About TheCoolist

TheCoolist is a mood board for your headspace. We help curate your cool through deep dives into topics of self-actualization, lifestyle, and interpersonal intelligence. Our articles maintain a high degree of informational integrity, deconstructing complex topics such as personality types, spirituality, socialization, culture, and much more.

Given our focus on improving the self, it follows that we should hold ourselves to similarly rigorous editorial standards. We believe one of the most critical components of journalistic integrity is transparency, and so here we lay out our editorial policies and standards for you to peruse below.

Our Mission

TheCoolist’s mission is to help our audience hone both character and lifestyle–which we consider both a privilege and a tremendous responsibility. As a result, topics covered to anything less than the very best of our knowledge and ability we consider to be misleading and even harmful.

The quality of our publication stems from the quality of our people. We are highly selective of the writers, editors, artists, and experts who produce our articles, and hire as much based on character as competence. TheCoolist is proud to foreground the passions, expertise, and experience of our contributors; simply hover over the bylines at the top of each article to find this information.

For particularly complex or sensitive topics, we affect an additional layer of scrutiny by consulting with topical experts to review the factuality and relevance of our content. Reviewer names and bios appear next to the author byline for quick reference of their credentials.

TheCoolist aims to produce evergreen content, but that does not mean we’re content to rest on our laurels after hitting the “publish” button. We periodically review older articles to ensure they remain relevant and factual, and any revisions will clearly display the date it was last updated.

Behind the Team

TheCoolist’s editorial team hails from six continents and brings a diversity of experience to the table in the creation of our site’s content. Below, you can see what makes us tick, and put a face with the names appearing at the top of each article.

 

ALEX ION

Editor in Chief

Alex has a nose for the good life, and brings his passions to bear cultivating TheCoolist. Having taken over the project from Seamus Payne fully in 2016, he continues to steer the ship towards a rapidly evolving horizon of lifestyle cravings.

An avid traveler, Alex has been all over the world and lacks nothing for inspiration to draw from his experiences. That said, he is most content with the simple things: fresh powder on the ski slopes, a well-maintained tennis court, and dinners with friends and family showcasing his signature dishes.

Setting third-person descriptions aside, I just want to say how honored I am to bring the best of the Internet to the fore with TheCoolist. Helping our readers take action to enhance their lifestyles and the world around us is a responsibility I take very seriously.

DIEGO VILLENA

Managing Editor

A connoisseur of miscellany and minutiae, Diego curates TheCoolist’s content coalition as its ebullient editor. When he’s not busy poring over alliterative thesauri, he’s amassing a book collection, building and using astronomical telescopes, planning and executing DIY projects, rules-lawyering board games, or strumming his Pomeroy on the porch.

Despite his name and birthplace of Madrid, Diego is a denizen of the Dirty South through and through. He enjoys arguing politics, money, and religion at the dinner table; marveling over science, technology, and human achievement; and acting as a veritable heat seeker for BIFL quality in all its many forms. His ideal of the modern renaissance man is a cross between Carl Sagan and Hank Hill.

KATHRYN CANNON

Editor

Kathryn Cannon is a freelance content writer for thecoolist.com. When she isn’t waxing poetic about the finer things in life, she works as a special education paraprofessional.

Thanks to her background in classical studies, Kathryn offers carefully curated copy with a unique voice. She spends her remaining free time keeping up-to-date on the latest trends, and scaring herself with true crime podcasts.

ALEX LAYBOURNE

Editor

Alex is a man who has seen what the real world has to offer, didn’t like it much and so became a writer.

A wordsmith to his very core, Alex would more often rather delve into an article or a story than embrace the real world. A man of many passions and interests, he is all too happy to pick up a pen and let the words flow.

Fuelled by caffeine and nourished by sarcasm, he survives the United Kingdom’s wet winters by pining for the usually wetter summers and dreaming of a potential damp spring.

When not squinting into the laptop he is often found out and about with his family or with reading a good book.

MARIA MIKKELSEN

Editor, Digital Artist

Bolivian-born and of Danish-Malawian descent, Maria Mikkelsen is what you’d call a third culture person. She’s spent her entire life around the globe, surrounded by diverse cultures and peoples. This experience nurtured an insatiable appetite for the written word that’s since matured into a career as a freelance content writer and published author.

As a purveyor of words, she prides herself as a generalist. When she does niche down, she contributes to health and wellness blogs, targeting mental health, nutrition, and self-improvement in her writing. She’s also experienced in therapy, telehealth, and relationship blogging.

When not writing articles, she’s chipping away at her novels, creating poetry, and developing video games. She’s been featured in several anthologies and occasionally creates digital collages to accompany her creative work.

NICK POLISHCHUK

Editor

Nick’s early passion for writing and his expertise in architecture, construction, and naval warfare are the foundation of his articles at TheCoolist. Nick studied at George Brown College and delved deep into architectural design, construction pricing, and contract law. Nick’s diverse background includes time spent in the Royal Canadian Navy, where he undertook deployments to Asia and the Arctic. Nick resides in British Columbia and has strong ties to Cambodia, where he volunteered as an English teacher and met his wife.

MEGAN BRYANT

Writer

All it took was one trip to South East Asia for Megan to realize that living in the UK just wasn’t for her. The best decision she ever made was moving out to Bali, Indonesia, and fulfilling her lifelong dream of having not one, but two Dachshund puppies.

After wanting a change of career, Megan found a huge passion for writing which brought her here to our wonderful team at TheCoolist.

When she isn’t writing you’ll find her relaxing on the beach, being the ultimate dog mom, watching The Big Bang Theory for the 50 millionth time, or spiraling down a YouTube true crime rabbit hole.

