You rarely see him, but you see his work every month.  Giancarlo D’Allessandro, Cape Fear Voices/Teen Scene’s Lead Layout Designer, is joining our Advisory Board and will be training Nathanial Brown, a student at Early College High School, to take over the role of Lead Layout Designer.  

Giancarlo, who won the Cape Fear Voices/Teen Scene Founder’s Award for 2021, has been designing our paper for 18 months.   He said, “This last year and a half of working on Cape Fear Voices has been an absolute pleasure!  The power of the printed classified ad still works, because I found the job posting through Cape Fear Voice’s own advertising while shopping at Whole Foods one day.” 

In addition to working for Cape Fear Voices/Teen Scene, for the last 5 years Giancarlo has been  the editor and distributor of Milk & Honey Comics.  He describes Milk & Honey as an anthology magazine.  “Each issue has 10-20 artists and creators from around the world that have submitted short-form comics and illustrations. These creatives embrace small press and independent distribution of their art, and my magazine series is all about showcasing these niche cartoonists to new audiences! You can find my work at my website at milkandhoneycomics.com.”  

Designing a magazine these days is tricky.  You have to be respectful of the space allotted to advertising, but also showcase the work of others. There are several design programs available for make the process easier.   Giancarlo explained, “I got into design through going to UNCW in college. I was already a cartoonist and many of my friends had clubs or bands or parties that they asked me to make posters for, which got me started learning the tools of the trade.”

Down the road, Giancarlo may add “writer” to his resume.   He explained, “I am still flexing my creative muscle by playing a collaborative roleplaying called Dungeons & Dragons. This once obscure, nerdy, and even controversial game has gone mainstream in our culture.  I would love to perhaps write an article about it in the future.   

Nathanial is a  Sophomore  at Early College High School.  Long term, he sees himself in both Political Science and English Literature positions.  He would like to teach at the high school level in the area of history after he graduates from college and then go into local government at the level of campaign manager and then Representative and even state Senator. 

Nathanial started looking at his college choices early.  In his Freshman year, he decided that NYU, NC State or UNCW might be viable options since they all have good teaching and political science programs.   He knew from an early age that he wanted  a role in the education system.   As he got older, he learned that technology was becoming more prevalent in our classrooms so he started to train himself on a variety of programs and applications using online tutorials and by reading articles on Graphic Design.   

In the 8th grade, Nathaniel began assisting his English teacher with various technology issues and design aspects of the class.  According to Nathanial, “To this day, I still learn new things about the world of graphic design every day.” Today, he is part of the Teen Scene Journalism Club at Early College and is assisting to redesign our website. 

In his spare time, Nathanial likes to read World War II Historical Fiction novels, write and spend time researching history and current events.  He is currently writing his first novel, which will come out sometime next year.   We are indeed lucky to have him on the CFV/TS team.