Maggie Ryan

I grew up obsessed with books, writing, sports, and fitness, not necessarily in that order. So far, I’d describe my career as an ongoing effort to combine all four. In fact, my first print-published article was about running in Florence, Italy, where I studied abroad as a junior at Stanford and promptly got hit by a car on my first run. (Walked away with a small bruise on my hip and a healthy fear of Italian drivers.)

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I'm currently the health editor at SheKnows.com, where I cover women's and family health. Before that, I spent four years at POPSUGAR as an assistant wellness editor, covering  everything from workouts, abortion, relationships, and mental health to COVID, women’s sports, body image, and astrology. I was a part of some truly stunning features, including 50 States, 50 Abortions and our expert-driven Condition Center. I wrote long-form, reported articles on crisis pregnancy centers, maladaptive daydreaming, and why it’s so hard to leave your comfort zone; interviewed iconic celebrities, up-and-coming influencers, and personal sports heroes; reviewed Chris Hemsworth’s workout app (verdict: very effective); talked to Black therapists about the mental-health impact of Meghan Markle’s viral Oprah interview; and channeled feminist frustration into op-eds on women's sports.

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I’m trained in SEO best practices and top-editing, most recently shepherding a poignant personal essay to publication. To truly cover all my passion-bases, I also wrote for POPSUGAR Books, where I reviewed Dune as a sci-fi newbie, interviewed bestselling authors, and compared a Sarah Dessen classic to its 2022 Netflix adaptation.

 

Before POPSUGAR, I worked as an editorial fellow at WikiHow, where I pioneered quick-turnaround trending articles project, pitching and writing how-to articles about timely topics such as surviving a mudslide (after California was struck by mudslides in 2018). I got my first professional writing experience as a Class Notes Student Assistant at Stanford Magazine, interviewing elderly alumni by phone and sharing their life stories in bimonthly issues. I later worked as an editorial intern at Stanford Magazine, writing on-campus news and profiles, alumni obituaries, and the occasional personal essay. While studying abroad and dodging Italian drivers, I also wrote about local news and culture at The Florentine, an English-language news magazine based in Florence.

 

I graduated from Stanford with a BA in English with a creative writing emphasis and a minor in Italian. I was also elected to Phi Beta Kappa, the Italian Honor Society, and am a member of Chi Omega. When I’m not writing, you can find me cheering for my hometown teams (go Padres and Wave FC), reading (currently: Alexander Chee’s How to Write an Autobiographical Novel), working out (currently: yoga and barre), or hunting for independent bookstores in San Francisco.

 

Thanks for checking out my website! Please find a selection of featured clips, full bylines, and my resume above.

 

For business inquiries, you can reach me at mryan@shemedia.com.