Elle Perry is Memphis's go-to Arts & Culture editor at The Daily Memphian, a self-described generalist who can hit five art gallery openings in one night. Her love affair with the arts began in third grade when a speech therapy teacher took her to see The Nutcracker, then deepened in college when she discovered the broke student's paradise of gallery openings (free wine and cheese). Elle's nosiness-turned-superpower drives her journalism, giving her permission to ask deeper questions while building genuine connections with artists. She approaches art like a tactile kid who wants to touch everything, drawn especially to abstract works that mess with your head and make you turn sideways to look. This constant consumption of Memphis's vibrant arts scene—from the bold, bright colors she sees recurring in local work to ballet adaptations and underground galleries—directly feeds her creative writing projects, including a novel inspired by The Warmth of Other Suns and a comedy script about female relationships.

At the age of 5, Suroor Hassan wanted to become a pop star. She discovered Britney Spears who taught her unapologetic self-expression and artistic presentation. This early fascination with pop as an idea has led her to experiment with the art form, blending sounds she heard growing up in Pakistan, layered hyperpop glitter, poetic themes of queer joy and angst, and performance. Not only is Suroor a pop star on the rise who recently finished a tour of the Midwest, she’s an adjunct professor and scholar working on her dissertation.