Every generation has a unique perspective and the talented teens who drive [**Synthesis Publications**](https://synthesispublications.org/) are bringing their fresh, young voices to a global audience.
Enter Synthesis Publications Editor-in-Chief Elise Tao, an Academy of the Holy Angels freshman from Upper Saddle River, and SP Art Director Lily Gee, an AHA freshman from Englewood.
Tao is a debater, public speaker, essayist, poet, and school newspaper reporter. She recently received an award for her contributions to her town’s Newspaper Club, and her poem, "ERUTAN", was chosen for publication in “Poetic Power's Summer Anthology.”
She developed the idea to launch a brand new literary magazine in the summer of 2020, while she was taking an online writing course offered by Columbia University.
Since she was very young, Tao has admired entrepreneurs and had considered organizing her own non-profit or start-up to feed her own entrepreneurial spirit.
“When I attended this virtual class, the conversations I had with my instructors and fellow students immersed me in a world I had never touched upon anywhere else," Tao said. "From profound philosophies to pop culture, everyone in the meeting radiated with energy symbolic of Synthesis Publications today. Casual Zoom meetings discussing website layout and content spiraled into the final product right at your fingertips.”
Synthesis aims to inform and entertain a new generation by presenting written and artistic materials that teens consider most relevant. Contributors submit pieces about everything from business, entertainment, politics, and the environment to poetry, fan fiction, digital art, traditional art, photography, and more.
Staff members reside in New Jersey, New York, Colorado, California, Maryland, and Washington. Tao met Gee met through a mutual friend who also took the course through Columbia.
“My friend, who is now the head of feedback, short stories, and personal essays at Synthesis, told me about the course she was taking,” Gee said. “She said there was a big project that a handful of students from the course were working on, and they were looking for a person to work on creating their art department. I applied, and now here I am, the Synthesis Publications Art Director.”
Gee has been developing her artistic skills for the past three or four years. She recently focused on creating realistic portraits by participating in a five-week online program offered by The Art School at Old Church in Demarest.
“We want to publish pieces, both writing and art, that give people inspiration and a new perspective,” Gee said of Synthesis. She noted that Synthesis gives people the opportunity to see their work published on a platform, and “having your work out for the world to see is very exciting for a lot of people and a great way to build exposure for newer artists and writers."