Our Staff

EDITOR / OWNER

Thorunn Kristjansdottir is the principal, editor, publisher and designer of Main Street Magazine. She founded the magazine in January of 2013, because she found a niche: there wasn’t any magazine specifically for this area. Yes, there were numerous magazines that covered the area, but they also covered everything from Poughkeepsie to Vermont. Thorunn thought that there was a need for a magazine for just this area, featuring stories about the people, businesses, and curiosities that are to be found in this corner of the world. Having done this before (she was the co-creator, editor and publisher of another similar magazine), she went to work to create Main Street Magazine for Millerton and its surrounding area in late 2012. A magazine that is high-end in every aspect, from the content, writing and articles to the photographs and advertisements, from the layout to the printing. She strives for perfection at each step of the way.

Thorunn’s background lies in design, branding, marketing, and the magazine publication world. She has a BFA in Graphic Design and a BA in History, both with Cum Laude honors, from SUNY New Paltz. She is currently working on her Masters Degree in Integrative Marketing Communications at Marist College. Thorunn is also the principal of Thorunn Designs, LLC., a graphic design and marketing firm, as well as two seasonal Icelandic horse magazines —Tolt News and The Icelandic StudBook.

Thorunn can be reached at info@mainstreetmag.com.

ADVERTISING

Ashley Kristjansson is the director of advertising for Main Street Magazine, amongst other things. Her background lies in the sales and customer service sector, with over 15 years of experience.

Ashley is the face of the magazine in many ways, whereas she’s the friendly face that greets everyone who visits our office, and because she’s the one who is constantly out on the road meeting with our readers and advertisers. She’s got her finger on the pulse of the tri-corner area and welcomes your greetings and inquiries.

In her spare time, Ashley enjoys spending time with her family, singing, and always looks forward to a summer beach vacation. Did we mention she is a crazy cat lady, too?

Ashley can be reached at info@mainstreetmag.com.

PHOTOGRAPHY

Lazlo Gyorsok is the magazine’s in-house photography contributor and Photoshop guru – he even had a Photoshop technique named after him!

Lazlo was born and raised in Hungary, but sailed west in 1972. He settled in the Big Apple first and then in Cornwall Bridge, CT, where he still resides. Lazlo got his first camera (kind of a Russian version of Kodak box) at the age of ten and has been taking pictures ever since. In 2000 he graduated to digital and hasn’t looked back. He currently uses Sigma SD14, Nikon D700 and Fuji X-E1 cameras. Lazlo is a member of the Housatonic Camera Club and is also their webmaster. He loves to take pictures at Civil War reenactments, but his main interest are portraits. He likes the candid shots because they reveal much more of people than posed pictures do. Lazlo’s images have received numerous national (New England Camera Club Council, Photographic Society of America) and international awards.

Lazlo’s images now grace the covers of the magazine, as well as some may accompany articles. We’re truly excited to have Lazlo’s vision grace our pages. To see more of Lazlo’s work visit his website at www.pictures-by-lazlo.com.

Lazlo can be reached at info@mainstreetmag.com.

Olivia Valentine Markonic  is one of the magazine’s in-house and contributing photographers. She relocated back to her hometown of Millerton, NY eleven years ago. Photography became a huge part of her life when she became a mother. She was constantly taking pictures of her three girls and soon started taking photos of her friends’ children and their friends’ children. She recalls racing to the local camera shop with the film in the camera rewinding, eager to see what she had managed to freeze in time. Although she has switched to digital, she misses film. When she picked up her photos and went through them, she would instantly buy frames to put the photos in she deemed worthy. That isn’t the case so much with digital. Now we just look at photos on our computer screens!

Truth be told, Olivia isn’t skilled in Photoshop – basically what you see in her photos (besides maybe a little color enhancement) is what she saw looking through her viewfinder. However, Photoshop is something that she does hope to learn some day.

Olivia encourages everyone to slow down in this hectic life we are all living in and really look around and take in all the beauty that surrounds us.

Olivia can be reached at info@mainstreetmag.com.

COPY EDITOR

Viveca Gardiner has written and/or edited books, newsletters, articles, curricula, corporate communications, scripts, and study guides about a wide variety of subjects, including personal financial planning, juggling, nonprofit management, sociology, banking, circus, and science and she has edited romance and historical fiction novels and a memoir. She has taught test prep (mostly GMAT), English as a foreign language, and circus skills. Besides writing, teaching, and editing, Viveca is a principal of two entertainment businesses: David Gallo Design, which offers Emmy- and Tony-award winning set and production design as well as creative consultation for theater, television, circus, and hospitality clients, and Playful Productions, which provides circus and variety performers for special events, corporate training, and education programs. Viveca has a bachelor’s in literature from Harvard University and a master’s degree from the Yale School of Management.

