Team
Jessie Johnston — Founder, Publisher, Editrix-in-Chief
Jessie has been working in magazines and digital media since 2004, including fact-checking and blogging at National Geographic Traveler, ad sales with Clevers Media, and project-managing website development for Agentic Digital Media. After accumulating these professional hats, she decided in 2017 to put them all on at once and make her Asparagus publishing dream come true. When not chasing crazy dreams, Jessie can be found digging in her vegetable garden (or cooking up its produce), marching in a protest, applauding in the audience at a local theatre, riding her beloved two-wheeled steed, singing soprano in a kick-ass choir, or traveling to one of her myriad homes-away-from-home.
Alia Dharssi — Deputy Editor
Alia is a journalist, editor, and sustainability consultant based in Vancouver. Her writing and investigations on sustainability, global development, human rights and immigration have been published by a range of media outlets, including the New York Times, the Guardian, Al Jazeera, the National Post, the Financial Post, and Reuters. When she’s not busy chasing stories or crafting sentences, she can be found perplexing over how to lead a more sustainable life, salsa dancing, or curling up with a good book.
Christine Fwu — Art Director
Christine Fwu is a graphic designer based in Vancouver, Coast Salish Territories. She holds a Bachelor of Design in Communication Design from Emily Carr University. Her practice focuses in print & publication design, visual identity, creative direction, and typography. With an interest in old print processes and the handmade, she is always looking for opportunities to integrate them into her work. Christine can be found hiking in the mountains, biking through trails, smelling flowers, and capturing the beauty of nature through the seasons.
Aniana Domínguez — Board Member
Aniana is a writer and communications professional from the Dominican Republic, now based in Vancouver. Passionate about storytelling through moving pictures, books, and magazines, she believes in the power of words to bring people together, preserve history, and amplify unheard voices. Aniana holds degrees in marketing, creative writing, and publishing from universities in Mexico, Spain, and Canada, respectively. She has worked as a marketing specialist for magazines such as Santo Domingo Times, Manjar RD, and Shine and done Spanish-language copy-editing as a freelancer. She joined Asparagus Magazine as a marketing intern in 2022, helping create the award-nominated Asparagus Tips newsletter. She then used that experience as the foundation for her thesis for SFU’s Master of Publishing degree. She currently co-leads the Non-Traditional Newsstands Project for the Magazine Association of BC. Aniana has been a nomad studying and working around the world for the past 13 years.
Jane Hope — Board Member
Jane Hope is a marketer, publicist and storyteller working currently at Modo Co-operative. She has governance experience in a variety of nonprofit settings, including several years on the board of MagazinesBC and of Room Magazine. Outside of her professional life, Jane spends her time running, reading, and acting as staff to her (rather spoiled) cat, Maggie.
Christine Quintana — Board Member
Born in Los Angeles to a Mexican-American father and a Dutch-British-Canadian mother, Christine is now a grateful visitor to the unceded lands of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh people. Christine is an actor, playwright, co-Artistic Producer of Delinquent Theatre, and artistic associate of Neworld Theatre. Christine’s works have been translated and performed in Spanish, French, German, and ASL. As a performer, she’s acted on stages big and small, in a camper van, in neighbourhoods across East Vancouver, and on a farm. She is currently working on a commission for the Manhattan Theatre Club, and will premiere 4 new works next year across Canada. She can almost always be found somewhere on the Drive with a good cappuccino.
Daina Lawrence — Editor
Daina is a freelance journalist based in beautiful Vancouver, BC. Formerly of the Financial Times and Canadian Press, Lawrence’s work has also been published in the Economist, the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, the Walrus and Canadian Business magazine. Daina received her journalism degree from Carleton University.
Pamela Swanigan — Editor
Pamela Swanigan is a lifelong writer, editor, songwriter, singer, and biophiliac. E.O. Wilson is her hero, and she’ll fight anyone who says sociobiology is some kind of eugenicist plot. (She won’t really, but she wishes she would.) She has a PhD in why Children’s Lit authors are brilliant and academics are odious, and a masters degree in why African Americans don’t get along with Jamaican Americans. She herself is, as her witty husband puts it, “halfrican American”, as well as being both Canadian and American, both urban (Oakland) and rural (the West Kootenays), both highbrow (poetry) and lowbrow (Gogglebox). Since starting her professional writing career at the age of 18, she has written for Saturday Night, the Chicago Tribune, and the Toronto Star, among others, and has been an on-staff editor at the Georgia Straight, Vancouver Magazine, the Vancouver Sun, and Eye Weekly magazine. She’s all wore out on writing and now she just wants to edit.
Avvai Ketheeswaran — Associate Designer
Avvai is a full-stack developer and designer who loves to travel. With an education in Biology and Publishing, she’s on a quest to make science communication more accessible and fun. During her free time she can be found trying to read all the graphic novels at her nearest library, packing up a tent and some grub for weekend bike trips, and experimenting with new ways to live a more zero-waste and socially responsible life.
Anjali Bhardwaj — Associate Publisher
Anjali is a marketing and publishing professional based in Mississauga, ON. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Toronto, and is also pursuing studies in Digital Graphic Design at Seneca College. Her goal is to combine her love of publishing, design, and marketing into roles that empower her to makes meaningful changes in issues such as the environment, health, and literacy. In her spare time, she can be found reading classic murder mysteries, watching 90s horror movies, or doing DIY home renos.
Erin Flegg — Art Director Emerita and Lead Web Developer
Erin is a web developer and film photographer based in Vancouver, Coast Salish Territories. With a background in print media and an education in tech, she’s excited by the possibilities inherent in combining the two. She loves backpacking on the coast, growing flowers in the backyard, and shooting as many rolls of film as she can afford.
Elizabeth Flegg — Web Designer
Elizabeth is a graphic and UI designer. She brings her love of colour and form to all of her hobbies, including sewing, cooking and gardening.
Zohra Shahabuddin — Digital Marketing Assistant
Zohra is an international student from Pakistan currently pursuing a Masters of Publishing from SFU. She loves books, and libraries are her happy place. She is passionate about digital space and is looking to expand her horizons in the realm of digital marketing particularly for storytelling. She is agile and loves challenges. She believes in kindness and empathy.
Emily Birr — Logo Designer
Emily has been designing for web and other media for over ten years. Working from a place of empathy for humans and the natural world, she strives to create things that are both useful and beautiful.
