Meet the New Fall 2022 Faculty!

Diane di Costanzo (Introduction to Media) is Chief Content Officer of Foundry 360 at Dotdash Meredith, where she manages a team of over 20 editors and creatives to produce branded content experiences. She has more than 25 years of writing, editing, and reporting experience, over which time she has accrued accolades for her exceptional editorial achievements. Diane has held positions at Esquire, Condé Nast, Hearst Magazines, National Geographic, Time Inc., and Dotdash Meredith, where she has worked for 15 years. In 2019, Diane was named one of Folio’s Top Women in Media and in 2020, she launched Millie Magazine, a publication designed to help women achieve their financial goals, for which she serves as Editor-in-Chief. Diane earned her Bachelor’s degree from Washington University in St. Louis, and is an alum of the NYU Summer Publishing Institute.

Fun fact: Every year, Diane works as an on-court reporter at the U.S. Open, covering tennis matches and players.

Nivia Evans (Niche Markets: Mystery, Science Fiction, and Horror) is a Senior Editor at Orbit, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, where she indulges in her lifelong obsession with science fiction and fantasy. She began her publishing career at the Overlook Press after working as an English teacher for three years. Nivia is a Hugo Award nominee for Best Editor and in 2020 was named Publishers Weekly’s Star Watch “Superstar.” She earned both her undergraduate degree and her Master of Adolescent Education from Adelphi University. Nivia is committed to seeing diverse representation in publishing and often dreams of being as iconic as Pam Grier.

Fun fact: The first band I saw in concert was System of A Down.

Edison García (The Global Marketplace: Challenges and Opportunities) is Senior Manager of International Sales at Ingram Content Group, leading sales in the Open Market, India, and Africa. Edison graduated from the City College of New York with a BA in Spanish Literature and started his career in publishing at Simon & Schuster in the managing editorial department, later transitioning to the international sales team. In 2013, he joined Perseus Books Group, now Ingram Content Group, as sales manager for Latin America & The Caribbean and The Middle East, and eventually grew his team to manage sales in Europe as well. Throughout his career, he has traveled to more than 40 countries selling books, meeting with his Int’l Field Reps, local retailers and distributors, and attending international book fairs. His favorite author is Roberto Bolaño, and his favorite genres are literary fantasy and mystery. Edison resides in New Jersey with his beloved pomeranian, Miel.

Fun Fact: On his quest to spread the written word around the globe, Edison has visited booksellers from 43 countries. 

Tavia Kowalchuk (Introduction to Marketing and Branding) is a Senior Director within the William Morrow Group marketing department at HarperCollins Publishers. She develops marketing strategy for the Mariner Books imprint, creates marketing campaigns for big books across all Morrow imprints, and oversees a team of three marketers. 2022 marks Tavia's twenty-fourth year with HarperCollins, where she started as an assistant in international sales. During her 9 years in sales, she sold to accounts in Australia, New Zealand, and Latin America; was the New York area field rep selling to regional independent bookstores for a bit, and also sold Harper books to Barnes & Noble. As a marketing director, Tavia has worked on bestselling books by authors such as Neil Gaiman, Ree Drummond, Joe Hill, Bret Baier, Gregory Maguire, Chris Kyle, Dorothea Benton Frank, Greg Iles, and more. Tavia is on the board of Majuscule literary magazine, co-host of the Book Club Girl Podcast, and an alum of NYU, with her M.A. in Italian Language and Culture.

Fun Fact: Tavia owned and operated her own artisanal ice cream business for two years.

Jennifer Lally (Intro to Multimedia Financial Analysis) is currently the Business Manager at Penguin Random House (PRH) who provides strategic business partner support for the Viking/Penguin, Riverhead and Penguin Press imprints. She has been part of the PRH family since 2017 and has almost two decades of diverse experience in numerous financial disciplines, including financial planning and analysis, business management, accounting and financial statements and strategic corporate planning. Jennifer is a proud graduate of the Carroll School of Management at Boston College, an active board member of the Galway Association of New York and a participant in several organizations dedicated to important philanthropic and charitable endeavors.

