Stephen Buel is editor and co-owner of the East Bay Express, where he has worked since 2001. A graduate of UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism, Buel has more than two decades of experience in weekly and daily newspapers. He has served as editor of Metro newspaper in San Jose, acting editor of the LA Weekly, and founded Spectrum Weekly in Little Rock, Arkansas, a paper inspired by the one he edits today. He also has worked as a reporter and editor at the San Jose Mercury News, Arkansas Democrat, and United Press International. In 1999 he helped found the Internet start-up Vox.com, but we all know how most of those turned out.

Janis Mara is a business and transportation reporter at the Contra Costa Times who has covered subjects ranging from iPods to gas prices to BART contracts to California's appliance rebate program and Open Carry. She covered the dotcom boom for Adweek, was once the PR director for Bay Area online discussion community the Well and is president of the East Bay Press Club.

Sasha Vasilyuk is a freelance journalist and independent publicist. She writes feature stories about events, people and trends in art, culture and business for San Francisco Chronicle, Russian Newsweek, 7x7 and other local and international publications. She consults small businesses and art organizations on PR and communications. She also helped start San Francisco's premier coworking space, Sandbox Suites.