It began…
at MIT, where Jess studied city planning, as a reflection on the way the city takes on a unique character based on a resident’s personal narratives of security and aspiration. It became a podcasting project about fear, identity, and urban life.
Jess Myers | Producer & Host
Jess is an urbanist and assistant professor of architecture at Syracuse University whose practice includes work as an editor, writer, podcaster, and curator. In the past, Jess has worked in diverse roles—archivist, analyst, teacher—within cultural practices that include Bernard Tschumi Architects, the Service Employees International Union, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Rhode Island School for Design. Her research engages sound and multimedia platforms as a means to explore the politics of occupancy in urban conditions. Her writing can be found in the Journal of Architectural Education, Urban Omnibus, The Architect’s Newspaper, Log, l’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui, Avery Review, The Architectural Review, Places, Dwell, and the Funambulist Magazine.
Adriene Lilly | Producer & Sound Designer
Adriene is a sound designer and producer who’s worked with Jess on Here There Be Dragons since season 3: Stockholm. Her other credits include major productions at WNYC, Vox Media, Apple Podcasts, Audible, Spotify along with independent and award winning production teams across radio and podcasting. Her work has appeared in exhibitions around the world, live broadcast and in festivals. She also facilitates the public-access podcast LLtNS and teaches workshops on creative audio production. ** including the upcoming Salt Intensive: Behind Stories: The Sounds and Expressions That Can’t Quite Be Told.
Season 4 Collaborators
Mariia Smirnova | Urban Research Consultant
Mariia Smirnova is a native Odesite architect and city planner with a background in urban activism and organizing. Her research focuses on climate and ecology as well as spatial planning.
Natalia Vlasenko | Interpretation Consultant
Natalia Vlasenko, an ex Odesa tour guide (before the full-scale war), independent journalist, and fixer, is currently working as an interpreter and assistant of Frontline Medics NGO in Donbas.
Ivan Samokrutkin | Sound Consultant
Ivan Samokrutkin is a dynamic cultural worker, label manager, and founder of "система | system" music label. Today, "система | system" provides an architecture for the artistic and cultural development of Ukrainian art.
Theodore Dokla | Research Assistant
Theodore Dokla is an undergraduate architecture student at Syracuse University. He joined the team for season 4 Odes[s]a to work on production preparations and development of a digital sound map.
Nicole Trubskyy | Research Assistant
Nicole Trubskyy is an undergraduate architecture student at Syracuse University and a first-generation American from a Ukrainian family. She joined the Season 4 Odes[s]a team with a passion for supporting its mission, contributing to production preparations and developing the podcast’s monthly newsletter.
Behnam Barahmand | Research Assistant
Behnam Barahmand is a Master of Architecture student at Syracuse University. With roots in Isfahan, Iran, his lifelong inspiration, he’s deeply passionate about culture and sociology, especially through a historical lens. For Behnam, architecture is the ultimate intersection of his interests, a tangible bridge connecting the past and future.
Beatriz Bordignon Cypriano | Research Assistant
Beatriz Bordignon Cypriano is a Master of Science candidate at the Design l Energy l Futures program at School of Architecture, in Syracuse University. She is 26 years old from Brazil, with a background in architecture. She also works as a Teacher Assistant for the freshman year.
Past Collaborators
Adélie Pojzman-Pontay | Co-Producer
Adélie Pojzman-Pontay is a journalist and podcast producer based in Paris. She produced and hosted Emotions —a 50-minute bi-monthly show exploring why we feel what we feel and what our feelings tell us about us as human beings and about the world we live in— for Louie Media, a French podcast production company. She graduated from Columbia Graduate School of Journalism in 2015, which she attended thanks to a Fulbright scholarship. During her career, Adélie has worked in Jerusalem, in Naples, Florida for the Naples Daily News and as a reporter in Santiago, Chile, for a local news radio station. While working on season 2 of Here There Be Dragons in 2016-2017, she worked as an editor at BuzzFeed France. Adélie works in French, English and Spanish.
Uthman Olowa | Student Assistant
Uthman Olowa is a Master of Architecture candidate at the Rhode Island School of Design. He graduated from Binghamton University in 2016 with a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering. In the immediate years after graduating, Uthman served in AmeriCorps programs, City Year and Public Allies, sparking his commitment to revitalizing Black and Brown communities through design. In his spare time, Uthman enjoys reading, getting lost down a YouTube rabbit-hole, or creating artwork.
Evelyn Ehgotz | Student Assistant
Evelyn Ehgotz is a Master of Architecture candidate in her final year at the Rhode Island School of Design. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science in architecture from Lawrence Technological University in Southfield, Michigan in 2020. Evelyn’s studies have focused on digital and physical relationships as well as representation methodologies. For HTBD, she provides support for grants and funding sources and helps to manage the website.
Alia Varawalla | Student Assistant
Alia Varawalla is a Master of Architecture student at the Rhode Island School of Design. She graduated from OCAD University in Toronto in 2018 with a Bachelor of Design in Environmental Design. Alia has design experience working on large corporate office renovations at the Bank of Montreal and more recently within the hospitality and retail design sectors at Restoration Hardware. Her passion for travel and exposure to different countries, environments, and cultures influence her approach to design.
Hengrong Ni | Student Assistant
Hengrong Ni is a Master of Architecture candidate in his final year at Rhode Island School of Design. Originally from Chengdu, China, he was influenced by architect Jiakun Liu, who focuses on social reality and a respect for local context and vernacular craftsmanship. He received B.A. in Zhejiang University in 2019 and has been exploring the intersection with computational design, architecture ornaments, and postmodern architecture theories in RISD. He loves cycling, reading, and DotA.
Kimberly Ayala Najera | Student Assistant
Kimberly Ayala Najera is a Master of Architecture student at Rhode Island School of Design. Southern California is home for her, where she graduated in 2013 from University of California, Los Angeles with a B.A. in International Development Studies. Kimberly works primarily on the newsletter and email correspondence.
Bilal Ismail Ahmed | Student Assistant
Bilal Ismail Ahmed is a Master of Architecture student in his final year at Rhode Island School of Design. Originally from Karachi, Pakistan, he received a B.A. in French at University of California, Los Angeles in 2018. Bilal has interned at MGA Partners, a Philadelphia architecture firm, and designed at several student-run publications. Bilal manages HTBD’s website.