I’m a freelance journalist based in New York City and Marfa, Texas. Most of my stories focus on women and girls; they’re usually magazine features, profiles, and cultural trend pieces. In one way or another, my work often involves social justice, human rights, positive psychology and relationships – the ways we connect to each other, the things we need to fix and fight for, and the ways we cope.

Last spring, my first book was released by Free Press/Simon & Schuster: The Drama Years: Real Girls Talk About Surviving Middle School – Bullies, Brands, Body Image and More. It’s a collaboration with Haley Kilpatrick, founder and CEO of the peer-to-peer mentoring organization Girl Talk, a non-profit involving over 40,000 girls. I interviewed over 50 middle school and high school girls for The Drama Years about everything from stress to body image to getting along with their friends and families; the book is packed with real girls’ voices, telling adults what it’s like to be a middle school girl today and how to help them deal.

I’ve edited at Seventeen magazine and Salon.com, and have written for a variety of publications: ELLE, Glamour, Marie Claire, Teen Vogue, the New York Times, TIME, Whole Living, and others.

Check out the Articles page for some of my magazine and newspaper work, and The Drama Years section for all the latest on the book.

THE DRAMA YEARS: Real Girls Talk About Surviving Middle School – Bullies, Brands, Body Image and More, by Haley Kilpatrick with Whitney Joiner, published by Free Press/Simon & Schuster on April 3, 2012.

Order here:     indiebound.org      simonandschuster.com      amazon.com

About The Drama Years:

Today’s middle school girls have it rough. In those few short years, girls go through an incredible number of biological and emotional changes, making it the most formative—and risky—time in their lives. Groups form and turn on each other, childhood friends can reveal trusted secrets just by sending a text message or updating a Facebook status, and deciding where to sit in the cafeteria can be a daily struggle. As any tween will tell you, life for a middle school girl can be summed up in one word: drama.

Haley Kilpatrick’s own turbulent middle school experience inspired Girl Talk, a nonprofit organization in which high school mentors offer a “just been there” perspective to tween girls, helping them build self-esteem and develop leadership skills. Here, Haley delivers the definitive guidebook for parents, teachers and anyone who works with middle school girls. Written from the trenches, The Drama Years is packed with anecdotes from real girls around the country, who offer their insight into:

• Why her friends’ approval is suddenly vitally important;
• What drives her obsession with name brands;
• Why she feels pressured to be perfect;
• Why she’s no longer telling you everything;
• And what three vital things adults can offer to the girls in their lives to downplay the drama.

Filled with practical strategies from tweens and teen mentors to help adults understand what girls today are facing, The Drama Years is a must-read for anyone struggling to help girls navigate the often-difficult transition into adolescence.

Praise for The Drama Years

“The Drama Years is a great overall primer for anyone with a young teen girl in her life. And the girls will love reading it too! I will highly recommend it to the parents, teachers, and girls I work with.”
– Rosalind Wiseman, author of Queen Bees and Wannabes

“Even the closest of parent-child relationships can benefit from this book. The more we listen, the more we help to raise a generation of self-empowered, confident women.”
– Lucy Danziger, SELF magazine editor-in-chief and author of The Drop 10 Diet and The Nine Rooms of Happiness

“The Drama Years is filled with heart-stirring stories, just-been-there advice from recent teens, and practical, actionable tips for parents. It’s full of real girls talking about everything from stress and body image to love and materialism. Reading this book, I cringed in recognition of my own drama years, just wishing this book had been around back then and so grateful I’ll have it as a guide for my own daughter.”
– Melissa Walker, co-founder of I Heart Daily and author of Small Town Sinners

“Pre-teen years are so tough for girls, and adults often aren’t sure how best to help. Thankfully, we have the middle school and high school girls who share their hearts and minds in these pages to guide us, telling parents exactly what will help them survive ‘The Drama Years.’”
– Julie Foudy, former captain of the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team and founder of Julie Foudy Sports Leadership Academy

“…provide[s] sound advice that will help parents to support their tween daughters…[a] practical guide to navigating the tumultuous tweens.”
– Publisher’s Weekly