Michelle Dowd is a journalism professor and contributor to The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Los Angeles Book Review, The Alpinist, Catapult, LA Parent Magazine and other national publications. She has been recognized as a Longreads Top 5 for her article The Thing with Feathers, on the relationship between environmentalism and hope and nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize.Her popular Modern Love column in The New York Times inspired her memoir, Forager: Field Notes on Surviving a Family Cult, which showcases her life growing up on an isolated mountain in California as part of an apocalyptic cult, and how she found her way out of poverty and illness by drawing on the gifts of the wilderness.

Alexandra Gillespie would jump into shark-infested waters for a story — and already has in Belize, Grand Bahama, and Sudan as the digital editor of Scuba Diving magazine. Now a freelance writer, she continues to tell stories about water travel, outdoor adventure, and food for outlets including National Geographic, Outside Online, and NPR.

Lyn Jensen has been a freelance journalist in Southern California since the 80s. Her byline has appeared in numerous periodicals including the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register, LA Weekly, Los Angeles Reader, Music Connection, Bloglandia, and Senior Reporter of Orange County, where she writes a monthly column, "Life After Mother," which deals with estate and probate issues from personal experience. She blogs about music, manga, and more at lynjensen.blogspot.com and graduated from UCLA with a major in Theater Arts.