As a fun and engaging website for young people, The Young Folks’ main focus is to deliver a young perspective to film, books, music, television, video games, etc. to those in need of a fresh and relatable perspective. We often see a disconnect between professional critics and young people when it comes to pop culture. Therefore, we want to give the young folks of the world a chance to read and learn about the latest in entertainment in a way that isn’t condescending or diminutive of the young people pop culture. Everything written on The Young Folks are by young people for young people (and, of course, the young at heart)!

Founded by Gabrielle Bondi and Luciana Villalba, we are proud of the work provided by our amazing team of writers. Learn more about them later in the post. Click on each writer’s name to see an archive of their work for The Young Folks.

You can also find us on Twitter, Tumblr, YouTube & Facebook.

If you would like to make a review request, please visit our Review Policy page & contact us through there. Thank you!

If you would like to join the TYF team, details on open positions, responsibilites and how to apply here!
Spread the word!

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About the site’s founders & writers:

 

 

Gabrielle Bondi - Co-Founder/ Writer/ Dictator of Taste
She is 24 years old and lives in the beautiful city of Chicago. She enjoys writing about film and books, but occasionally writes about music and television. In addition to writing for TheYoungFolks.com, she also edits, manages the writing staff, maintains the site and its social media handles and works with publicists on press coverage and promotions. In her spare time, she’s either watching more movies or reading more books, while continuously checking Twitter, which she may or may not be addicted to…
Feel free to email her your thoughts, ideas and questions here.
Twitter: @GabrielleAdelle

 

 

Luciana Villalba – Co-Founder/Writer/Latin American Affairs/David Fincher Enthusiast

21 years old, Hip-Hop connoisseur, David Fincher fan, food addict and soccer fanatic, very passionate about FC Barcelona. Born in Colombia, moved to Miami when she was 14 and currently lives there. In her spare time she usually is listening to music, taking a nap, watching soccer, thinking about food or quoting The Social Network, Gossip Girl or Misfits.
You can contact her at via email here.
Twitter: @lucianavee

 

 

 

NickF16  - Writer/Aspiring Screenwriter

He is 22 years old and lives in the suburbs of Chicago. He’s an aspiring screenwriter and avid seeker of useless knowledge. He is a full-on video game and pop culture geek but hides it fairly well. In his free time, he has been known to hoard indie music and rock his beanie in unnecessary weather conditions while swears up and down he isn’t a hipster. We’re pretty sure he’s a hipster though…
You can contact him via email here.
Twitter: @TheNext1up

 

 

 

 

Alex Hanavan – Writer

Alex is 20 years old and is currently working on his bachelor’s in Computer Science and Interactive Multimedia. As an enthusiast of all forms of media he loves music, movies, and games. He likes to keep up to date with what’s happening throughout the world of science and technology but wishes that he had more time to actually sit down and read a good pleasure book. Alex plays trumpet and sometimes thinks that he was born in the wrong decade. His favorite video games include the franchises Bioshock, Assassin’s Creed, Legend of Zelda, Uncharted, Fallout, and The Elder Scrolls. You can contact him via email here.

 

 

 

Melissa Berne – Writer
She is twenty-something, born in Miami, raised in Haiti until she was 8, and then came back to Miami. Phew!
She has a passion for movies, music, and books. Though some would say there’s passion and then there’s Melissa.
She is an aspiring entertainment journalist who is an avid social media user. Melissa is obsessed with the movie “The Mummy,” has an affinity for vampires, pirates and sweets.
You can contact her via email here.
Twitter: @YaGirlMelberne

 

 

 

Tyler Stevens – Writer

Tyler is 14 years old and lives in Southern California. His passion has always been for film. He’s been reviewing movies for over a year-and-a-half now under the title “Movie Kid Reviews” on his Facebook and is thrilled to now be part of The Young Folks team. Whenever he’s not doing schoolwork, Tyler is probably at the movies, reviewing one he just saw, or cooking up a new screenplay that he’ll direct with friends for short film festivals. In 2012, Tyler and a friend of his made a short documentary, “Free Hurt: Bullying And The First Amendment” which went on to be an Official Contender at the C-Span StudentCam 2012 Film Festival. Tyler’s idols include Christopher Nolan, Steven Spielberg, David Fincher, and more recently he’s taken a liking to the works of Paul Thomas Anderson. His favorite films include “Pulp Fiction”, “Back To The Future”, and “Good Will Hunting”. His hobbies include acting, screenwriting, directing, debating, and mock trial. His goal in life is to be a writer-director.  You can contact him via email here.

