Meet the Team

Madeleine is a recent graduate of Boston University from Miami, Florida with a B.S. in Film and Television and a minor in Spanish. She manages the comedy team for The Sweaty Penguin, where she writes jokes, revises scripts, and more. When she isn’t using her degree to write fart jokes, Madeleine self publishes think pieces and long form articles on her personal blog, Unsupervised. In addition to writing, Madeleine cares deeply about environmental conservation and sustainability. This passion has helped her establish solar powered cellular charging stations in nine parks across her hometown of Coral Gables and motivated her to produce several film projects focused on sustainability while at Boston University.

Megan Antone is a graduate of Boston University from Forth Worth, Texas with a double B.S. in Film & TV and Public Relations. She is a Sound Editor for The Sweaty Penguin, where she mixes episodes and is quickly becoming an expert in royalty-free music and slide whistle sound FX. She is also currently working at NBCUniversal in New York as an Account Services Representative for Bravo. While Megan didn’t study any environmentalism in school, her fiery devotion to Discovery’s Shark Week led her into 3 weeks of an oceanography minor, before promptly realizing she was horrible at chemistry and could not keep up; she still enjoys Shark Week every summer. In her free time, Megan enjoys puppetry (viewing and creating), comedy, and searching for sweet, delicious pie in NYC.

Sabrina Rollings is a recent graduate of Boston University from Norwalk, Connecticut with a B.S. in Film and Television. She is currently a first year graduate student at New York University, getting her Masters in Integrated Marketing. At the Sweaty Penguin, Sabrina is the Social Media Manager, writing copy, creating graphics and managing posts across all social media platforms. While she was in undergrad, Sabrina was the Social Media Manager for BU’s only feminist satire publication, The Pinky Toe, where she helped publish content, create graphics, and made merch that she wears way too often. Besides social media, Sabrina is also very passionate about Broadway, quoting TikToks, and stress-making google docs.

Velina is a recent graduate of College of Charleston from Columbia, South Carolina with a B. A. in Psychology and a minor in Data Science. She is a comedy writer for The Sweaty Penguin, where she writes jokes, revises scripts, and more. She founded and ran CofC’s first satire publication, The Cougar Report, which published comedic articles about culture and events regarding the college. She enjoys weekly trivia at her favorite bar, cuddling with her cats, painting gel designs, and doing all kinds of puzzles!

Mo Polyak is a recent graduate of Columbia College Chicago from Brookfield, WI with a B.A. in Comedy and Television, so if the jokes aren’t funny, blame the education system. Mo is a fresh face and voice here at The Sweaty Penguin where she assists in pitching jokes and writing silly little words in scripts to make you giggle while being informed. Mo’s past work includes a weekly satirical news program titled “The Mo Sho’”, many many classes at Chicago’s The Second City (thank you, mom), and winner of Universal’s #GoPitchYourself where she wrote and starred in a promo for Pitch Perfect 3 with Elizabeth Banks. In her spare time, Mo likes to write comedy songs, put hot sauce on everything, and buy books she’ll probably never read.

Alia Bonanno is a rising freshman at Columbia University from Scottsdale, Arizona who is planning to study chemistry and English. She is a Research Fellow at the Sweaty Penguin, where she helps fact check and outline scripts and is helping with the Sweaty Penguin’s educational initiatives. She recently completed her tenure at her school’s newspaper, The Exonian, as Managing Editor and was the head of three environmental clubs (Sunrise Exeter, Environmental Action Committee, and Environmental Proctors). In her free time, Alia enjoys running, reading, and playing with her dogs.

Dare Fitzpatrick is a sophomore at Swarthmore College from Santa Barbara, California studying Environmental Studies and Psychology. She is a Research Fellow for The Sweaty Penguin, researching, outlining, and fact checking episodes in addition to working on educational resources to supplement the podcast. She is interested in sustainable agriculture, specifically in relation to native plants and ecosystems, and she enjoys gardening. In fact, this spring she traveled to Umbria, Italy to work on an organic and sustainable farm where she learned more about the daily commitment needed to maintain an environmentally conscious agricultural system. She also worked on her high school magazine staff for three years, writing and managing a range of articles centering topics of social justice and environmentalism (and occasionally reality TV). Aside from environmental work, Dare loves to be outdoors hiking, running, or even reading a good book.

