We are Yo

Joe Zekas

Joe Zekas works at adding to his used-to-be's: dirt-poor Pennsylvania coal-town kid, shortest in class through 8th grade, New Jerseyan, hitch-hiker, motorcyclist, statistical typist, library clerk, delivery boy, classical scholar wannabe, gas station attendant, tuxedo salesman, psychiatric aide, social worker, civil rights activist, draft-dodger, gun-toting truck driver (Brinks), bartender, temp secretary, Lucey's Raider, Wisconsinite, large-firm attorney, real estate developer, condo converter, tax shelter syndicator, multi-level marketer, married person, newspaper publisher, money-losing tech gadfly, software developer to name a few.

Joe is Chairman of Data Based Ads and dabbles in YoChicago.

Joseph Askins

Joseph Askins moved to Aurora in June 2007 and was ready to move out after a couple of weeks. Now he lives in Wicker Park - or maybe Bucktown, depending on which boundary you recognize - and spends his days editing New Homes Magazine and YoChicago.com. Joe grew up in Northwest Arkansas and spent the past three years covering county government and the arts for the region's main daily newspaper. (Yes, he wears shoes, and no, he has never married his cousin.) He spends his spare time sorting and resorting his CDs and DVDs, losing fantasy-football championships, starting books he'll never, ever finish, and rooting for the Cardinals (although he's trying to pay more attention to the White Sox).

Mark Boyer

Mark Boyer moved to Chicago in 2003 and currently lives in West Town. He graduated from the University of Chicago in 2006 with a bachelor’s degree in comparative literature, which he finds to be invaluable to real estate writing. Originally from Buffalo, NY, he never wastes an opportunity to slip a mention of the Bills into a conversation, and he finds Chicago’s snow removal operations laughably inadequate. When he isn’t writing for Yo and New Homes, Mark can typically be found playing mini basketball in his kitchen, screaming obscenities at motorists from his bike, and of course, comparing literature.

Lou Barreiro

Lou Barreiro is currently an undergraduate student at DePaul University pursuing a bachelor's degree in geography, in hopes of someday becoming Chicago's master urban planner and ruler.

Originally from the Island of Enchantment, Lou finds Chicago to be a perfect fit (minus the polar bear weather) for the architecture, sports, and (above all) the pizza. In his spare time, Lou works on drawing urban designs while catching up on the daily trifles and tribulations of the Young and the Restless (shhh...it's supposed to be a secret).

After eating Chilean Sea Bass in Chile, and dancing the nights away in Buenos Aires, Lou has returned to Chicago as an intern for New Homes Magazine and YoChicago.com.   

Anish Jethmalani

Anish Jethmalani is the sales manager for advertising for New Homes Magazine. In addition to working for New Homes, he also works as an actor. He has appeared all over Chicago stages from the Goodman Theatre to Victory Gardens to Chicago Shakespeare Theatre to Court Theatre to Lookingglass Theatre and many more. He's also been seen on the tube as well in various commericals and the CBS hit series, Early Edition.

He's an ensemble member of the Eclipse Theatre Company (www.eclipsetheatre.com) and a proud alum of Loyola University Chicago and the Oxford School of Drama in England.

Jelena Tosic

Jelena was born and raised by Serbian immigrants in Chicago. She is a recent graduate of Northeastern Illinois University where she studied English and Studio Art. When her nose isn't stuck in a book, which can hurt, or up close and personal with a canvas, which can smell, she is on an adventure in the city. Her aspirations are to take full advantage of Chicago's cultural life, write some books and never live in a suburb. She enjoys concerts, craft beers and speaking Serblish with her friends.

Jelena is a sales and marketing assistant for New Homes Magazine and YoChicago.com. And she likes birds.

Valerie Zekas

Valerie Zekas is a recent graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara (commonly referred to as the University of Casual Sex and Beer or U Can Study Buzzed). She has come back to Chicago to see if she can endure cold weather and lives with her two childhood friends in the DePaul neighborhood. She spends her time running around Chicago cowering in fear whenever Joe Zekas screams "Yo!" at groups of people. She is a sales and marketing assistant for YoChicago.com and New Homes Magazine.