Our Crew
Aliza
Aliza Pearl is an improviser, actress, writer, Trekkie, RPG player, host, and content creator originally from Newark, NJ. Of African-American, Puerto Rican, and Afro-Caribbean heritage, Aliza explores identity and split cultural ties through scifi, comedy and genre storytelling. Having gotten her start in musical theater, she regularly performs narrative improv with Ripley Improv, improvised Star Trek group “The Improvised Generation,” and all-black female group Essence Improv.
On-screen acting credits include: Showtime’s “House of Lies,” “Days of Our Lives,” byuTV’s “Show Offs!” indie feature films “Something is Killing Tate” (Starz), “Faith Based,” “Everything Before Us,” “Newly Single,” and “Darkness Falls,” plus various short films (“Beached” with Nic Collins, “The End” with Matthew Philip Smith) and viral videos with YouTube giants WongFu Productions, Black and Sexy TV, and Comediva’s popular webseries “BAMF Girls Club.” Her latest film project was acting in and associate producing a completely improvised anthology series with Ripley Improv, “As We Go Along.”
She has hosted for Nerdist, Geek & Sundry, and Pop Culture Hero Coalition (Chase Masterson’s anti-bullying nonprofit). She was a host and RPG performer in a “Carnival Row” docuseries “Into Carnival Row” and its accompanying RPG tabletop game, “The Heist on the Row”, all in partnership with Nerdist, Legendary TV, and Amazon. Aliza developed and is a cast member on the live tabletop RPG show “Blood of the Void” on QueueTimes (an all-Klingon campaign on Twitch); previous RPG shows include “Callisto 6” “Shield of Tomorrow” and “Overlight” (as Gamemaster) on Geek & Sundry, and “Rat Queens” on Hyper RPG.
She’s appeared on panels at Star Trek Las Vegas (STLV), San Diego Comic Con, Los Angeles Comic Con, Long Beach Comic Con, Virtual Trek Con, the Klingon Day of Honor, and Geek Girl Con in Seattle. Aliza has co-written Nerdist News, Nerdist Presents sketches, and music parodies including “Team Nerdist Hitman,” “Young King – Black Panther Jaden Smith Parody” (1.4 million views), and “Darth Vader Teaches Branding”; she wrote and starred in the comedy sketches “When Your Co-Worker Gets Back From Wakanda” and “Pizzazz: Where’s My Movie?”
You can find her on Twitter @AlizaPearl.
Andi
Andi went through most of her adult life sadly unaware of the Star Trek universe until she launched @FirstTimeTrek, a Twitter account dedicated to live-tweeting her first impressions of Star Trek. Slowwwlllllyy.
Since then, she has appeared on an array of Star Trek podcasts sharing her fresh perspective on the shenanigans of Starfleet.
She lives in Chicago, devoting her time to drop-kicking the Patriarchy and cuddling Mary Cat and Jerry Cat.
Grace
In middle school Grace Moore realized the only way to rebel against sex, drugs, and rock n roll was to talk about fictional space explorers on the internet. She’s been podcasting and blogging for a literal decade which is metaphorically how long she will rant about it. She has contributed as a writer to Mythcreants, Journey Planet, and the Women at Warp blog (natch).
Based out of Seattle she attended the Evergreen State College where she studied fine arts and literature. She’s a beast at karaoke and hates ants. Like a cave diver searching for meaning among a million indecipherable wall scribbles, you can explore her many many MANY pet interests on her twitter @bonecrusherjenk.
Jarrah
Jarrah Hodge fell in love with Star Trek when, at five years old, she started watching TNG with her parents and older siblings. Now she’s bringing her gender studies background to look at the franchise she loves so much.
Jarrah is an award-winning feminist blogger who has written for The Mary Sue, the Vancouver Observer, Bitch Magazine Blogs, and the Tyee. She currently blogs about feminism and women’s issues in Trek at trekkiefeminist.com. Jarrah has spoken on panels at Star Trek Las Vegas, Ottawa Comiccon and Geek Girl Con, and has appeared on NPR, CTV television, CBC radio, and many a Star Trek podcast.
She lives in Ottawa, Canada with her cats Odo and Sandwiches. You can find her on Twitter @jarrahpenguin.
Kennedy
Kennedy Allen wears many hats, but this actor, writer, vocalist, and award-winning producer will always declare her love for all things Trek!
A Philadelphia native, this “Trekspert” has hosted panels and lectures up and down the east coast, appearing at events such as New York Comic Con, BlerdCon, Greater Philadelphia Comic Con, BlerdCity, BaltiCon, Star Trek Mission: New York, and so much more.
Her hobbies include dismantling oppressive systems, comics, cosplay, craft beer, axe throwing, baseball, and Klingon opera.
Sue
Sue is a lifelong Star Trek fan, and has been a member of the online fan community since the days of usenet, searching daily for new Picard/Crusher fanfic. She was probably (definitely) much too young to be on usenet…
Sue has a deep and abiding love of fandom history, and has written and spoken on the subject for various outlets, and she’ll gladly take any unwanted, old zines off your hands. She’s appeared on panels at Dragon Con, Star Trek Las Vegas, New York Comic Con, and The Paley Center for Media, among others. Though Trek is her first love, Sue has been known to “cross the streams” and is active in myriad fandoms.
A NYC theater professional by day, Sue keeps herself occupied between podcasts and work by researching and creating new cosplay, and caring for her clowder – Oswin, Tilly, and Esme.