Hi, I’m Jessie Van Amburg.
The TL;DR version: I’m a person who likes to get paid to read and write all day. (And I’m pretty good at it.)
My mom says I learned how to read on my own because I really, really wanted an Easy Bake oven for Christmas.
“I think those come with a lot of instructions, Jessie,” she told me at the time. “Santa wants to make sure that you can follow the recipes by yourself.” By the end of that very same week, I was reading on my own.
The Easy Bake oven didn’t interest me for long, but my love of words persisted. I started writing stories when I was 7, keeping track of different worlds and characters in dozens of notebooks. I created a short-lived literary newsletter for my family, called “Silhouette” (inspired by a character from the book P.S. Longer Letter Later) when I was in 5th grade.
So maybe it shouldn’t be surprising that as an adult, I continue to value work that keeps me connected with my first passions of reading and writing.
Photo: Martin Lee Studios
I worked in New York media as an editor and writer for seven years. I got my start in 2013 at women’s lifestyle publication All You magazine, where I learned early on the importance of service-driven journalism while contributing to the brand’s print and digital product. I transitioned to digital-only work in 2016, when I helped launch Motto, Time.com’s vertical dedicated to career-oriented millennial women. I then honed my skills as a health editor at Women’s Health and Well+Good for the next four years.
But enduring the 2016 election, the pandemic, the 2020 election, and more as a journalist made me realize that I needed to make a change for my mental health.
I still love telling stories. So now I’m a freelance writer and editor, here to help brands inform and inspire folks on the internet. (Other things I’m working on: watercolors, climate justice community organizing, and possibly my first novel.)
After a few years as a generalist covering a wide range of topics (including beauty, finances, pets, and even astrology!), I’ve honed my focus to primarily cover reproductive and mental health. My goal is to provide audiences with trustworthy, accessible information about their bodies and minds.
How I do it: rigorous, curious, in-depth reporting. I love getting nerdy with experts and diving deep into a topic, and am a stickler about how studies are cited and explained in my work. I take every piece I write seriously, even seemingly straightforward SEO explainers.
But even the best reporting can fail you if your writing can’t match it. I excel at translating expert jargon and complex scientific concepts for a regular human audience. My years of editing features also allow me to easily structure a clear and concise argument, weaving in reporting and connecting the logical dots for readers following along.
More things about me: I’m a Los Angeles expat living in the Hudson Valley. I’m a proud alum of Wellesley College (where I graduated with a BA in History in 2013), as well as of the Columbia Publishing Course (where I received a certificate in 2013). I love cats, ‘90s and early ‘00s television (specifically, Fraiser), Renaissance art + history, tacos, and breakfast food.