Andy Steiner

Andy Steiner is an award-winning journalist, editor and freelance writer. She has written for many national publications including Every Day With Rachael Ray, Utne Reader, Ms., Glamour, Mademoiselle, Self and Modern Maturity. Her work has also appeared in college alumni magazines, textbooks, and daily newspapers, including the Minneapolis StarTribune, the San Jose Mercury News and the Toronto Sun.

A Minnesota native, Andy earned an undergraduate degree in English, history and journalism from Macalester College in St. Paul. In 1992, after completing a masters degree at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Andy returned to her home state, where she became editor of the Minnesota Women’s Press, one of the nation’s oldest feminist newspapers. In 1997, she joined the staff of Utne Reader, where she became the youngest person to hold the position of senior editor.

Andy’s refreshing take on emerging trends and unique characters has earned her a reputation as a writer who’s excited about turning quirky subjects into strong features. A sample includes a look at Midwestern butterfly ranchers, a visit to a Vietnamese fortune teller, and a profile of a ferret shelter director. She’s also written a personal account of a transsexual’s wedding, a look at the renewed interest in the Jewish ritual bath and an ode to the disappearing wash-and-set hair salon.

At Utne Reader, Andy assigned and edited cover sections, supervised production of front-of-the-book departments, and wrote features. Her fresh take on the established Utne formula yielded articles on trendspotters, teenage sexuality, underground census marketing, fat activism, riot grrrl bands, and neo burlesque. As editor (and writer) of the magazine’s Media Diet and Below the Radar columns, Andy sharpened her interviewing skills with such celebrities as Susan Sarandon, Wynton Marsalis, Natalie Merchant, Ira Glass, Michael Moore, Ursula Le Guin, Michael Franti, Naomi Wolf, Sandra Bernhardt, Julia Butterfly Hill and Oliver Stone.

Andy is the author of two children’s books: A Sporting Chance: Sports and Gender (Lerner Publications, 1995) and Girl Power on the Playing Field: A Book About Girls, Their Goals, and Their Struggles (Lerner Publications, 2000). Her book, Spilled Milk: Breastfeeding Adventures and Advice From Less-Than-Perfect Moms, was published by Rodale Books in 2005. The Japanese-language version of Spilled Milk was published in 2006.

Andy wrote the “Feeding Your Baby” chapter for Our Bodies Ourselves: Pregnancy and Birth (Simon & Schuster, 2008) and contributed to the best-selling parenting anthology Blindsided by a Diaper (Three Rivers Press, 2007). She’s also worked as a blogger for Sisterhood Six, Avent International’s award-winning parenting web site.

Andy lives in St. Paul, Minnesota with her husband and two daughters. She’s secretly proud that someone once called her “charmingly” neurotic. When she’s not writing, she enjoys spending time with friends and family, and loves to read, walk, knit and watch movies.