About Us

Marianne Partridge

Marianne Partridge is the editor-in-chief and co-founder of The Santa Barbara Independent, which published its first issue on Thanksgiving Day in 1986. Before moving to Santa Barbara in 1980, Partridge was the editor of the Village Voice, executive editor of Look Magazine, and senior editor of Rolling Stone magazine, where she also served as bureau chief in New York and Los Angeles. She began her career as a secretary at the original Saturday Evening Post, later working there as fiction reader and on the copy desk. She was a reporter in the Los Angeles bureaus of Forbes Magazine and The New York Times in the early '70s and a contributing editor to New West magazine in the early '80s. Partridge was born in 1945 in New York City. As a child, her family traveled extensively throughout the country to racetracks where her father trained a stable of thoroughbred horses. A graduate of Bard College with a degree in social philosophy, she held a myriad of jobs before settling on journalism, including stints as a nanny, a waitress, a social worker, a political scheduler, a founding member of the Los Angeles Women's Improvisational Theater, and a rejected candidate for the Peace Corps. She has been married for nearly 40 years to Santa Barbara cattle rancher Jim Poett, with whom she has raised their two children, and many dogs, cats, and horses.

Nick Welsh

Nick Welsh is a cartoonist trapped in a writer's body. During his long career at The Santa Barbara Independent, he has yet to learn how to draw. Nor, in fact, has he ever learned to type. Even so, he manages to pound out a relentless stream of news articles every week on a wide range of subjects. In addition, he writes the Angry Poodle column.

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Matt Kettmann

A fifth generation Californian originally from San Jose, Matt Kettmann started at The Santa Barbara Independent in 1999, working as a proofreader, news reporter, and pop culture editor before becoming senior editor in 2006. In addition to covering Santa Barbara for the past two decades, the UCSB grad has tracked down stories in such places as Bolivia, Belize, Costa Rica, Uganda, Thailand, Hong Kong, India, France, Spain, Mexico, and the wartorn, officially unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic between Armenia and Azerbaijan, a 2004 adventure that helped launch his wine writing career. He's also a contributing editor for Wine Enthusiast, reviewing the wines and covering the culture of the Central Coast and Southern California, and has written about a variety of topics for the New York Times, TIME Magazine, Smithsonian, Wine Spectator, Sunset, and other publications large and small. For an archive of his work, see mattkettmann.com. For his wine reviews on Wine Enthusiast, see winemag.com/taster/matt-kettmann.

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Tyler Hayden

Senior Editor Tyler Hayden started at the Santa Barbara Independent as an intern in the spring of 2009 while studying English and editing at UCSB. He was hired as an associate editor that fall and became the newsroom majordomo soon after. Since then, he's spent his days editing and writing stories, wrangling interns, and helping manage independent.com. Tyler regularly contributes to a number of Santa Barbara and national news organizations, and he and the Independent's reporters have received multiple awards from Editor & Publisher, the California Newspaper Publishers Association, and the Association of Alternative Newsmedia, most recently for their coverage of the Thomas Fire and 1/9 Debris Flow.

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Leslie Dinaberg

Leslie Dinaberg is the Arts, Culture, and Community Editor for the Santa Barbara Independent. She grew up in Santa Barbara and was the Managing Editor of Santa Barbara SEASONS for more than a decade. She has written for and edited several national and regional publications and is the former Editor-in-Chief of Touring & Tasting Magazine and Managing Editor of UC Santa Barbara Magazine.

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Jackson Friedman

Jackson Friedman came to the Santa Barbara Independent in 2010, starting as a copy editor before moving up to his current position as copy chief. Born and raised in Santa Barbara County, he studied English and professional editing and tutored writing at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he received his BA with highest honors.

Jean Yamamura

A transplant from Ventura County, Jean Yamamura arrived on the Independent's doorstep in 1996, joining the paper that had been a tonic at lunchtime every Thursday for years. Between then and graduation from UCSB in comparative literature in 1982, she had worked in publishing, with a sideways slide into the law for a time. The past decades have been spent raising children, chickens, and dogs, and copy editing, managing the opinions page, and news reporting.

Terry Ortega

Ryan P. Cruz

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Callie Fausey

Callie Fausey first started reading the Independent while attending Santa Barbara Senior High School, prompted by the pile of issues her dad would hoard on their living room coffee table. After receiving her BA with honors in Media Studies from the University of San Francisco in 2022, Callie returned home to Santa Barbara and began an internship writing for the Independent's Arts and Culture section under Leslie Dinaberg. From there, she was hired as a staff news reporter and has enthusiastically taken on the role, motived by her love of writing and the Santa Barbara community (and fueling her dad's newspaper collection).

