A native New Yorker shaped by decades in the Pacific Northwest, I have built a career as a storyteller first and foremost. With a deep and abiding passion for uplifting the voices of women of all backgrounds and identities, my work as a storyteller has always centered the intimate, complex truths of our bodies—truths so often silenced by stigma, shame, and structural neglect. From reproductive health to motherhood, abortion to aging, I write not just about these issues, but through them—braiding my lived experience as a woman with other women’s experiences into a broader narrative of resistance, reckoning, and repair.
You can read my writing of all kinds on this website. My personal essays and poetry delve into trauma, healing, and the profoundly human aspects of justice. I am currently working on an anthology about eating disorders in midlife women called “This Is Not Your Mother’s Eating Disorder.” Learn more here. The call for submissions is now open!
I have served as Managing Editor and Senior Staff Writer at the UN Foundation’s award-winning RH Reality Check (now Rewire News), which won a Planned Parenthood Maggie Award in 2010 under my editorial guidance as well as nominations for Webby Awards for Best Political Website and Best Health Website, where I covered reproductive health policy, access to care, and maternal health—writing extensively about issues from abortion politics to breastfeeding equity to the intersections of human rights and reproductive health.
My writing has been cited in numerous books on reproductive rights, childbirth, violence against women, and public health.
My articles and personal essays have been published in Truthout, Lillth Magazine, Ms. Magazine, Entropy, Role Reboot, Rewire News, Our Bodies Ourselves, Bright Magazine, Midstory Magazine, The Manifest Station, and Kveller among other publications.
I contributed to the 2011 edition of the seminal book Our Bodies, Ourselves and was the site’s staff blogger, covering topics like racial disparities in maternal mortality and the realities of pelvic organ prolapse. I’ve also helped shape digital storytelling at the Gates Foundation, co-creating content for the blog Impatient Optimists to amplify global health initiatives.
I have been the editor of women’s health publications including the now defunct Ask Me About My Uterus (though the book exists!), as well as poetry editor for Our Truths, Nuestras Verdades, served as the Board President of Pro-Choice Washington, contributed to one of the longest running sex-ed digital clearinghouses Scarleteen, and managed communications for a feminist abortion clinic in Seattle, where I edited one of the first abortion storytelling books to be used in clinics throughout the country.
Internationally, I have interviewed women in rural India who lead grassroots efforts to expand access to family planning with the Gates Foundation; helped open safe birthing centers in Nairobi with Jacaranda Health to reduce maternal and infant mortality in Kenya; and shared the stories of women-led collectives in the slums of Mumbai working to improve pregnancy and childbirth outcomes through education and community support with RH Reality Check. As an independent consultant, I worked with global foundations including the International Women’s Media Foundation, Foundation for a Just Society, NoVo Foundation, and the Marguerite Casey Foundation, to amplify the work of grantees to create a more just and compassionate world.
I’ve interviewed Melinda Gates about motherhood, was invited to share a table discussion on white feminism with Jada Pinkett Smith, Rachel Cargle, and Justina Machado and written extensively about my own experiences as a mother.
After graduating from New York University, I launched a brief career in television production, working for Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, Club MTV, and Michelob Presents Night Music, among others. I received a Certificate in Documentary Filmmaking from the University of Washington, and as a fledgling filmmaker, I produced short documentaries about women and body image, the volunteer simplicity movement, and feminist activism. I was also an associate producer on the short film ¡Poder!
In my day job, I serve on the executive team and as the head of communications for a large Seattle-based nonprofit human services organization that provides food, financial assistance, and housing to individuals and families in need, as well as support for survivors of domestic violence, refugee resettlement, and other critical services.
I live in Seattle, by the water, where I am teaching myself to play the guitar and co-leading women’s circles on rituals, myths, and story sharing for perimenopausal and menopausal women. I am the proud mother of two brilliant humans, and in my spare time, I am an abortion doula, a certified yoga teacher, a lover of music, films, nature, and most of all, my beautiful community of friends and family.
amienewman.com 