Since earning her master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University, she’s covered movie stars and regular folks for People magazine, a pistol-packing preacher for Reader's Digest, advertising for the New York Times and a mother with ALS for the Detroit Free Press. Among her proudest moments: giving her mother a kidney in 2003 and being a caregiver for her parents. She writes with both humor and heart on her blog and is working on a memoir. Find her on Twitter at @ellen313.