 

Brianna Lockhart - Reader/Publishing Intern/Library Aficionado

Brianna is a twenty two year old born and raised in the swamps of Jersey. Just kidding, she lives at least twenty minutes from those swamps. She’s a publishing intern/library assistant that moonlights as a writer whenever she can find the time. She enjoys going to concerts (anything from Rooney to Springsteen to NKOTBSB), roadtripping, and complaining that she truly belongs in the 1950’s/early 1960’s (THE MUSIC! THE CLOTHES!), the 1920′s, or the 1980′s depending on her mood. She definitely owns more books than she should and reads every chance she gets. If you stop hearing from her, it’s because the book piles have fallen over and smothered her to death in the night. You can contact her via email here.

 

 

Catherina Gioino – Writer/Movie Encyclopedia/Athlete
AKA- Cat

Catherina is a 15 year old kid in New York City that pretty much knows everything about any movie. She writes screenplays in her free time, is a huge Kevin Spacey, Tina Fey, and Quentin Tarantino fan. She is known to randomly connect a moment with a movie. She writes for her school paper and is also part of her school soccer team, softball team, track team, math league, Italian culture club, drama club student council executive board and head altar server. You can contact her via email here.

 

 

Ashley Cajero – Writer/ House Lannister sympathizer/Harry Potter addict

The 20-year old Colorado native grew up in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. While other kids were riding bikes and making dirt pies, Ashley was watching Pokémon. While other teens were getting ready for dances and lounging at the mall, Ashley was reading Harry Potter. Today, while everyone is going to parties and bars, Ashley is right alongside with them, discussing the intricate politics of Westeros to whoever will listen to her. You can contact her via email here.

 

 

 

 

David Plumer – Writer

David is 15 years old and is a huge movie buff and an aspiring film maker. He also enjoys TV, reading and doing magic. He plays baseball. Some of his favorite movies include One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Kill Bill Vol. 2, Life is Beautiful, and Forrest Gump. Some of his biggest film influences are Quentin Tarantino, Wes Anderson, Francis Ford Coppola, James Cameron, and Sergio Leone. You can contact him via email here.

 

 

 

 

Jon Espino – Writer
This 20-something year old writer is a self-proclaimed film snob and a pop culture junkie. He always gives his honest, critical, and maybe a little bit snarky opinion on everything. So beware and get ready to be entertained. You can contact him via email here.

 

 

 

 

Annie Rishty - Writer

Annie Rishty is 16 years old, and lives in the suburbs New Jersey. She aspires to be a freelance writer and write realistic fiction novels that will allow teens to actually enjoy reading. She attempts to be the Dr. Phil of her friends and acts as a therapist as her friends vent to her. She is probably the biggest fan of Sex and the City, and looks to the character of Carrie Bradshaw (played by Sarah Jessica Parker) as an idol. She gets bored of things easily, and likes to switch up her hair color every now and then (currently it is a deep purple to bright red ombre). She loves music by Florence and the Machine and Foster the People, but also has an obsession with Lady Gaga. She’s been called a hipster numerous times, but that’s just people talking. You can contact her via email here.
Also, follow her on Instagram: @annierish and @with_much_color

 

 

Caroline Cohen – Music Journalist / Activist/ Piano Player/ Singer/ Songwriter

Caroline Cohen is sixteen years old she plans to study recorded music in university and furthermore hopes to get a job in the music industry. Caroline’s life revolves around music, whether it is listening, writing, playing the piano, reviewing new albums, or buying new records for her ongoing collection. Music is definitely a big part of her life. She listens to a wide variety of music, ranging from Indie- Rock to Brazilian Jazz; she listens to it all. Her current favorite artists are Young the Giant, Needtobreathe, John Mayer, The Black Keys, Sarah Bareilles, Michael Jackson, Pink Floyd, Norah Jones, Kimbra, Ben Harper, The Strokes, and Miles Davis. Since her musical tastes consist of such a wide range, you can expect to see a lot of different reviews or some suggestions for TYF readers to check out. She is constantly searching for music to share with people. Feel free to contact her via email here.

 

Allyson Johnson - Writer-Aspiring Screenwriter-Movie Enthusiast

She is a 21 year old student studying Journalism and Film in Boston MA. She is hugely passionate about film, literature and music. Along with The Young Folks, she also is a writer over at blastmagazine.com.

You can contact her on Twitter (@AllysonAJ) or via email here.

 

 

 

 

 

Stephanie Estrada – Writer

Steph is 17 years old, born and raised in Miami, Florida. Her hobbies include reading, writing, attending concerts and watching old movies. She aspires to be a novelist in the near future and has an uncanny obsession with everything 1920′s and mafia related. She idolizes Jackie Onassis, and when she isn’t reading you can probably catch her watching Goodfellas for about the billionth time. She can be contacted via Twitter (@Stephest21) or via email here.

