Shameless is a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 magazine

Magazine

Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...

 with a feminist perspective for girls. It is published three times a year.

Shameless is an independent Canadian voice for smart, strong, sassy young women and trans youth. It's a fresh alternative to typical teen magazines, packed with articles about arts, culture and current events, reflecting the neglected diversity of readers' interests and experiences. Grounded in principles of social justice and anti-oppression, Shameless aims to inspire, inform, and advocate for young women and trans youth.

The magazine is run by editorial and art director Sheila Sampath and co-publishers Nicole Cohen and Jo Snyder. The magazine staff includes managing editor Jo Snyder, front-of-book editor Jane Bao, columns editor Shaunga Tagore, features editor Jessica Johnston, arts editor Ronak Ghrobani and reviews editor Jessica Balmer. The web staff includes co-directors Julia Horel O'Brien and Michelle Kay and webmaster, Wesley Fok. The publication and community outreach staff includes community liaison Kate-Christine Miller, director of circulation Claudia Calabro, archivist Stephanie Perrin and events coordinator Julia De Laurentiis Johnson. Allison Martel is the director of popular education, and founder of the Shameless Wire program.

Shameless is a registered not-for-profit and oversight is provided by the board of directors who include co-founders Melinda Mattos and Nicole Cohen, and Holland Gidney.

History and awards

Shameless was founded in 2004 by Nicole Cohen and Melinda Mattos. In June 2004, Shameless was named Best New Magazine by Toronto alt-weekly NOW and nominated for two Utne Independent Press Awards (Best New Title and Best Design). In 2005, Shameless won an Utne award for Best Personal Life Writing. The magazine was nominated again in 2006, for Lifestyle coverage. In 2005, cover story “Making The Cut” was nominated for a National Magazine Award.

Megan Griffith-Greene took over as editor in 2007 and hired Stacy May Fowles as publisher. They stepped down in 2010 and handed the operations over to the current staff.

The blog

Shameless also hosts a blog, which was named Best Feminist Blog in Canada in February 2008 by the Canadian F-Word Blog Awards. The site also won Best Entertainment Blog. Frequent topics include representation of women, youth, race and sexuality in mainstream culture, independent artists and musicians, pop culture, news and current events. Regular columns on the blog include Film Fridays, a feminist critique of movies.

The anthology

In January 2008, Megan Griffith-Greene and Stacey May Fowles announced that Shameless was planning to publish an anthology with Tightrope Books. Published in Spring 2009, She's Shameless: Women write about growing up, rocking out and fighting back comprises essays by women and trans-identified adults about their experiences as teens.