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BELLAIRE • MEMORIAL • RIVER OAKS • TANGLEWOOD • WEST UNIVERSITY

Our Writers

Editor-in-Chief

Joni Hoffman
Joni Hoffman | Email

Joni Hoffman was born and raised in Houston. She graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with a degree in communications. Immediately after graduation, she moved to Los Angeles and started her career as an account executive selling advertising on cable television, and then moved on to selling advertising on broadcast television. It was during this time that she met her soul mate, Michael. They were not only bitten by the love bug, but both had an entrepreneurial spirit and longed to someday own their own business. They moved to Portland, Oregon, where Joni discovered Starbucks. She continued on her path of selling advertising as an account executive and she and Michael started a family; Andrew was born in 1992 and Matthew in 1993. Three years later, they moved to her hometown of Houston and bought a home in Bellaire. She landed a job back in television selling advertising at KHOU-TV. Salespeople weren’t supposed to hang out in the newsrooms, but she always found an excuse to go to the newsroom and chat with the reporters. Joni has never met a stranger. It was her passion for storytelling, inquisitive nature and entrepreneurial spirit, plus the right timing, that inspired Joni and Michael to start The Buzz Magazines from their living room in 2001.

Staff writers

Tracy L. Barnett
Tracy L. Barnett | Email

Tracy Barnett was a travel writer and editor until 2009 when she headed south and decided to keep on going. Now she's the unofficial Guadalajara bureau chief for The Buzz Magazines. She's served as travel editor for the Houston Chronicle, the San Antonio Express News and Rumbo Newspapers, after years in the trenches covering health, environment, immigration and human rights issues, subjects she still writes about as a freelancer and author. www.tracybarnettonline.com.

Sharon
Sharon Albert Brier | Email

Although Sharon Brier grew up in the Rio Grande Valley she left as soon as she could and found herself immersed in all that Houston has to offer. With her University of Texas background in Radio, Television and Film, her endeavors always found creative expressions. She started The Children’s Museum and led the first board of directors but has also actively been involved in City ArtWorks when she created the Art of Conversation fundraiser, co-chaired Leadership Houston’s first gala and was a participating member of The Houston Jr. Forum, garden clubs and charitable groups. No wonder she has material to write about happenings in our community. Sharon’s other source of information is easily attained from her being a full-time real estate agent since 1980. Sharon’s writing started as a youngster with family newsletters. Her priceless sense of humor is used when she has a unique party as well as used in her columns.

Cindy Burnett
Cindy Burnett | Email

Cindy Burnett is a former attorney and native Texan who love all things bookish. She is a voracious reader and book reviewer who administers a bookstagram account, Thoughts from a Page, where she talks about all things book related, and she regularly speaks to groups about book recommendations. Cindy is a co-creator of Conversations from a Page, a Houston literary salon that brings authors and readers together in a relaxed and welcoming setting and that offers regular in-depth book discussions for avid readers. As a shereads.com occasional contributor, she writes book articles centered around themes such as historical fiction or mystery series and writes book reviews for Bookreporter.com and the New York Journal of Books. In addition to reading, Cindy loves theatre, art, movies, national parks, travel and hiking in Colorado during the summer.

Andria
Andria Dilling | Email

Andria loves writing for The Buzz because it’s a great excuse to talk to people all over town, all the time. While she enjoys the puzzle of putting words together to tell a story (when bored as a child she would go into her family’s guest bedroom to write “books”), she really has fun talking to friends and friends of friends, learning their stories and advice. From writing for The Buzz, Andria has learned that you should park toward the back, less busy part of a parking lot (safer), that an acquaintance spends time in his backyard naked (as told by the neighbors, also friends) and that you should never pop popcorn in a microwave (cook it on the stovetop in coconut oil…then add truffle salt). Andria grew up in Galveston and graduated from Tulane and The University of Texas. She has lived in Washington DC and Paris as well and would like to do the Paris thing again, thinking she’d appreciate it more as an adult.

Angie Frederickson
Angie Frederickson | Email

Angie Frederickson is a writer and stay-at-home mom. When those worlds collide, she has been known to hide from her children in order to meet writing deadlines. One favorite hiding/writing spot is her bedroom closet. Frederickson graduated from Vanderbilt University with a bachelor’s degree in English and from Georgia State University with a master’s degree in healthcare administration. Her background is in advertising and marketing strategy, and she was an account executive for advertising agencies in both Atlanta, Ga. and Nashville, Tenn. Frederickson was also a marketing manager for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Then, she became a mom and her professional life changed. Ended, actually. Now that her children are all in school, she has rejoined the working world. She lives in Memorial with her husband, three children, dog, bunny and two turtles. When she is not driving overscheduled children to activities or dodging PTA volunteer requests, she enjoys playing tennis and running.

