MELISSA HECKSCHER
Profile Experienced journalist and author with more than 20 years experience in digital and print media. Areas of expertise include theater, pop culture, parenting, travel and technology.
Experience
Freelance Features & Travel Writer, various publications (2016 to present) – Writing feature stories for the various online publications including Thrillist, SheBuysTravel, SF Gate, BroadwayWorld, Tinybeans, and Mommy Poppins.
Freelance News Writer, Southern California News Group (2019 to present) – Writing news feature stories for the Beach Reporter and the Daily Breeze, newspapers that cover the South Bay of Los Angeles. Stories may be subsequently published in any of the Southern California News Group’s 12 papers.
Book Author, various publishers (2004 to 2011 ) – Author of 10 nonfiction books, published by Random House, Quirk Books, Scholastic and others.
Features Writer, The Daily Breeze, Torrance, CA (2006 to 2009) – Writing daily lifestyle and entertainment stories for the Daily Breeze—including writing a weekly dating and relationships column.
Writer/ Editor, New York 1 News, New York, NY (2001 to 2003) – Writing and editing daily news stories for NY1.com, the website of New York 1 News, a 24-hour cable news station in New York City.
News Reporter, The Monterey Herald, Monterey, CA (1999 to to 2000) – Writing daily news stories for the Monterey Herald, the newspaper for Monterey County.
Education
Master of Arts, Print Journalism — University of Southern California
Bachelor of Arts, English and Anthropology — Tulane University
Awards/ Honors
Two-time winner of Red Tricycle’s monthly Spoke Network Writing Contest. This
award goes to the post that receives the most monthly page views for the site
(received in Jan. 2019 and April 2019).
Nomination, Los Angeles Press Club, Southern California Journalism Awards,
Columnist category, 2008 awards.
Honorable Mention, Suburban Newspaper Association of America Awards, Best
Entertainment story of 2006 for the Daily Breeze story, “It’s a Dog’s Life.”
Nomination, Los Angeles Press Club, Southern California Journalism Awards, Best News Feature of 2005 for Daily Breeze story, “It Just Might Work.”
Published Books
The Pregnancy Test: 150 Important, Embarrassing and Slightly Neurotic Questions – Quirk Books, 2011
BE HAPPY THAT… This Book Isn’t Coated in Poison – Random House, 2009
DIS-MISSALS: Do-It-Yourself Rejection Letters for Every Occasion – Random House, 2008
USE THIS BOOK! The Only Book You’ll Ever Need – Quirk Books, 2006
DATE HIM OR DUMP HIM? The No-Nonsense Relationship Quiz – Quirk Books, 2005
BE SAFE! Simple Solutions for Death-Free Living – Quirk Books, 2004
The Mysterious Times: Strange Stories of 30 Real-Life Mysteries – Scholastic, 2004
The Explorer’s Gazette: Amazing Stories fo 30 Real-Life Journeys -Scholastic, 2004
Nonprofit Projects
Founder, kidwithacause.com – A project I developed with my kids to develop
empathy, kindness and a sense of philanthropy. Our “causes” have included writing
letters to politicians, craft projects, volunteer outings, and animal fostering.
Founder, DearGrownupsOfEarth.com – A grassroots collection of advice letters from kids everywhere to the grownups of the world (this is an ongoing book project).
Clips available http://www.muckrack.com/melissa-heckscher
Melissa Heckscher 