Michele I. Drohan, cofounder of Next Press, Inc., has worked at some of the most prestigious publishing organizations in the industry. She began her career at Workman Publishing and Spin Magazine before arriving at the Frances Goldin Literary Agency, where she assisted in the publication of several titles by Barbara Kingsolver. Michele then joined HarperCollins Children’s Books, where she worked with world-class authors, such as Jean Craighead George and Patricia MacLachlan, and illustrators including Wendell Minor. Michele moved to McGraw-Hill’s College division, where her authors included some of the most important minds in the physics and mathematics communities today. Before forming Next Press, Inc., Michele was a Division Leader/Senior Editor at the Rosen Publishing Group, where she conceived and developed a groundbreaking series on eating disorders. Michele earned her Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Women’s Studies from New York University. An expert in popular culture and developing markets, Michele is also a published writer. In 2000, Michele launched reelteen.com, a content and community-driven Web site focusing on teen entertainment.

Caroline M. Levchuck, cofounder of Next Press, Inc., began her career in advertising at Greenstone Roberts’ recruitment advertising division, where she worked on accounts such as Airborne Express, Getty, Symbol Technologies, and numerous health-care accounts, writing and placing ads and creating and implementing campaigns for select clients. She also worked as the fiction editor for the North Atlantic Review, a literary review publication, before joining the now-defunct Brunner/Mazel, Inc., publishers of professional psychiatry and psychology books. During her tenure in the editorial department at esteemed Brunner, she worked closely with the company’s founder, Bernie Mazel, as well as prominent psychologists and therapists, including Lonnie Barbach, Patrick Carnes, Leigh Cohn, Albert Ellis, Charles Figley, John Gottman, Jay Haley, Harville Hendrix, and Bernie Zilbergeld. In addition to her editorial functions, Caroline handled subsidiary rights sales, including book club sales. She joined McGraw-Hill briefly before moving to the Rosen Publishing Group’s PowerKids Press division. There, Caroline developed and edited the children’s book A Day in the Life of a Mayor Featuring Mayor Rudy Giuliani in addition to sixty other children’s titles. She also edited young adult books, developing a series of girls’ guides. She is a published author of children’s books, short stories, and essays. Caroline completed her Bachelor of Arts in English at SUNY @ Stony Brook as well as courses in copyediting and proofreading and production editing from New York University’s Center for Publishing. Most recently, she received her Master of Science in Publishing from New York University. She cofounded teen media company Reelteen, Inc. in 1999 along with Michele.