Information 🤝 Emotion
research, think, write, repeat
When people ask what I do, I like to tell them that I’m developing a martial arts curriculum for dogs. When I want to sound intellectual, I say I’m a writer. When I want to sound successful, I say I’m a creative director. When I want out of the conversation, I say I’m an accountant, though fewer people have believed that than the canine karate bit. Let’s say I work as a Creative Comms Salad Consulting Director to buy myself health insurance, sardines, and time to write. The creds: Webby award, bestselling book, 1st place in social impact at the Mexican National Design Biennale, featured on a list of 50 people changing Mexico, clients like Anthropic, Apple, Meta, Airbnb. While for enough money you could hire me to do any number of things, what I most like to do professionally is deep-dive research, then create work that people will read, understand, and care about. This usually takes the form of:
Writing (copy/nonfiction)
Strategy (brand/social/content/editorial)
Content Strategy & Advertising
I've many helped clients frame, organize, package, and present information. Highlights include: Airbnb, FREE THE WORK, DoorDash, RollingStone.com, the Mexico City Government's Laboratorio para la Ciudad, the Art Institute of Chicago, the AARP / Association of Young Americans, Spherical Studio, and many others.
I've worked with many agencies as a creative director, strategist, and copywriter. Highlights include: Google (B-Reel), Anthropic, Facebook, Pinterest, 23andMe, Atlassian (Strike Anywhere), Apple TV+, The Honest Company, Beauty Pie, Sir Lewis Hamilton’s Foundation Mission 44 (Hyphenated), Frito-Lay (Vocabulary), Netflix, Airbnb, Skype, Samsung (Cash Studios), MetLife, Pepsi (Sparks & Honey), Kuaishou (72andSunny), Oboe, New Balance (Art Camp).
Writing
My book Pussypedia: A Comprehensive Guide has sold over 24K copies. It received a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly and praise from Roxane Gay, reached #1 in its category on Amazon, and was translated into 5 languages. My Substack, How to Have Fun in the Apocalypse is a Substack Bestseller and is usually hovering around the top 50 in rising humor. My writing has appeared in Los Angeles Review of Books, The Washington Post, Slate, WIRED, Print Magazine, Playboy, Next City, Hyperallergic, Fast Company, the LA Times, in the essay collection, You are Here: Mapping the Soul of the City, and elsewhere. My research has appeared in the New York Times, This American Life, and Quartz.
Press
My work has been covered by The Cut, The New York Times en Español, El Pais, The Washington Post's The Lily, New York Magazine Approval Matrix, Glam, Cosmopolitan, The Today Show, Dame, Buzzfeed, CityLab, Next City, PBS, Vice-ID, Digg, Curbed, eleven major publications in France, fourteen in Spain, Shots, Fast Company (here, here, and here), The New Yorker, and almost 200 other international publications.
Honors and Awards
My projects have won a Webby in Education, a 1st place at the Mexican National Design Biennale, and a Bronze Kantar Information is Beautiful Award. In 2021, QuiĂ©n Magazine included MarĂa Conejo and I on a list of 50 People Changing Mexico for our work on Pussypedia. Served on the Sparks and Honey, Influencer Advisory Board from 2014-2024.
Talks and Workshops
I've spoken and given workshops at conferences, festivals, corporate headquarters, and universities in English and in Spanish on topics from the word "vagina," to the similarities between cities and emojis, to potential uses of data visualization to facilitate community collaboration. Here’s a live interview with Radiolab’s Molly Webster at Pioneerworks, which I kicked off by inviting the audience to unbutton their pants with me. Here’s a keynote talk at What Design Can Do, Amsterdam, 2022 where I talked about humping door frames as a child and using design thinking as a(n adult) writer. Here’s my TEDx talk in Spanish about shame.
More
You can learn more about me on my Instagram Account or on this Design Matters with Debbie Millman interview.
Education:
Barnard College of Columbia University, NYC, B.A. in Urban Studies 2012