Verge Magazine: Volunteer abroad, work and travel, study abroad

Co-founder of Verge and the Go Global Expos, Editor-in-chief

Jeff hails from Waterloo, Ontario and has worked and studied on four continents and travelled to six, including a season's worth of expeditions to Antarctica. With degrees in Environmental Studies and Architecture from the University of Waterloo, Jeff has a solid background in design, which he makes good use of in his art director role. Before co-founding Verge magazine, he worked for eight years as an outdoor education instructor and guide. He is a great believer in experiential education and sees Verge Magazine as a means of encouraging more people to learn about the world by experiencing as much of it as possible.

Contributing editor

Although Jessica has travelled to more than 25 countries, her favorite place to throw down her bag is still her hometown of Cold Lake, Alberta. In addition to holding a Bachelor of Journalism, Jess has worked in both head office and field capacities for international development organizations and tour operators. She’s conducted environmental education workshops in Vanuatu, perfected the use of a satellite phone in the jungles of Guyana and supervised teenage pool parties in the Dominican Republic. Jess currently resides in Toronto, where she’s constantly planning in her next big adventure.

www.gofurthertravel.com

Originally from Montreal, Andrea has a hard time staying in one place. After gaining a BA from Western and a Masters in Journalism from the University of Southern California, Andrea hit the road and never looked back. She has worked professionally as a journalist in six different countries, and earned several travel writing awards in the process. Andrea joined the Verge team in 2006.

James is a multimedia journalist originally from Montreal, Canada. Over the past several years he has written, filmed, photographed and recorded from the heart of major events across four continents. James has reported from several major international conflicts, humanitarian crises and national elections in countries including South Africa, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Bolivia and from several points across Europe and North America.

www.jamesstairs.com

Verge magazine's music columnist, Matthew Forss holds a BA in biology, MS in exercise science, and an MFA in creative writing. Since 2000, he has been writing world music reviews for Edmonton-based Inside World Music.com, while amassing a very large collection of ethnomusicological recordings from every country in the world. Matthew continues to publish music articles and cultural book reviews in various academic journals and magazines and has an acquired taste for Central Asian linguistics (Uzbek, Kazakh, and Tajik).

Professional photographer Trevor Lush has produced imagery for some of  the industry's foremost agencies. Recent productions have taken him from  the glitz of Las Vegas to the stark beauty of the Canadian Arctic. Trevor  contributes a regular column on travel photography.