Iliana Garner is a sophomore at Northwestern University from Chicago studying journalism and international studies. She is a journalism fellow for The Sweaty Penguin, reporting on topical environmental issues. Iliana also serves as the creative director of North by Northwestern magazine and is published in Ms. Magazine, Medill Reports and The Daily Northwestern. She also writes a column about snails for Northwestern’s nature magazine. In her free time, she loves knitting and taking care of her six pet snails.

Mikaela Gonzalez is a sophomore at Swarthmore College from El Paso, TX studying Environmental Studies and Biology. She is a Research Fellow for The Sweaty Penguin, and aids in writing episode outlines, fact-checking scripts, and grant writing & fundraising. In Texas, Mikaela has spent her time advocating for sustainable policymaking through her involvement in Sunrise El Paso. During her time at Swarthmore College, Mikaela has become increasingly involved with C4 – a campus coalition that supports Chester, Pennsylvania’s fight for an end to environmental racism and inequality. In her free time, Mikaela enjoys swimming, going to the movie theater, and spending time with her cats. She is thrilled to be a part of The Sweaty Penguin team!

Sofia Mansilla is an incoming freshman at the University of Chicago from Recife, Brazil planning to study chemistry. At Sweaty Penguin, she is a Design Fellow, designing graphics for Instagram and TikTok and creating art for the 101s and Comics sections of the website. When she was a high school student at the Loomis Chaffee School, she wrote a children comic book on climate change in the world of insects. During her free time, she loves reading, playing with the microscope, and watching Gilmore Girls!

Roe Medovoi-Klotz is a Sophomore at Smith College from Portland, OR and is pursuing a degree in English and Sociology with a minor in French. Roe is currently a Journalism fellow at The Sweaty Penguin, doing research, writing news articles and creating graphics for the social media team. During her first year of college, Roe was a writer for the Berkeley Beacon, Emerson college’s student newspaper, and worked as a front desk manager at the Journalism department. Besides Journalism, Roe is very passionate about creative writing, sketching, gardening in her backyard and spending countless hours with her border collie Noodle.

Gabby Mussulman-Watson is a junior at the University of Kansas from Kansas City, MO studying Environmental Studies with an Art Minor. They are a Design Fellow for the Sweaty Penguin, designing graphics, comics, and memes, for Instagram, Tiktok, and Youtube in the future. While not studying how to save the planet, you can find Gabby hiking/ getting lost in the woods, baking bread, or crocheting bucket hats.

Aana Shenai is a freshman at Loyola University Chicago from Cincinnati, Ohio studying Environmental Science. She is a Research Fellow for the Sweaty Penguin, researching and fact-checking episodes and helping create educational resources. Her interest in solving climate change originated from many summers spent working and volunteering at a local farm summer camp. Passionate about sustainable agriculture, she enjoyed teaching kids about where food comes from and where it goes when we throw it away. In high school, she began working with several environmental activist organizations, often leading initiatives centered around climate education and encouraging others to take action in their communities. She believes in creating long-term change to build a more sustainable future for all young people. In her perfect world, climate education becomes a subject like math or English in schools. When not in school or working, Aana enjoys reading, cooking, thrifting, and especially traveling.

Ainsley Jane Tambling is a rising sophmore at Swarthmore College from Menlo Park, CA studying a little bit of everything (but with an greater interest in the sciences). She is a Research Fellow for The Sweaty Penguin, where she creates outlines, fact checks episodes, and works on grants and fundraising.. Ainsley Jane swims on Swarthmore’s varsity swim team and in the summer, you can often find her on the pool deck helping to coach the swim team she grew up on. Ainsley Jane is also an avid duck lover and has an extensive duck and duck inspired collection of items, including (of course), lots of rubber ducks (including some penguin ones!).