Our Team
Founder and Chief Editor
Brendan Gieseke is the founder and head editor of Ongaku Magazine. He is also a writer for a Teen-Led Food Magazine, a Piece of Cake, and his school’s newspaper, UNISVERSE. He is passionate about music, particularly music marketing and business, and is an independent singer-songwriter-producer who has gained over 15,000 streams independently. He’s also highly involved at his school, being the Co-President of the Model UN Club, Finance Club, and Human Rights Club, as well as being the Student Council Vice-President. He enjoys reading and playing the piano, flute, and guitar, and hopes to have a career in the music business or an international aspect of the music industry.
Writer
Mallory Kestner is an 18-year-old senior in high school. She will be attending Belmont University next year and will be majoring in Music Business with hopes of going into Music Marketing or Artist Management. She is very passionate about music and loves going to concerts in her free time. She is particularly interested in the business side and aims to expand her experience in the music business in the future. In her free time, she is also a part of her school’s Best Buddies and Unified Track Program and loves to hang out with her awesome teammates! She also loves to read and play guitar and bass when she has the time.
Column Writer
Writer
Writer
Milla Jätfors is a sophomore in high school. She is the president of her school’s Speech and Debate Club and Film Club, the Director General of Conferences of Model UN, and serves as a Student Council Representative for her graduating class. Milla’s interest in writing stems greatly from her passion for film, as she avidly writes film reviews on Letterboxd. She is also passionate about theatre, community service, politics, and social justice through social media. She has reached millions of people with her feminist justice videos online, teaches middle schoolers about the importance of freedom of speech and political involvement through workshops at her school, and hopes to expand this to broader community involvement. Milla is excited to connect her love for music, whether through record collecting, guitar playing, or passionate fangirling, to its implications and messaging in film.
Emilia Scannell-Siga is a high school sophomore. She has a strong passion for music, storytelling, and cultural criticism, with a particular interest in how music intersects with human rights issues. She is the Arts & Culture editor of her school newspaper, UNISVerse, as well as the co-founder and leader of her school’s Guitar Community Union, where she helps organize performances for young students and local community homes. Other than journalism, she has published her own poetry and continues to develop her voice as a writer. In her free time, she enjoys reading, collecting various forms of music memorabilia, playing multiple instruments and watching films.
Kseniia Vedeneeva is a high school student and singer-songwriter with a huge interest in music, music journalism, and songwriting. Her musical journey began in early childhood, when she was enrolled in music school. After ten years of study, she graduated with honors and found her passion in music. Kseniia now writes her own lyrics, attends professional vocal classes, and also has her own social media presence, where she covers various tracks. In her free time, she enjoys music production and dancing.