Amanda is a writer and editor living in Ithaca, NY. Her writing passion began with personal journals and short stories as a child, which morphed into a series of mommy blogs after she had her son in the mid-aughts. Nearing forty, she decided to follow her dream and returned to school to earn her MFA in creative nonfiction from Chatham University (where Rachel Carson earned her degree in 1929!). In recent years, her writing has appeared in a wide range of places, online and in print, from literary magazines to the local newspaper.

The opportunity to work at Literary Mama opened the door for more editing experience and she stayed there for 11 years. Amanda started as a blog editor, moved to the creative nonfiction department, and then became a senior editor while eventually serving as Editor-in-Chief from 2018-2022. During that time she incorporated the all-volunteer organization as a 501(c)3 nonprofit and led several successful fundraising campaigns. Find more of her work here. In 1999, Amanda thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail by herself. Her memoir In My Boots about the six-month adventure was published this year by Black Rose Writing.

Since 2018, Amanda has served on her County Legislature, participating in many committees and boards, focusing on environmental, water resources, health and human services, and government operations issues. She loves trees, mountains, the Adirondacks, and everything in nature. When not writing or editing, you can find her on a trail somewhere.

Author website: http://www.amandakjaros.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amandajaroschampion/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Amanda-K-Jaros-Author/100089608878145/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-k-jaros-champion-082b6842/

Nikkya Hargrove's powerful memoir Mama: A Queer Black Woman’s Story of a Family Lost and Found follows her journey as she makes the decision to raise her third half sibling, Jonathan, after he was born to her mother, who had a crack cocaine addiction and spent time incarcerated while Nikkya was raised by her grandparents. The book traces Nikkya’s path toward custody and adoption, her family’s perspective on her queerness, and the way she finds love and forms a family.

Nikkya Hargrove is a 2012 LAMBDA Literary Nonfiction Fellow and has written about adoption, same-sex multi-ethnic marriage, motherhood as a gay woman, and the prison system for The Washington Post, the Guardian, the New York Times, Scary Mommy, and Shondaland, among many others. She has worked for social impact nonprofits providing support to underserved communities throughout her professional career. She graduated from Bard College and lives in Connecticut with her wife and three children.

Author website: https://www.nikkyamhargrove.com/

Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/nikkyahargrove/

Sandra Chwialkowska is a television producer and writer whose first novel, The Ends of Things, is a psychological suspense that explores female friendship and agency, and pushes back against the trope of the helpless female as a “perfect victim.” Her prolific years of screenwriting translate into engrossing cinematic writing on the page, and this novel grew out of her own fears of traveling alone as a woman.

Sandra Chwialkowska is a television writer and producer who splits her time between Los Angeles and Toronto. Most recently, she served as writer and co–executive producer on the Golden Globe–nominated ABC series Alaska Daily, starring Hilary Swank. She has also developed several TV adaptations for female-centric thrillers, including Mary Kubica’s New York Times Bestseller Local Woman Missing. Sandra holds a BA in literature from Yale.

Author website: https://sandra-c.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sandrachw/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandra-chwialkowska-75603a8/

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2181319/