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 fitness, women's health, and Gen Z wellness trends (among many other topics). 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 am deeply satisfied by a succinct, keyword-heavy SEO headline and intro graf. I'm also experienced at top-editing, and have recruited and managed over a dozen freelance writers at various publications. To truly cover all my passion-bases, I've also written about books at POPSUGAR, where I reviewed Dune as a sci-fi newbie and interviewed bestselling authors; and at SheKnows, where I explored a memoir of open marriage and a philosophical takedown of fatphobia.

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Before POPSUGAR, I worked as an editorial fellow at WikiHow, where I pioneered quick-turnaround trending articles project and wrote timely how-to articles on topics like surviving a mudslide (after Californians dealt with a spate of them 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 and 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 (most recently: Kaveh Akbar’s Martyr! for my book club), working out (currently: running and strength training), or exploring independent bookstores in NYC.

 

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

 

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