Todd
Todd Freed | Email

KUBE-TV Sports Director Todd Freed is known as the authoritative source for high school sports coverage in Houston having received the Distinguished Service Award from the Greater Houston Football Coaches Association. He is a frequent guest speaker and M.C. at various high school sports throughout the year. In addition, Todd is on the committee to select the Houston Texans High School Coach of the Week Award, and served on the committee to select the George H.W. Bush High School Sports Hero Award. In addition, Todd is the recipient of two prestigious Lone Star Emmy Awards, as Host/Producer of the state’s Best Sports Program and as reporter/producer of the Best Sports Story.

Cindy Gabriel
Cindy Gabriel | Email

Cindy Gabriel was born into journalism. Her parents met on their college newspaper staff, then took her to work with them while running her great-grandfather’s small town newspaper in Rosenberg, Texas. It never occurred to her that going to work was anything but fun. The sound of the printing press, the smell of fresh ink, mixed with iron shavings from the typesetter, stale coffee and flattened cigarettes on the floor are etched into her earliest memories. Cindy’s first job in journalism would be as a wire service reporter. This would lead to radio news jobs for KIKK, KTRH and KQUE. Finally, she would become a local TV news reporter for the CBS affiliate, KHOU TV-Channel 11, followed by a stint as producer of the nationally syndicated Dr. Red Duke Health Reports. More recently, Cindy has worked for city and county government handling media-related communication involving the relocation of evacuees from New Orleans to Houston following Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Ike and Harvey recovery efforts. The highlight of this was her production of a light-hearted video for homesick New Orleans evacuees on finding a job in Houston. The video, which opened with a little riff on The Wizard of Oz in the backdrop of downtown Houston, then appeared as the front-page lead story in the Sunday, New York Times.

Cathy
Cathy Gordon | Email

Cathy caught the writing bug as a student reporter for Cypress-Fairbanks High School’s newspaper and then pursued a journalism degree at Texas A&M University. She graduated August 1980 with a class of seven, writing-smitten Aggies, including singer-songwriter Lyle Lovett. “I took notes for him in journalism law class while he wrote lyrics to songs,” she quips.  “Still waiting for the song about me.” She reported for The Conroe Courier fresh out of college, cutting her teeth on international news stories, such as David, the Bubble Boy and the first space shuttle missions. She then moved on to the Houston Chronicle, covering all facets of news in Montgomery County. She has enjoyed a prolific freelance career for the past 20 years, writing for The Greater Houston Partnership and a variety of magazines, including Mary Engelbreit’s Home Companion, Country Living, Luxe, Texas Home & Living, Coastal Living and a host of other local, regional and national publications. She lives in The Woodlands with her husband, Scott, and two cats and has a grown son, Colin, who works in Austin. She volunteers at the local animal shelter when time allows.

Michelle Casas Groogan
Michelle Casas Groogan | Email

Michelle Groogan has been writing for The Buzz Magazines since 2004. A former news reporter and anchor, she has the knack for telling a good story with truthfulness, empathy and compassion. Born in Chicago, she grew up in Corpus Christi and graduated from James Madison High School in San Antonio. She went on to study Journalism and Broadcasting at the University of Texas at Austin. Her broadcasting career had her hopping markets all over the country until she met her husband Greg Groogan, another TV reporter. She gave up the rigors of TV for motherhood and devotes most of her time to raising her two beautiful children, Garrett and Hannah. With a love for writing, she keeps busy with a few part-time jobs including writing, public relations and advocacy work in special education.

Dai
Dai Huynh | Email

Dai Huynh learned to connect with people through food from birth. The center of family life has always been at the table, where her mother, a self-taught Vietnamese cook, connected her five children and finicky husband with steaming bowls of jasmine rice and noodle soups. Through sheer luck, Dai turned eating into a career after the main food writer at the Houston Chronicle got tired of eating out (yes, it's possible). Her editor sent her off to get her culinary degree at the Culinary Institute LeNotre, where she learned about master sauces from Patrick LeNotre, a two-star Michelin chef who has prepared meals for French presidents. At the time, Dai believed that it was important to first master a recipe so you know how to not only cook it properly, but taste the dish before you change, embellish or reinterpret it. Eventually, Dai earned awards for her food and travel writing, including the prestigious James Beard Awards.

