About Shameless
Shameless is Canada's independent voice for smart, strong, sassy young women and trans youth. It's a fresh alternative to typical teen magazines, packed with articles about arts, culture and current events, reflecting the neglected diversity of our readers' interests and experiences. Grounded in principles of social justice and anti-oppression, Shameless aims to do more than just publish a magazine: we aim to inspire, inform, and advocate for young women and trans youth.
Shameless strives to practice and develop an inclusive feminism. We understand that many of the obstacles faced by young women lie at the intersection of different forms of oppression, based on race, class, ability, immigration status, sexual orientation, and gender identity. As a grassroots magazine, we are committed to supporting and empowering young writers, editors, designers and artists, especially those from communities that are underrepresented in the mainstream media.
Proudly independent, Shameless is a grassroots magazine produced by a team of volunteer staff members, with content guided by a teen advisory board.
Each issue of Shameless entertains and inspires with profiles of amazing women, discussion of the hot topics that concern you most, DIY guides to crafty activities, sports dispatches, the latest in technology, columns on food politics, health & sexuality, advice and more.
Shameless has been making waves since its launch in June 2004. That year, Shameless was named Best New Magazine by Toronto alt-weekly NOW and nominated for two Utne Independent Press Awards (Best New Title and Best Design). In 2005, Shameless won an Utne award for Best Personal Life Writing. We were nominated again in 2006, for Lifestyle coverage. In 2005, cover story “Making The Cut” was nominated for a National Magazine Award.
Published three times a year, Shameless is available in independent bookstores and Chapters/Indigo locations across Canada and select locations in the United States.
Who we are
Shameless is a grassroots publication produced by a team of volunteer staff members. Rooted in feminism and DIY culture, we are creative, sassy and actively involved in the independent media and arts communities.
Sheila Sampath, Editorial Director
Sheila Sampath has worked as a counselor, organizer, educator and advocate in the anti-violence movement and has chaired the Board of Directors at the Toronto Rape Crisis Centre/Multi-cultural Women Against Rape. Currently, she combines her background in grassroots, anti-oppression activism with her passion for creative idea-making, as a Principal and Creative Director at The Public, a Toronto-based studio specializing in creative communications for unions, not-for-profits, public health and social justice organizations. Sheila has a diploma in graphic design and an Honours B.Sc. in Sociology and Psychology from the University of Toronto.
sheila@shamelessmag.com
Stacey May Fowles, Publisher
Stacey May Fowles is a writer and magazine enthusiast based in Toronto. Her writing has appeared in Fireweed, Misunderstandings, subTERRAIN, and Kiss Machine, and she has assisted in circulation and business development projects for Descant: A Journal of Arts and letters and Hive Magazine. Her first book is out with Tightrope Books, and her second book is out with Invisible Publishing. You can find her at www.staceymayfowles.com.
staceymay@shamelessmag.com
Allison Martell, Director of Popular Education
Allison Martell was a member of Shameless‘s first teen editorial collective,
when she was still in high school. By her second month at the University of
Toronto she was writing for The Varsity, the main campus paper. Since then
she has published more than a hundred articles in the student press and
beyond, including pieces for This Magazine, Xtra, The Tyee, and Eye Weekly.
She is currently an editorial intern at The Walrus.
allison.martell@gmail.com
Cate Simpson, Reviews Editor
Cate grew up in Edinburgh, Scotland, where she studied Philosophy before moving to Toronto to make her fortune in freelance journalism. She spent most of her adolescence on the internet, and very little has changed except that now sometimes being on the internet qualifies as “working.” She has written for Xtra, Eye Weekly, The List and Torontoist, and she writes a column on queer issues for This Magazine’s blog.
cate@shamelessmag.com
Wesley Fok, Webmaster
As the webmaster for Shameless, Wesley painstakingly created this website for your consumption by carefully gluing together the individual pixels on your screen using a very small glue stick. The pixels were sourced from a unionized fabrication plant in Louisiana and are made of equal parts light and magic. Wesley has written for The Globe and Mail and The Block.
webmaster@shamelessmag.com
Nicole Cohen, Board Member
Nicole is the co-founder and former co-editor of Shameless and a PhD candidate in the graduate program in communication and culture at York University. She has written for a variety of independent and alternative Canadian media, and her academic work has been published in Democratic Communique, Stream, and Feminist Media Studies. She is involved in several media-related projects, including Media Action and Upping The Anti: A Theory of Journal and Action. Nicole writes the Media Savvy column for Shameless.
nicole@shamelessmag.com
Melinda Mattos, Board Member
Melinda is the co-founder and former co-editor of Shameless. When Melinda was a teenager, the media tried to convince her that her breasts were too small, her brain was too big and her life would be incomplete if she didn’t have a boyfriend. When she got a bit older, she fought back by starting her own teen mag. Melinda has a Bachelor of Journalism from Ryerson University and has worked at The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, TVOntario, Magazines Canada and Eye Weekly. She writes The Last Word, a column about language, for Shameless.
melinda@shamelessmag.com
