Mei-Lynn Destouche
Founder & Writer
Mei-Lynn is one of the co-founders of Rare Bird Finds back in 2006, and has loved every second of finding cool, unusual finds. She considers herself a bit of a gift guru. She is a little bit on the quirky side (you sorta have to be to wear rhinestone glasses) and will do (almost) anything for a chocolate chip cookie or a cupcake, especially red velvet. She lives in Los Angeles with her crazy, chihuahua-doxie mix, Ozzy, who makes her laugh every single day, and her newest baby, Starsky Heisenberg Honey Bunny, a rex bunny that gives her the cutest, tiniest bunny licks. See Mei-Lynn's Picks!
Ren Bates
Writer, COOL GUY THINGS
Ren lives in Los Angeles and is a comic book letterer by day, a greeting card designer by night and an all around nice girl. She is married to a guy, works with guys and is related to guys so she figures she is qualified to suggest some cool stuff for guys. She also hates having her picture taken. Stop by and visit her greeting card shop, Paper Lotus.
See Ren's Picks!
Shari Bonnin
Writer, HOME ACCESSORIES and FUN KITCHEN ACCESSORIES
An avid crafter of everything and collector of too many things, Shari is the owner of Bonnin Designs, a jewelry and accessories line that’s been around for about 10 years. She incredibly has raised two crafty kids to their teen years, so far, with the help of her amazingly hot cyclist husband (her words). When not scheming up a new craft project for her business or home, she is cooking, drinking wine, or eating out, spending time with friends, her two adorable Whippets, Twittering or on Facebook, knitting, crocheting, sewing, enjoying Flamenco, doing photography, or hanging out at the beach.
See Shari's Picks!
Dani' Brantley
Writer, STRANGE BUT HIP
Dani' is a 31 year old living in the Deep South. She is the mother of two wonderfully spirited daughters Frog (almost 9) and Monkey (12). She is a Girl Scout Leader and wrangles a troop of Juniors at weekly meetings. She also volunteers at a local animal shelter. Dani' enjoys being on the computer a little too much and housework not much at all! In her free time she enjoys making jewelry, crafts, shopping, cooking, and apparently embarrassing her preteen (which is NOT very hard to do these days!). See Dani's Picks!
Maggie Chen
Writer, MUST HAVE WOMEN'S ACCESSORIES
Maggie is a 24 year old living it up in sunny California. Besides working full time, she spends her days lounging around, hanging out with her bombass roommates and friends, spending time with her much loved bunny, shopping, painting, scrapbooking, or hitting the clubs/bars. She is always on the hunt for the next best thing in terms of restaurants, clubs, products, authors/books, movies, or really, any form of entertainment. In terms of life aspirations (really, she does have some!), she wants to someday get her MBA and work in the financial industry.
See Maggie's Picks!
Samantha Cheung
Writer, BEAUTY
Samantha is a graphic designer, freelance make-up artist and one half of the creative genius behind de l'escalier, a line of luxury handmade soaps and candles ("The other half is too busy waving his light saber around," says Samantha). She once handed in an 8,000-word dissertation on lipstick naming at University and managed to score pretty well, even though it wasn't actually related to her studies.
Proud owner of six train cases, Samantha admits she has enough make-up to last her several lifetimes. "I can even classify periods of my life according to the brands of make-up I was wearing at the time – when I met my husband, I was going through an Urban Decay phase and wore a lot of eye shadow," says Samantha. As a result of her influence, Samantha's husband can now find his own way around Sephora and has been known to offer make-up advice to his co-workers.
She lives in Sydney, Australia. Visit her shop now!
See Samantha's Picks! (Samantha is currently on maternity leave)
Angi St. Clair
Writer, STRANGE BUT HIP
Former children's librarian. Owner of two dogs, one that farts. Child of the 70s, teen of the 80s, young adult of the 90s - so, she's seen it all. "Unfortunately I am a daughter of the Midwest and therefore, I love to travel."