Viveca can be reached at info@mainstreetmag.com.

WRITERS

Abby Audenino is a writer and social media content creator at Main Street Magazine. She writes about a little bit of everything, but is particularly passionate about food + drink, arts + culture, farming + agriculture, and the ways in which all of those topics intertwine. A Hudson Valley native, Abby holds a BA in communications with concentrations in journalism and public relations from Marist College and also obtained her certificate in copy editing from the American Copy Editors Society in 2022. Outside of writing, Abby enjoys attending concerts, reading, weightlifting, and a good cup of coffee.

You can reach Abby at abby@mainstreetmag.com.

CB Wismar is a contributing writer for the magazine. His focus is very multifaceted, but the common theme is his focus on people.

CB Wismar has fashioned a career out of being a storyteller. From his early days as a writer and producer of television shows and short films in Hollywood, where he managed to get three EMMY nominations and was twice a finalist in the Short Subjects competition for an “Oscar,” to his years of creating corporate videos for Fortune 500 companies and producing large form events and concerts, his goal has always been to create experiences. “I’m sure I’ve borrowed the definition of ‘experiences’ from someone along the way,” admits Wismar, “but I never think a story, a speech, an event or a film is worth doing if it doesn’t change the way people think and behave. You do that by telling a story.” He has written two feature film scripts, a book and countless speeches for corporate and philanthropic executives. In “re-firement” as opposed to “retirement,” he divides his time between creating strategic marketing packages for several clients, free-lance writing and getting in the way of his wife, artist Kathy Wismar, in her Kent, CT studio.

CB can be reached at info@mainstreetmag.com.

Christine S. Bates is a contributing writer for the magazine. Her focus is in the business, finance and real estate related fields, not to say that she won’t cover some of the fun and quirky, too!

Christine grew up in Upstate New York. She had a business career in banking and consulting stretching from Brazil to Korea, Miami and New York. After raising a family in Greenwich Village she moved to the village of Millerton five years ago with her husband, Peter Greenough.

Christine is a graduate of Oberlin College, University of Michigan and Columbia Business School where she received her MBA. She is a Director of the North East Community Center in Millerton and formerly reported on Millbrook for The Millerton News.

Christine can be reached at info@mainstreetmag.com.

Dominique DeVito is a contributing writer for the magazine. Her areas of interest are as vast as her knowledge of wine!

Dominique DeVito is a former owner of the Hudson-Chatham Winery in Ghent, NY. She was in magazine and book publishing in NYC, and has continued to write and edit. She had a regular column in the Register Star, and is delighted to be a regular contributor to Main Street Magazine. Dominique and her family are enchanted with Columbia County and all that the area has to offer, and her home and winery tasting room are full of books!

Dominique can be reached at info@mainstreetmag.com

Ian Strever is an outdoor enthusiast who moved to Falls Village five years ago to become the Assistant Principal at Housatonic Valley Regional High School. He has explored the local area on foot, on bike, on ski, and on snowshoe, and has written about it for The Lakeville Journal and on his blog, outdoorsct.wordpress.com. He graduated with a BA in English from Albright College, and MA in English with a Writing Focus from Western Connecticut University, and a MA in Educational Leadership from the University of Bridgeport. He has taught English at the high school and college levels, and his prose and poetry have appeared in a number of publications for nationwide audiences.

Ian can be reached at info@mainstreetmag.com.

Jesse DeGroodt is a contributing writer for the magazine. Over the years, he has written for the Chatham Courier, Hudson Register-Star, The Independent, the Berkshire Eagle, the Capital District Business Review, HomeStyle magazine, and the Chatham Press. Jesse is currently working on a book he describes as historical fiction. He’s a graduate of Utica College of Syracuse University, nowadays known as Utica University (UU!), where he picked up a B.A. in political science. That he would later serve 16 years as Chatham town supervisor he considers purely a coincidence. His first ambition in life was to play third base for the New York Mets. When that failed, he turned his attention toward becoming a professional golfer. These days, he says, he “sits in the corner writing about stuff and messing around with the granddogs.”

Jesse can be reached at info@mainstreetmag.com.

Lindsey Clark is an editorial writer for the magazine. She assists with social media content creation and advertising outreach, and has been published both in print and online for seven years now. Lindsey loves to write about a range of subjects, and some of her recent favorites have been the romance bookish community, authors, and trendy topics, like concerts, thrifting, and social media. She also covers stories about local businesses/organizations, history, and events. Lindsey is so glad to be a full-time member of the Main Street team after graduating Summa Cum Laude from Marist College in May 2024, earning a B.A. in English Writing.

Lindsey can be reached at lindsey@mainstreetmag.com.

