More About Our Team
We are a passionate team of volunteers supporting the production of the book-in-the-making Lyme Chronicles.
In this page, you can learn more about us.
Editorial Team
Zo Viya, editor-in-chief
Born in Boston, MA, Zo grew up in a small town in rural New Hampshire. At a young age, she was somewhat aware of but certainly unperturbed by the presence of ticks in the backyard grasses. And although she herself was spared from tick-borne illness, Zo experienced its effects indirectly, as they inevitably infiltrated her family circle. Despite it all, Zo spent a happy childhood reading books and playing with her chicks and her siblings in the surrounding luscious forests.
Zo went on to study English literature and was awarded a BA from Bard College. Today, she has copyedited for The History Press dozens of published books on local history and folklore. In 2021, Zo created an editorial business, VocariumSM Author Services, offering a full array of services to clients, from fine art printers and art galleries to premier higher-educational institutions.
When Gene was diagnosed in 2020, Zo delved with him into the “Lyme world,” discovering an unsuspected labyrinth of controversies, enigmas, and stigmatization. As Gene began to heal, they decided to share their learning about the tick-borne epidemic by editing the book they wish they’d read before Gene’s tick bite: Lyme Chronicles.
Gene de Paule, executive editor
Gene is a versatile professional who, for over 20 years, has worked in various creative fields, including music, photography, nonfiction writing, and developmental editing. Since 2021, he collaborates with Zo Viya on VocariumSM Author Services editorial projects. Gene is also a Lyme disease survivor.
Gene was born in Mexico in 1979 to a family of academics and coursed most of his formal education in Jesuit institutions. Extracurricularly, he studied music, operatic voice, theatrical voice and other vocal techniques, eventually developing his own vocal training program. He loves music, the written word, observing nature, discovering world cultures, and learning and practicing the teachings of his yoga Master. Gene is fluent in three languages and in many art-related technologies.
In 2019, after spending a summer photographing nature in the forests of upstate New York, Gene experienced a gradual cascade of debilitating ailments — including dermatitis, arthritis, and later, carditis and neurological complications. A year later, while in Mexico, serological and PCR tests confirmed his dreaded suspicion, that he’d been bitten by Lyme disease-bearing ticks. With an expired passport and the global pandemic in full swing, Gene could not travel to the U.S. East Coast, where he wished to continue his treatment under the care of Lyme disease expert physicians.
Despite a whole year in treatment with a single antibiotic, doxycycline, and despite the most superficial of his symptoms gradually fading out, the disease continued to progress in the depths of his mind. Day after day, Gene’s thinking and speech slowed down; night after night, hypersensitivity, sleeplessness, anxiety, and an uncontrollable temper grew darker.
It wasn’t until late 2021 that, with the support of Zo Viya and many other friends, Gene was able to travel to Washington, D.C., to start receiving comprehensive care. Soon after, Gene began sleeping through the night, and to gradually heal on all fronts. After all he had gone through, his first thought when deciding to get back to work was: “we must write about all this, continue to raise awareness, join forces with others in this fight and make sure not one more person suffers from these awful tick-borne diseases.”
Media Team
Alisha Tamarchenko
Alisha Tamarchenko is a documentary filmmaker based in Washington, D.C. Through heartening stories, she highlights actions that bring about change in the face of environmental, social, and political unsustainability. Her work seeks to inspire audiences to appreciate diverse ways of being, looking beyond their own personal experiences.
Her work has screened around the U.S. and internationally, including at COP26, Environmental Film Festival in D.C., Nashville Film Festival, Planet In Focus Environmental Film Festival, American Documentary and Animation Film Festival, and on PBS stations in New York and Colorado.
Alisha holds a BA in documentary film and anthropology from Ithaca College. She works as a video production specialist at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Amandine Francotte
Amandine Francotte is an artist, writer, and 1st and 2nd assistant film director based in Occitane, France...
Admin Team
Izkalotzin González, talent coordinator
Izkalotzin met Gene in the mid-2000s. At the time, Izka was completing her university degree and Gene, producing a documentary that Izka’s university sponsored. Izka became a volunteer for the documentary’s production and soon became good friends with Gene. Today, Izka is an international talent acquisition consultant with over 15 years’ experience in recruitment, selection, training, and human resources for several Fortune 500 companies, such as Ericsson, Johnson Controls, Eaton Corporation, and Siemens, among others. Proudly born and raised in Mexico, she now lives in Cleveland, OH, with her family.
In 2022, Izka made a career change to dedicate more time to raising her family. She is now a participant in the LinkedIn Creator Program in Spanish and shares human resources–related content, such as talent acquisition trends and career coaching, across her LinkedIn network of over 12,000 followers. She’s also starting her own consulting business, offering coaching and training programs to customers online.
Upon learning about Gene’s health challenge and the tick-borne disease epidemic, she realized that the risk of a serious infection was not far from home — Cleveland is well within the area of expansion of tick populations carrying dangerous pathogens. Thus, she decided to join Gene in his initiative to raise awareness and promote prevention and early treatment through the Lyme Chronicles project.
Izka is Lyme Chronicles’ talent coordinator, reaching out and coordinating passionate volunteers who wish to contribute and make a positive difference.