent writing in POETRY, the Boston Review, Gulf Coast, and Pleiades. He is a recent graduate of the University of Mississippi M.F.A. program. Follow him online at www.noelpquinones.com or @noelpquinones.