Janera Soerel is the Founder and Editor of JANERA.com, The Voice of Global Nomads. Economics degree in hand, Janera worked for years in investment banking on cross-border corporate finance deals in Italy and The Netherlands. Janera then enrolled at Columbia University in New York, graduating with a dual MBA/MIA degree in international affairs and business. She realized, however, that international banking and finance weren’t her life’s work.

Raised in the Caribbean by Surinamese parents, Janera became a Global Nomad by choice—now fluent in five languages, a former resident of more than half a dozen cities (including Washington, London, Santiago, Amsterdam, Milan and New York), she has made friends everywhere. She is endlessly curious, and finds herself increasingly drawn to global stories told from a human perspective and not the usual macro tales that relate to aggregate numbers. She is also drawn to the many ways fellow nomads—who, like her, operate in the space between groundedness and restlessness—socialize in their adopted environments. Piles of unread issues of The Economisttriggered an idea: why not create an attractive multimedia, content-driven global community website with a unique perspective on global economics and culture, for the mix of young, urban, educated, Global Nomads? This website was born.

Hannah Wallace is a Brooklyn-based journalist and editor. Though she writes about integrative medicine and nutrition for Vogue, Salon, Body + Soul and Prevention, she covers a diverse range of subjects. Recent articles include an investigation into the toxic chemicals in mattresses for Mother Jones and an article on pop singer George Michael and his boyfriend Kenny Goss' new Dallas art foundation for T: Style. She also writes about destinations, food, and health for Travel + Leisure, Town & Country Travel, T: Travel, Endless Vacation, and Real Simple Travel. Her book reviews have appeared in the Los Angeles Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.

After graduating from Mount Holyoke College with a degree in English Literature, Hannah came straight to New York City where she interned at Ms. magazine before joining a small literary agency as an assistant. Though she loved working with a diverse group of writers (everyone from short story writer Amy Bloom to UFO-investigator Budd Hopkins) Hannah soon discovered that negotiating book contracts was not her cup of tea. She happily joined the staff at Travel + Leisure magazine, where she remained as a fact-checker, editor and writer for 7 years, reporting on cities such as Dakar, Basel, Maastricht, Ljubljana, and Zurich. Born in Bromley, England, to American professors, Hannah is a global nomad thanks to her father, who insisted on getting her a UK passport when she was still an infant. Though she hasn't taken advantage of her dual citizenship yet, she hopes to move to an E.U. country someday soon with her boyfriend, Michael, and their two cats.

Erin became a Global Nomad at the tender age of four when she moved from the United States to South Korea. After five years in Asia, she moved once again, this time to New Zealand where she picked up, amongst other things, a most charming Kiwi accent.
Erin reconnected with her American roots at 19 when she attended Boston University to study journalism and international relations.

Immediately upon graduation Erin fulfilled a life-long dream when she relocated to Rome, Italy, and found work writing for several publications and teaching. Though la dolce vita lived up to all expectations, it wasn’t long before Erin’s insatiable desire to experience another part of the world proved too tempting. She has recently traded in the romanticism of Europe for the lure of New York City, though where she will end up next is still unknown. Erin is an American citizen, New Zealand Resident, and is in the process of filing for a European passport, which, once received, will be used to add more countries to her ever-growing list of residences.

Farrah Sarafa is a poet, editor, translator and teacher in Manhattan. She was drawn into Columbia University by Edward Said and is currently completing her second masters there, in Comparative Literature. She has been published in several literary journals, such as Tablets, Arabesques, and the Litchfield Review, and continues to work as a freelance journalist and book reviewer for The Struggle, The Chaldean News, etc. She teaches humanities at various Manhattan based schools, won a Hopwood Poetry Award, has published one poetry chapbook and has another one coming. The daughter of a Palestinian-Muslim mother, and an Iraqi-Christian (Chaldean) father, Farrah went to University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor, (during which she randomly learned Tibetan and traveled to China). She continues to explore ways to battle the oppression she feels, not being able to visit her ancestral homes, but manages to access the intimates of her Palestinian-Iraqi homelands through fiction.

Farrah met Janera one day, at a Nolita bookstore, and was immediately drawn to her lime- green, no faux fur hat and striking sun-smile. Now they are friends, partners, and active celebrity stalkers planning their next trip to Capri. In her free time, Farrah does yoga and exercises fanatically, (she read all of Crime and Punishment on the elliptical). Her current dream job (aside from Professor) is to work as a Fashion Press Release Writer for Bazaar. She is a professional Global Nomad.

Allison Leigh DeFrees, our Poetry Editor and a regular contributor to the site, is a poet and immigration attorney. She graduated from the University of Virginia with a Bachelor's degree in English Literature, and from the University of Texas at Austin School of Law with a J.D. Before concentrating in immigration law. Allison worked in entertainment law and general litigation. She also spent time as part of a punk band, wrote and performed in a variety of plays and films, bounced around in the avant-garde, and toured the United States as part of a puppet troupe. Throughout her varied past, poetry has maintained its place as her first love.

Jennifer is a Brooklyn-based photographer, humanitarian, yogini, meditation teacher, and aspiring Bollywood dancer. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Glamour Magazine, Vogue India and New York Magazine.

Her childhood exposure to the complex cultures in the immigrant neighborhood where she was raised has had a great impact on her life. Growing up in wonderment among Caribbean, Filipino and Hassidic people sparked her desire to discover the mysteries of all that surrounded her. Photography has been her gateway into these worlds. She has spent years documenting life throughout the world with her camera.

She hopes that her subjects’ stories, told through her photographs, can begin to break down our boundaries between self and other, countries and cultures. Her work doesn’t end when she comes home from her overseas explorations. Her photography fundraisers for Tibet Fund and Architecture for Humanity have raised over $40,000 (and counting) for the communities she loves so dearly. For more: www.jennifermacfarlane.com

Bettina was born in Italy and started her global existence when she moved to Paris after high-school. Here she got in touch with photography and developed her passion for film while hanging out on photo-shoots and film-sets of the Parisian underground/independent movement.

After her studies in international relations and political science at Boston University, she moved to New York to pursue her passion for production. She began at a start-up photography reference website. Her career leapt forward when she accepted an in-house production job with photographer, and award winning director, Stephane Sednaoui.

Bettina then worked for a major international high-end fashion magazine where she ran the production office in New York.
After six years in photography, she moved into film production. She has worked on various film projects: from shorts to features to documentaries and music videos. She now juggles both photography and film production.

Bettina lives between New York, Los Angeles, Italy… and the rest of the world.