HONOR RUSH

Writer

Honor Rush is a mystic copywriter, having written and published works from analysing historical figures’ natal charts to adducing the significance of angel numbers. Stemming from her long-held fascination with the cosmos, she is your interlocutor of the stars, zodiacal progressions and any topic regarding esotericism. Astrology, she believes, is the map to our souls, the looking glass that purveys our karmic wounds and provides a deeper insight into the human experience.

She is completing a Master’s in Creative Writing and Publishing at The University of Melbourne.

Previous collaborators

KINETTE SUMADIA

Writer

With a background in design and engineering, she found much-needed solitude and passion in creative content writing instead, specializing in home improvement and lifestyle niches.

From reading to writing, her love for words runs deep. She enjoys diving into different topics and creating content that inspires, entertains, and informs. In past lives, she’s been a closeted poet, a coffee writer, a pet blog author, and a wine reviewer.

When she’s off work, you can find her hanging with her pup sipping iced coffee or vodka lemonade, pretending to be a mixologist, and being bad at writing romance.

SEAMUS PAYNE

Architectural Photographer

In 2009, Seamus Payne founded TheCoolist.com to document the world’s greatest achievements in design and technology. This “study in cool” reflects his own curiosity and passion for design, and it’s a study that never ceases.

Design is more than his obsession, it’s also his craft. Seamus works as a commercial photographer and filmmaker specializing in architecture, food and editorial photography. He’s produced award-winning documentaries and photography projects that stay true to the inspiration behind TheCoolist.com. You can learn more about his architectural photography and filmmaking at SeamusPayne.com.

The fitting partnership between Seamus and Alex stems from being friendly collaborators since long before TheCoolist was founded.

M. W. BYRNE

Writer

A recovering website designer and technology aficionado, M. W. Byrne typically shuns the presence of people in favor of things that plug into a wall. Hailing from the mountains of Colorado where he spent far too much time on the ski slopes, his obsession with luxury goods, quality craftsmanship, and finery began with clothes and transferred over into everything he touched. A contributor to such websites as Tom’s Guide and HiConsumption, M. W. is a creature of many talents.

He currently spends his days in the Pacific Northwest, enjoying the rain as often as he can and seeking out new and exciting ways to spend money. Offering him a single malt scotch, a nice hybrid dab, or a new pocket-sized gadget will almost always grant you favors.

Editorial Policy

How we ensure accuracy

TheCoolist hedges against inaccuracy and misrepresentation through a multi-layered quality control process.

The foundation of this process is in featuring authors who have experience and expertise with the topics they cover. After all, we’d much rather read stories written by people who really know what they’re talking about–why should we expect you to feel any different?

Next, articles undergo a rigorous editing and fact-checking process. Our editors work to ensure that every assertion made in the article is logically substantiated. Vague language, fluff, and weasel words are unengaging at best and misleading at worst, so we strive to make our prose as concise and relevant as possible. Additionally, we always cite our sources, especially when hard data is required to ground a claim or argument. Towards that end, TheCoolist’s editorial team heavily scrutinizes the quality of our citation sources.

Additionally, we consult with topical experts to review each article. They have the final say in how relevant, interesting, and complete our coverage of a given topic is. If we’ve missed or messed something up, the article goes back to the drawing board until it is ready to be seen and heard by the world. We always foreground the credentials of our reviewers and fact-checkers, so you can see just who watches the watchmen.

Finally, we rely on our audience to keep us in check. We publish articles fully anticipating being called out if we get something demonstrably wrong. Fortunately, our readership is intelligent and engaged enough to do this quite reliably! Just know, dear reader, we are always listening to your criticism and feedback. Our comment section is always open, but you should also feel free to voice your opinions directly to us at editor@thecoolist.com.

Independence or bust

TheCoolist doesn’t receive paid commissions to shill products or services that we don’t believe in. From time to time, we do receive products from manufacturers seeking a review, and for the most part, we’re happy to do this on our terms. Reviews are handled with impartiality and reflect our genuine opinions on the product’s merits and flaws.

That said, we do make occasional use of affiliate links to support the site. However, TheCoolist articles containing affiliate links always provide a visible disclaimer to their inclusion. Moreover, we don’t try to hide affiliate links in sneaky, misleading ways. What you see is what you get.

On bias and diversity

TheCoolist’s predominant focus on factual, informational articles generally precludes subjective political opinion. However, we are indeed a team of human beings, and humans carry biases derived from lived experiences.

In order to curb bias, TheCoolist recognizes and embraces what makes our experiences unique. Thus, we are an inclusive publication that values diversity of thought as an asset. No one on the team pretends to be a paragon, and so we rely on one another to check our biases and push for greater objective accountability. Any argument, view, or opinion that we publish must pass the muster of our fact-checking process, avoid logical fallacies and obfuscating language, and ultimately serve the goal of educating our audience to the best of our knowledge.

We respect intellectual property

TheCoolist has zero tolerance for plagiarism. Any submission of content that infringes upon the intellectual property of another entity is grounds for immediate dismissal from our staff. Not only is this the legally correct stance to take, but it also maintains our publication’s quality. Our push for originality challenges us to develop a unique perspective and voice on the topics we cover.

In addition to original writing, we strive to produce novel visual assets to adorn each article. In cases where we must necessarily reference the work of another, full attribution is given.

Get in Touch

TheCoolist wouldn’t exist without our audience, and we love to hear your feedback. Whether you’ve got an idea of a topic you’d like us to cover or tips to improve the articles we’ve already published, please don’t hesitate to drop a comment or contact us directly.

If you would rather call us or send us a letter, you can reach us at Str. Barbu Vacarescu 164A, Cladirea C1, 020285, Bucharest, Romania / +40 745 310 155.