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Tessa Reeg

Nathan Vived

Nathan Vived is a graduate of UCSB in 2021 and went on to earn a Masters from the University of Edinburgh. When not editing for the Independent, he can be found at a Starbucks, writing.

Ava Talehakimi

Xavier Pereyra

Born and raised in Santa Barbara, Xavier Pereyra started at the Independent in early 2022 as a graphic designer, before moving to his current role as Art Director. Xavier graduated from San Jose State with a B.A. degree in design studies with an emphasis in graphic design. In his spare time you can find him coaching youth football or enjoying food at any of Santa Barbara’s great restaurants. His work can be seen throughout our weekly print issues.

Jill Critelli

Jillian (“Jill”) Mamey Critelli hails from Glendale, CA, and is a fine artist, photographer, and graphic designer. A Jill-of-all-trades, she has worked in the cultural non-profit field and consulted in areas ranging from the arts to youth development to politics and seismology. In her spare time, she collaborates with her husband and creative partner, Mike, co-hosting a radio show on UCSB’s KCSB-FM, plus art projects galore! She attended Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY for photography, earned a BFA in Fine Art Media from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA, and received her MA in Organizational Leadership from Woodbury University in Burbank. Jill now resides in the Goodland, enjoying the simple pleasures of camping, dancing, and hanging out with their dog, Daisy.

Bianca Castro

Meet Bianca Castro, your local Santa Barbarian with a passion for branding and digital marketing. With a degree in business administration and a knack for advertising and graphic design. When she's not busy crafting captivating campaigns, you'll find her exploring the scenic trails, spiking volleyballs at East Beach, or lending a helping hand at the non-profit Alpha Resource Center.

Don Brubaker

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Anika Duncan

Gail Arnold

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Starshine Roshell

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Josef Woodard

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Victor Bryant

Brandi Rivera

Brandi Rivera started with the Independent in March of 2008. She has served as the company's CFO, Business Manager and in August 2017 became the Independent's first female Publisher. A Santa Barbara "local" by way of UCSB, where she earned both her Bachelors and Human Resource Management certification, Brandi appreciates how involved the Independent is in the community. The staff is like a giant family to her and she feels like it is her duty to preserve the role of the Independent in the Santa Barbara community for years to come. Brandi completed her MBA from Pepperdine University in December of 2017. In January 2018 she and her husband Victor welcomed their first son, Elijah into the world followed by twins Amaya & William in 2022. In her ever dwindling spare time she enjoys reading, running, watching movies and rooting for her favorite sport teams. #GoDodgers #GoLakers #GoNiners.

Emily Cosentino Lee

Emily Cosentino Lee started with the Santa Barbara Independent in December of 2015. As the marketing and promotions manager, Emily is highly involved in events and special projects including the Santa Barbara Gives! program and Indy Book Club. Emily graduated from UCSB with a bachelors degree in Mathematics / Economics and earned a Technology Management Program certification. When Emily isn’t working she can be found with her nose in a book or in a wine glass.

Tobi Feldman

Tanya Spears Guiliacci

Sarah Sinclair

Sarah Sinclair is a dynamic leader in the fields of newspaper advertising and hi-tech business management. She is currently the director of advertising at the Santa Barbara Independent, which she describes as the best job in the best community in the world. She also writes a weekly column called "Make Myself at Home" for The Independent's real estate section. Throughout her career, Sarah has been involved with many charitable organizations, currently serving on boards of directors for Jodi House, American Heart Association, Santa Barbara’s Downtown Organization, and as the 2018 chairperson of the Santa Barbara Association of Realtors’ fundraising committee. Sarah has been honored with community and industry awards including the WCAA Charles Horn Award, and the Santa Barbara Association of Realtors’ community service award and 2017 Affiliate Member of the Year award. A graduate of UC Santa Barbara, Sarah enjoys travel, baseball, photography, and daily beach walks with her dog Scout.

Camille Cimini Fruin

Suzanne Cloutier

Tonea Songer

Remzi Gokmen

Graham Brown

With nearly 20 years of PR, marketing and media experience, Graham Brown brings her unique set of skills to the sales administrator position at the Indy.