Jennifer is a true New Yorker who was raised in Yonkers and currently resides with her husband in southern Westchester County.  She enjoys travel for leisure and has been to 25 countries and counting.  She is also just as content at home, engrossed in a Maeve Binchy novel or revisiting some of her favorite Penguin Classics while sipping a boiling hot cup of Irish tea.

Courtney Mason (Capstone Thesis) is Vice President and General Manager of The Spruce & MyDomaine. For each brand, Courtney owns the vision & mission and oversees all content initiatives and business strategies to achieve ambitious visitor growth goals. Before joining Dotdash Meredith, Courtney was the Vice President of Paid Products at Meredith Corporation where she managed direct-to-consumer products, partnerships, and platforms. She previously led new product development at Time Inc., and began her career in management consulting at Bain & Company. Courtney earned her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia, and her Master’s of Business Administration from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.

Fun fact: This August, Courtney completed her 3rd Pan-Mass Challenge, a 161-mile bike ride across Massachusetts to raise money for cancer research.

Mary McAveney (Capstone Thesis) is Chief Revenue Officer and Chief Marketing Officer at Open Road Integrated Media, where she develops and executes organic and inorganic growth strategy for the company, identifies acquisition targets and pursues them to completion, and completed the recent sale of the company. She was previously Senior Vice President of Marketing and later Chief Marketing Officer at Open Road, as well as having held positions at MSM Book Marketing, Smilebox, Simon & Schuster, Inc, HarperCollins Publishers, and Harry N. Abrams, Inc. Mary earned her degree from The College of New Jersey.

Fun Fact--I have recently adopted two rescue guinea pigs.

Tara Parsons (Introduction to Book Publishing) was named Vice President, Associate Publisher of the HarperOne Group at HarperCollins Publishers in November of 2018. She is responsible for overseeing the marketing departments for four of the HarperOne Group’s imprints: Amistad, HarperCollins Español, Martin Luther King Jr. Library, and HarperVia, for which she also acquires and edits her own list of titles. Her recent books include Jenna Book Club Pick Bright Burning Things by Lisa Harding, Indies Introduce Pick Greenland by David Santos Donaldson, and Indie Next Pick Woman, Eating by Claire Kohda. Prior to HarperCollins, Tara worked as Editor-in-Chief of Touchstone Books at Simon & Schuster and Editorial Director of Fiction at Amazon Publishing.

Fun Fact: Despite normally doing everything she can to avoid mud, Tara and her son completed a Tough Mudder this summer!

Heidi Richter (Publicity Practices in Publishing) is Senior Director of Publicity at Dey Street Books. Since joining HarperCollins in 2012, Heidi has orchestrated many bestselling campaigns including The Storyteller by Dave Grohl, You Got Anything Stronger? by Gabrielle Union, Finding Freedom by Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand, How Are You, Really? by Jenna Kutcher, Find Your Path by Carrie Underwood, The Education of an Idealist by Samantha Power, Dear America by Jose Antonio Vargas, Pretty Happy by Kate Hudson, This Is Me by Chrissy Metz, The Truth by Neil Strauss, Fail Until You Don’t by Bobby Bones, Strong is the New Beautiful by Lindsey Vonn, among others. Heidi also executes major publicity campaigns for the William Morrow Group and works with numerous high-profile authors including Karin Slaughter, Neil Gaiman, and James Rollins. Prior to joining HarperCollins, Heidi was a publicist at Berkley (Penguin Random House) and Scribner (Simon & Schuster). She has a M.S. in Publishing from NYU.

Fun fact: Heidi can play the clarinet!

Jessica Roy (Writing and Editing for Digital Platforms) is Digital Director of ELLE.com at Hearst Magazines, where she was formerly Deputy Editor and currently oversees, edits, and writes content for ELLE.com and ELLE’s social platforms; mentors, manages, and hires a team of talented writers and editors; identifies growth opportunities and implements strategies to increase audience; maintains traffic and other site-specific goals; works with the sales and print teams to identify opportunities for collaboration; and works with ELLE International and Lagardère to achieve shared goals. She previously held editorial and writing positions at New York, TIME, and The New York Observer. Jessica earned her degree from New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study.

Fun fact: I’ve been to Iraq three times, and it’s my favorite place to travel to.