Brand X editor moves to LAT Calendar staff

To: The Staff From: Sallie Hofmeister, Assistant Managing Editor, Arts and Entertainment Craig Turner, Arts and Entertainment Editor

Please join us in welcoming to the arts & entertainment staff Deborah Vankin, who is moving over from Brand X, where she has been its innovative and indefatigable editor since its inception in print and online. Deb will work as a general assignment reporter across the arts, culture and entertainment spectrum, mainly for the Calendar section, reporting to Craig Turner.

Having spent the last 12 years covering arts, entertainment, books, culture and lifestyle in Southern California - Deb calls L.A. "the most vibrant, weird and exciting city in the country right now." She has written for many publications, including The Times, LA Weekly, Variety, the New York Times, Glue Mag and Swink magazine and also has authored a graphic novel, scheduled for publication soon by Image Comics.

Deb came to The Times in 2007 and launched both, Metromix LA and then Brand X, and developed their accompanying websites. Prior to that, she was a senior editor for the Variety publications VLife Magazine and Variety Weekly. Deb also spent seven years as a writer and editor at LA Weekly, where her duties ranged from editing food critic Jonathan Gold to profiling the likes of Sandra Tsing Loh, Spalding Gray and Laurie David.

Born in Philadelphia (in "Rocky,"-the first, and best, one-Sly Stallone runs past her front door), Deb graduated from Pennsylvania State University and earned a master's in writing and publishing from Emerson College in Boston. She's also a trained chef and completed the certification program at Epicurean School of Culinary Arts. In addition to "vibrant, weird and exciting" Los Angeles, she has lived in Jerusalem, Tokyo and Manchester, England.

Deb will sit at the desk across from Chris Lee (the one recently occupied by Daina Solomon) and we expect her by mid-September.