Annie
Annie Blaylock McQueen | Email

Annie has been a fan of the magazine ever since her family was featured on the cover of The Bellaire Buzz in February 2006. She grew up in West University and attended River Oaks Baptist School from three years old to eighth grade, then Lamar High School and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English/Creative Writing from Louisiana State University. Annie has always been passionate about writing. Her favorite teacher, sixth grade Language Arts teacher Mike Petrizzo (who still teaches at R.O.B.S.), used a memoir she wrote in his class as a sample for other students. More than 15 years later, Mr. Petrizzo was still using it each year in his classroom. Annie met Buzz Editor Joni Hoffman through a wedding Facebook contest she entered with her fiancé Tyler (which they ended up winning!). A month after they wed in March 2012, Annie started working at The Buzz as a member of the editorial team. She writes the Buzz About Town column and feature editorial articles. In July 2014, Annie and Tyler welcomed twins, a boy named Cash and a girl named Lila. In her spare time, aside from spending time with her babies, Annie enjoys playing with her niece and nephews, reading, exercising and interior design projects.

Jennifer Oakley
Jennifer Oakley | Email

Jennifer Oakley is a native Texan and longtime Houstonian who loves to write. A 1983 graduate of St. John’s School, Jennifer earned a Bachelor of Journalism degree from The University of Texas in 1987 and a Master’s of Humanities from The University of Houston in 1990. Jennifer spent many years working in public relations, first as an account executive with McDaniel & Tate and then as Director of Public Relations for The Houston Humane Society. Jennifer then became a reporter, working for years as a ThisWeek correspondent for The Houston Chronicle and as a reporter for The Examiner newspapers. As a volunteer, Jennifer has written for The Junior League of Houston, Inc. magazines. Jennifer lives in River Oaks with her husband, attorney Bruce Oakley and their son, William, a student at St. John’s School. They have four older children, one who has graduated from college and three who are in college. Jennifer considers working for The Buzz a dream job and loves telling the stories of the folks who make up the Buzz neighborhoods.

Caroline Siegfried
Caroline Siegfried | Email

Caroline Siegfried was born and raised in Braes Heights. Contrary to popular opinion, she actually loves when people sing “Sweet Caroline” to her. She attended Pre-K through 8th grade at St. Vincent de Paul and high school at Incarnate Word Academy. She graduated from Rice University in 2020 with a double major in English and History. She likes to say there’s a guard at the Houston city limits preventing her from leaving for too long. Distinguishing traits include: killer wit, an outgoing streak, and at least one caffeinated beverage at all times. Her most common phrase is “I listened to this podcast about ___.”

Jordan Magaziner Steinfeld
Jordan Magaziner Steinfeld | Email

From the time Jordan learned the alphabet, all she wanted to do was read and write stories. In kindergarten, she announced she wanted to be a writer and she’s never veered far from this dream. She grew up in Houston and attended The Shlenker School and The Emery/Weiner School. During high school, she spent a summer interning at The Buzz Magazines, where she discovered her love of editing. She ventured to Washington, DC for college at American University – where she met her future husband, Matthew – and graduated with a print journalism degree. Throughout her career, she has contributed to a range of print and online publications, such as Psychotherapy Networker, and managed social media and strategic communications at Baylor College of Medicine’s Office of Communications. She’s thrilled that her career came full circle, bringing her back to The Buzz in 2013. She still enjoys reading and writing and hopes to instill her love of reading in her young daughter, Sloane. 

Cheryl Ursin
Cheryl Ursin | Email

Cheryl Ursin isn’t a native Texan, though she got here as fast as she could. Actually, because her father was sent temporarily to Dallas for his job, Cheryl was born in Texas, a fact which caused her father-in-law to cheer when he heard it. Cheryl grew up in Connecticut, went to Williams College in Massachusetts, then hightailed it to New York City, where she met her husband (who grew up in Memorial), had her two children, now in college and high school, and discovered the joys of freelance writing, publishing in a range of publications, from The New York Times and The Washington Post to trade magazines covering everything from wine and restaurants to telecommunications and banking. She’s reviewed restaurants and had fiction published. She was thrilled to discover that Houston is a very fun place to live. Incidentally, a copy of The Buzz was in her mailbox the day she arrived.

Contributing writers