Loves:
"JohnnyCashthetTudorsDayofDeadpirates
japanesepopkawaiicomicbooks
graphicnovelsirishpubsongsparismexico
coleporterandmore!"
Hates:
"Mean people. Ha ha, not really, I AM mean people!"
See Angi's Picks!
Kelly Delp
Writer
Kelly is a full time student about to graduate with her degree in Secondary English Education.
"When I'm not neck deep in school I'm trying to find cool new places to eat and awesome things to do," says Kelly. "I consider myself a minimalist but am into so many things that my life is always cluttered."
Kelly is really into art, especially discovering art in all its creations in unexpected places. "I think everything is art, including food, make-up, and things that randomly sit on my dresser," says Kelly. "I'm all about living my dreams now, so right after graduation I am moving to Paris. Waiting to become a European is torture, but I'm slowly learning to appreciate the journey!" See Kelly's Picks!
Rose Gonzalez
Writer, GIFTS FOR KIDS and UNIQUE BABY GIFTS
Rose lives in a Los Angeles suburb with her husband, daughter “Bug”, and kitty Clementine, frequently surrounded by books, birds, film, and music galore. Half Anglophile, half Francophile, Rose is finishing up two Master’s degrees and desperately trying to get her new home into tip-top shape, along with her garden, and the ever-evolving art that is baking and cooking. Betwixt all of the above, Rose finds little pockets of time to keep up The Scarlet Peacock, a blog encompassing crafts, life, art, and everything in between.
See Rose's Picks!
Sara Huffman
Writer, HOME ACCESSORIES
Sara lives in Los Angeles, is 31, "mom" to three amazing cats, and currently unemployed. She may get another job in TV, she may go back to college -- she hasn't figured it out yet. In the meantime, she's thrilled to be a part of the RBF team! She loves to cook and bake, to do and watch improv, to make and buy things for her apartment (and her friends' apartments!) and whenever she can sit still long enough, she makes things for her fledgling Etsy store.
See Sara's Picks!
Jay Max
Writer, STRANGE BUT HIP
Jay is a writer/illustrator living in New York. When he’s not freelancing for greeting card and giftware companies, having his best friend Skippy take him on long walks, or drinking lots of coffee while watching unhealthy amounts of reality TV...Jay tries to pursue his goal of expanding into children’s books and product design.
Excited to join the Rare Bird Finds family, he is also very grateful for this opportunity to now validate all his obsessive browsing and shopping online as “research”. Feel free to contact him at JayMax@hotmail.com to discuss any projects you might want to collaborate on, the new season of Project Runway, or just to say hi!
See Jay's Picks!
Randi Paul
Writer, COOL GUY THINGS and STRANGE BUT HIP
Randi Paul Randi is a creative (not artistic, just creative), young Jewish woman living in the boodocks, with only the internet to keep her company. She is an English literature major, and loves all things book. She loves to try new DIY ideas, especially anything involving power tools.She always on the lookout for a way to make something recycled into something fabulous. In her spare time, she also likes going out, traveling, volunteering with queer high schoolers, and going to Jonathan Richman concerts. See Randi's Picks!
Jennifer Smith
Writer, FUN KITCHEN ACCESSORIES and STRANGE BUT HIP
Amanda Toris
Writer, PAMPERED PETS, HOME ACCESSORIES and FUN KITCHEN ACCESSORIES
Amanda lives, works, and plays in South Central NJ with her husband and 2 year old Chocolate Lab named Molly Brown Truffles. She's also the one woman show behind LittlePies.com where she creates healthy treats, and handmade accessories for dogs. When she's not slaving over a hot oven, or working her full time day job as a customer support rep for a benefits administration company, she enjoys reading, spending time with her husband, and taking her dog to the park. Always on the lookout for great products for her own dog (who is spoiled rotten!), Amanda is looking forward to bringing fun pet products to Rare Bird Finds each week.
See Amanda's Picks!
