The Queer Zest Zine Fest folks are a coalition of like-minded queer zinesters with a host of event experience under our belts. We were introduced through online queer zine scenes and decided to join together to make this event a reality!
Laura Chenault is an interdisciplinary artist creating art from a feminist and a post-modernist perspective. She believes concept and content must work hand and hand with presentation and display. She is the owner of Laurel Tree Bindery, a small bindery specializing in one of a kind books, zines, and short print runs. Passionate about making, she helps produce the Philly Maker Faire.
Lief Bennett (he/they) based in Columbus, OH, is an administrative assistant for a web marketing company by day and a comic artist by night. He is relatively new to comics and zines, but is excited to grow and learn with the QZZF community. Besides comics, Lief enjoys biking, mending and making clothes, and working on his website. He joined the web development team for QZZF after stumbling across this project while looking for virtual comic and zine expos. Check out Lief’s website https://houseoflief.com where you can read his comics and explore his other projects.
Jasper Martin is a freelance artist, graphic designer, and painter from Ohio who likes to dabble in every kind of arts and crafts they can get their hands on. They are new to the zine scene but have quickly fallen in love with the medium. When Jasper’s not working on an illustration or experimenting with a new art, they’re taking care of two cats and two stepkids with their wife, a local musician.
Olivia Montoya (she/her) is a 28-year-old creative based in CT, USA. She currently works as a graphic designer and studied computer science at Stanford University. She is a hobbyist in a variety of different areas, including video game dev, TTRPG design, LARP writing and GMing, zine making, programming tools for online gaming, digital art, public speaking, event and community organizing. She has organized the Litchfield County Zine Fest since 2018, taught many zine workshops and talks at conferences, libraries, zine fests, and other educational events. She has solo-run and co-run multiple successful Kickstarter campaigns. She was LARP Area Head at Arisia 2021, is a co-organizer of the LARP Community Organizers Retreat, and has facilitated or participated in a variety of events at gaming conventions, from panels to discussions to games. She also runs three community Discord servers, and several Facebook groups. She has hosted over a dozen game jams. In the Before Times, she organized in-person queer community meetups in her area. Identities that are important to her include: queer, bi/pan asexual, arospec, Autistic, latinx, and chronically ill. Find out more about her work at http://bit.ly/oliviamportfolio
