Linda Villarosa is a freelance writer and editor. Formerly, she edited the health pages for the New York Times, where she redesigned and expanded health coverage for Science Timesand for the newspaper at large. Linda was also both the executive editor and senior health editor of Essence Magazine, where she wrote or edited a number of award-winning articles. Earlier this year, she sat in as the magazine’s acting editor-in-chief for four months. As a reporter, Linda has written hundreds of articles for the Times, several of which ran on the newspaper’s front page. She has also contributed articles, profiles and reviews to a number of national publications, including Glamour, Health, Latina, the New York Times Book Review, O Magazine, Vibe and Woman’s Day. She has won awards from several organizations, specifically The Arthur Ashe Institute, the American Medical Writers Association, Lincoln University, the New York Association of Black Journalists and the National Women’s Political Caucus. Linda has also provided editorial consulting to a number of companies and organizations. For American Express Publishing, she conceived and launched a newsletter for television host Dr. Phil, focusing on mental and emotional health. For the Kaiser Family Foundation, she has trained journalists from around the world to better cover the international HIV/AIDS epidemic. Linda is the author of Body & Soul: The Black Women’s Guide to Physical Health and Emotional Well-Being. A Blackboard Bestseller, there are more than 200,000 copies in print. She is the coauthor of both Finding Our Way: The Teen Girls’ Survival Guide and The Black Parenting Book. She has also worked behind the scenes as a “book doctor,” helping other authors complete proposals and package and write their books. A graduate of the University of Colorado, Linda also spent a year at the Harvard School of Public Health as a journalism fellow. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.