Mary B. O’Neill, Ph.D., is a senior contributing writer for Main Street Magazine and podcast co-host for Main Street Moxie podcast with Main Street Media founder Thorunn Kristjansdottir. She incorporates her curiosity, humor, and her philosopher’s mind into the subject at hand. Mary is a serial reinventor of her professional life and a perennial gig worker and intrapreneur, bringing entrepreneurial energy and creativity to any organization. She teaches at Western Connecticut State University and Northwestern Connecticut Community College. In addition, Mary has recently directed communications at Great Mountain Forest in Falls Village, CT, and designed and built the Career Experience Program at Housatonic Valley Regional High School in Falls Village, CT. Previous to those roles, she created employee engagement training curriculum for corporate clients, coordinated programs at Scoville Memorial Library in Salisbury, CT,  facilitated philosophy minicourses for residents and the local community at Noble Horizons Retirement Community in Salisbury, CT, and has volunteered for local nonprofits. When Mary’s not juggling multiple jobs, she enjoys vegetable gardening, riding her flashy electric bike, hiking, traveling, and watching films in Marvel Cinematic Universe. She also relishes time with her husband and three adulting children.

Mary can be reached at info@mainstreetmag.com.

Pom Shillingford is a contributing writer for the magazine. Her area of interest lies with all things horticultural.

Pom grew up in Hampshire, England surrounded by beautiful gardens. Despite subsequently living in both London and Manhattan, she has always managed to find a space to call her garden. Having moved full time to Salisbury CT with her young family in 2012, she has spent the last ten years attempting to transform the three-acre wilderness that came with their equally dilapidated 1830’s house into a modern day Sissinghurst, with a seasonal specialty flower business on the side. She now blends her previous life as a magazine editor and journalist with her present-day life as a cut-flower grower by writing for Main Street Magazine.

Pom can be reached at info@mainstreetmag.com.

Regina Molaro is a freelance editor whose work has been featured in more than 20 publications, including Bespoke Magazine (St. Regis NYC); In Season (Mandarin Oriental, New York); City Guide New York, Modern Luxury Hawaii, Adweek, and beyond. In addition to writing for several lifestyle magazines in New York and New Jersey, she has written copy for websites and catalogues. Prior to enjoying a freelance career, Regina covered the art, fashion, beauty, home decor, food, and brands categories at several business publications, including Accent, Global Cosmetic Industry, Soap & Cosmetics, and License. Through a commission, she wrote a textbook chapter on fashion licensing for Pearson Education.

Regina earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Advertising Design from the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York NY. She also completed a study abroad illustration program at Polimoda University in Florence, Italy. Some of her volunteer work includes writing for non-profit organizations, including Beauty Foundation for Cancer Care and Clean Ocean Action, NJ. She also volunteers the Book Buddies children’s literacy program in Pine Plains.

Regina is a contributing writer for Main Street Magazine and she writes about … well, literally everything!

Regina can be reached at info@mainstreetmag.com.

Leora Armstrong is a multidisciplinary artist whose art practice encompasses drawing, collage, painting, and installations. She grew up on the Isle of Islay in the Inner Hebrides, Scotland and has lived and made work in Scotland, UK, and the USA. Armstrong currently resides and works in Falls Village with her two children. Armstrong’s art practice is grounded with her relationship to places, revealing sites which she investigates using an artistic perspective of the senses. Through utilization of the elements as collaborators within this practice, her work addresses weather, environment and place, recording actions and moments in time.

Armstrong studied BFA (Hons) at Chelsea College of Arts, London University of Arts, UK and completed her MFA at The School of Visual Arts, New York.

Her work has been exhibited extensively in solo and group exhibitions including Royal Academy London UK; IFPDA Print Fair, NY; E/AB Art Fair NYC, Satellite Art Fair Miami, FL, Five Points Art Centre CT; Gerald Bland Gallery NYC; the work is held in both private and public collections. Publications include, MR Architecture, House Beautiful, Veranda, Manifest INDA 6, 1st Dibs, and Spaces Magazine. Armstrong is a trustee on the Checkboard Film Foundation which makes documentaries on artists and writers. Leora is a contributing writer for Main Street Magazine focusing on artists and their practice.

Leora can be reached at info@mainstreetmag.com.

Whitney Joseph is a veteran, award-winning journalist who most recently spent 20 years as editor at The Millerton News. Whitney stepped down as editor — a job she cherished in a community she loved — in September of 2022 when she moved back to her home state of Florida due to personal reasons. She is now living among friends and family, with her dog Bailey, happier than she has been in decades.

Early in her career, Whitney was an on-air television news reporter in Kingston, N.Y., covering all 10 counties in the Hudson Valley Region.

Whitney has been writing and taking photos for Main Street Magazine since April 2023 and loving every moment of it, especially as it allows her to reconnect with those from the Millerton area despite being miles away.

Whitney has also been writing for magazines in the Sunshine State to stay busy in between her assignments for Main Street.