Honest Answers to Your 10 Most-Asked Questions

And a reintroduction!

When I launched Morning Person in the fall of 2021, most of my subscribers came from Instagram or already knew me from my previous roles at cupcakes and cashmere and Food52. I could write about Toast (my dog), school (I’m halfway through my Master’s), and my book, all with the assumption that you already knew what I was talking about.

Since then, a lot has changed, and thousands of you have joined this community so I figured it was time for a reintroduction (and a makeover of my About page). Read on for a reintroduction and honest answers to your most-asked questions:

You can get the nitty gritty from my LinkedIn page, but the short story is: I was born in L.A. and spent middle and high school in Reno, Nevada. After college in Boston, I moved to New York to pursue cookbook publishing and quickly abandoned my plans for an editorial position at Food52 (though my love of cookbooks remains alive and well!).

From there, I ran content at the L.A.-based lifestyle brand, cupcakes and cashmere. In 2020, I moved to Portland and launched Morning Person the week between leaving my job and beginning my Master’s in Professional Mental Health Counseling with a Specialization in Addictions (a mouthful!). I’m currently halfway through my three-year program (I begin seeing clients soon, which I obviously won’t be covering here due to confidentiality, but am very excited about.), and chat more about my post-grad plans below!

What else? I turned 30 last February, a birthday that kicked off the most challenging, exciting, and growth-fostering year of my life. My Spotify is full of playlists that are probably way too revealing, but these are my favorite songs of all time. I am a compulsively future-oriented person, a tendency that sometimes feels like a superpower and a coping mechanism that keeps me from being present. I have no problem baring my soul online, but am working to be less emotionally guarded with those I’m close to. I rarely drink anymore, but had a glass of n/a Champagne last night to celebrate some big news I’ll be sharing here soon! I own a plot of land that I hope to build a house on one day, could live on orzo, Parm, and fennel sautéed in a whole bunch of butter, some might say I over-salt all my food, and Paul is my favorite Beatle.

Morning Person emerged from a strong desire to fill what I saw as a hole in the lifestyle industry. I wanted to create a place for authentic recommendations and stories that don’t come through Instagram filters or paid sponsorships (there are also zero affiliate links here). I maintain a loose editorial calendar that is planned weeks in advance, but allows for the flexibility to write about whatever I’m interested in at the moment, so long as it also provides you with something of value. The fact that I work on it alone means that it can be especially dynamic and personal—I can write about my quarterlife crisis and my struggle with meaning-making one week and WFH wardrobe the next (both of which, I feel, are part of life and worth covering). Subscribers can reply to any email to reach me directly!

You sent in so many questions and I did my best to get to several of the most-asked! Scroll on for my answers to questions, including to the below:

1. What kind of exercise routine or eating habits (e.g. eating slowly, no screens during meals, etc.) do you have?

2. Is your separation still temporary? And do you have any regrets?

3. Tips for falling asleep?

4. How do you stay excited about this newsletter, school, and other projects?

5. Can you please tell me how you make your newsletter look so... un-substacky?

6. What are the biggest changes you’ve undergone in the past 5 years?