 

David Miller – Writer / Accused Hipster / David Bowie Enthusiast

David is 15 years old and lives in South Florida.  He has no idea what he wants to do with his future and doesn’t feel any pressure to figure it out.  He loves Punk Rock, Indie, and early ‘70s Proto-Punk Glitter Rock.  His favorite artists are The Clash, The Smashing Pumpkins, The Shins, The Germs, The White Stripes, Gogol Bordello, Bad Brains, Arctic Monkeys, David Bowie, and The Cure.  He really likes romantic comedies and independent films, especially of the “Mumblecore” genre.  Be sure to let him know what you think of his work as he’s always looking for new and interesting perspectives.

You can contact David through Tumblr (www.coughituploudandstrong.tumblr.com) or via email here.

 

Evan Griffin – Writer – an aspiring a) film/game critic, b) podcaster, c) voice actor, d) screenwriter or e) all of the above

Living in Boston, Massachusetts, Evan is a 21 year old English major and Journalism minor with a lifelong passion for film, games and literature. He is a living movie quotation machine, and obsessively analytical. Evan will always give an honest and fair opinion with an insertion of wit where appropriate. (Who are you kidding? It’s always appropriate.) He is an aficionado of superheroes, old school video games and (subjectively) awesome movies; his favorites in no particular order or categorization include: Legend of Zelda, Scott Pilgrim, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Lord of the Rings, Spider-Man, Metal Gear Solid, Memento, Shadow of the Colossus, Metroid Alien, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Reservoir Dogs, and a lot of other stuff.

Evan can be contacted via email here or here.

 

Andrew Hunter – Writer

At 23 years of age, Belfast-born and Toronto-raised Andrew Hunter is a freelance writer for several web and print publications based in and around T.O. A perpetual student, Andrew studied Hospitality Management at Seneca College, Freelance and Feature Writing at London School of Journalism and is currently completing his BA in Professional Communication at Royal Roads University in Victoria, British Columbia. His favourite films include In Bruges, Inception and Glengarry Glen Ross. His favourite television series include Game of Thrones, Magic City and 30 Rock. His favourite musical acts include Arkells, Sam Roberts Band and Mumford & Sons. Andrew takes pride in being the sole Canuck contributor at TYF. If ever he mistakenly uses the Canadian spelling of a word and it upsets you, he doesn’t care and thinks you should move on with your life. “Eh.”

You can contact Andrew on Twitter (@TheAndrewHunter) or via email here.

Leigh-Ann Brodber - Writer

Leigh-Ann Brodber is an upcoming enthusiastic journalist. She knows it is a field that is already heavily flooded by diverse opinions, hard criticism and occasional appraisal (when it’s due), but she’s sure she’ll be able to add her own colors to the journalism rainbow soon enough. Leigh-Ann currently attends COSTAATT, a college located in the Caribbean, where she’s pursuing her Bachelors in Mass Communication. She’s written film, stage production and food articles for various websites, and she’s also a born and bred animal rights activist, although she doesn’t think she’ll ever give up her rights to eat chicken. She has helped out at her local hospital many-a-time by indulging in weekly chit-chat with patients under a program called Candy Stripers. She recently started getting help for her long term Facebook addiction, she swears. You can contact her via email here.

 

Cristina Moreano – Writer

Cristina is 29 years old, born in Guayaquil, Ecuador but is currently living in Buenos Aires, Argentina working on her Entertainment Master’s Degree dissertation related to movie marketing. She loves to talk and write about films, TV, and anything related to pop culture. Taking creative photographs is one of her hobbies and enjoys listening to bands such as Oasis, Blur, The Strokes, Kasabian, The Killers, The Lumineers, Arcade Fire, Franz Ferdinand, The Hives…among other bands.

 

Luke Amargo – Writer

Luke Amargo is an entrepreneur and writer. He is the type that likes to breathe life into people and projects—he does wish that wish it was as innate as lung movements. He is the co-founder of a non-profit organization, “Friends of the Pen,” that seeks to reach out to and inspire communities through writing, artistry and publications. He has been recognized in his artistic and writing endeavors by Scholastic’s Art and Writing Competition, ASCI, his old high school and the Fleet Reserve. Luke studies English Literature, Entrepreneurial Studies and Digital Design at Grand Canyon University. He is an up and coming novelist, short storywriter, singer-songwriter and digital designer. You can contact him here or find him and some of his works on lukeamargo.tumblr.com.

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