Meet the New Fall 2021 Faculty!

Kristal Batanjany (Book Publishing Financials) was named Associate Finance Director for Simon & Schuster in 2019 and has worked in the publishing industry for over 7 years. In her position, she is responsible for forecast modeling, evaluating capital expenditures, and performing cost-saving analyses. Prior to entering the publishing industry, she held management positions in the travel & hospitality industry. During her tenure at Simon & Schuster, she has been the business manager of the Gallery and Atria imprints, analyzed major acquisitions, and managed the diligence process for high-profile business changes. She earned her M.B.A. from Fordham University and B.B.A. from Seton Hall University.

When Kristal was in high school, she and her father started a website that sold candles for some warehouses across the country as a side project, with top customers ending up being resorts in Las Vegas.

Trish Daly (Book Acquisition and Editing) is a Senior Editor at Portfolio, an imprint of Penguin Random House, where she edits a wide range of narrative and idea-driven nonfiction involving journalism, history, economics, or current affairs, looking especially for authors who can tell a compelling story to illuminate a wider subject. Previously she held positions at Little, Brown, editing bestselling author James Patterson, and HarperCollins, where she acquired Margot Lee Shetterly’s bestseller Hidden Figures, later adapted into an Oscar-nominated film. Trish is a graduate of Boston College and NYU’s Summer Publishing Institute.

Trish is a recreational runner with a few marathons under her belt, and enjoys using running metaphors for the editing process (sprints, marathons, finish lines, et cetera).

Jessica Dodell-Feder (Introduction to Magazine Media) is Deputy Editor of Food Network Magazine, The Pioneer Woman Magazine, and ThePioneerWoman.com at Hearst Magazines, where she manages the features department, which includes five print editors, five digital editors, and several freelancers; edits, assigns, and/or writes all print features and front-of-book stories, covering food, drink, wellness, health, travel, entertaining, home design, and DIY; develops monthly lineups with the Editor-in-Chief and Executive Editor; uses SEO and keyword research to develop and edit content for ThePioneerWoman.com; produces photo shoots; and works with marketing and advertising teams on native and custom content to be used across multiple platforms. Previously the Features Editor for the same titles, she has also held editorial positions at HGTV Magazine and Country Living during her tenure at Hearst, as well as having worked at Time Inc.’s This Old House. Jessica earned her degree from Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Communications.

Jessica has herded goats with Guy Fieri!

Lauren Hesse (Advanced Social Media Marketing Practices) is the Director of Social Media at Little, Brown and Company. She oversees social media, email marketing, brand partnerships and website initiatives for the imprint and advises on digital platforms for house authors. Previously, she worked in social media at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and in digital marketing at Doubleday and St. Martin’s Press. Outside of her publishing work, Lauren has mentored with Girls Write Now, an organization that empowers high school girls and gender non-conforming teens through creative writing, for over 7 years. She graduated from Ithaca College with honors and a degree in Writing and Integrated Marketing and Communications.

Lauren grew up next to a cemetery, which likely inspired her interest in all things “spooky.”

Dennis Lee (Introduction to Multimedia Financial Analysis) is Senior Director of Finance for Books & Media at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, where he assists the President of Books & Media to develop overall business strategy for Books & Media assets; manages the integrated capital & financial planning process; provided the case study and financial business plan for building an Audio studio and creation of Audio division within Books & Media; works with legal counsel to operationalize projects and integrate “production accounting” from traditional publishing GAAP accounting; and creates various financial models and/or scenario planning models in order to help the sales force negotiate financial and operational terms for big retail accounts such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Readerlink, and Ingram. Prior to joining HMH, he was Vice President of Business Management & Finance at Penguin Random House, having worked his way up from Business Manager of the Penguin Adult Hardcover & Tradepaper Division, and also held positions at Simon & Schuster and Marvel Enterprises, Inc. Dennis received his M.B.A. from CUNY Baruch College’s Zicklin School of Business.

In high school, Dennis worked at a comic book store and eventually started his publishing career working at Marvel.

DongWon Song (Niche Markets: Mystery, Science Fiction, and Horror) is an agent at Howard Morhaim Literary Agency representing science fiction and fantasy for adults, young adult, and middle grade readers as well as select non-fiction. They were formerly an editor at Orbit and a project manager for the ebook startup Zola Books. DongWon earned their degree from Duke University.

DongWon has a workshop in Red Hook, Brooklyn, where they make a variety of useful objects out of wood.