About Me
I interview authors monthly for UK writer’s site 26, as well as New York’s esteemed Cosmopolitan Club of which I am a member. I have written about art, design, travel and inspiring creatives for British House & Garden, Architectural Digest, Town & Country, Galerie Magazine, Indagare and a host of others. I have an MA in Journalism from Columbia University and an MA with Distinction in Creative Writing from Kingston University in England. I am on the board of Columbia Journalism School.
Meet Elena
I was born curious. Harriet the Spy was my idol, and Nosey Bowes my nickname. One of my favorite birthday presents when I was young was a pair of binoculars. I loved spying on our neighbors, the Gillettes, whose house faced the back of ours. Unfortunately, my nine-year-old technique wasn’t very subtle, and one night Mrs. Gillette called my mother and asked if I could please stop watching them while they were having dinner, it was unsettling.
Not only am I not sneaky enough to be a spy, but I am scared of most things—even ladybugs could have a dark side— My fear of boating, for example, started young…
so I turned to journalism as the next best thing. Permission to ask questions. Bliss.
I grew up in San Francisco, but perennial wanderlust (connected to that curiosity gene) led me to New York in the eighties, and London after that. During my thirty years in London, I got married, had three children- who are more Blighty than Yankee –
got divorced, relied heavily on my close circle of girlfriends, and learned all about mid-life dating. I went back to school to study creative writing and had plenty of material for my thesis—Table for Two: Finding Mr. Wrong.
Eventually, I found Mr. Right, a New Yorker I call Stretch in my blog in the Ponderings section where I delve into the personal. Stretch blossomed from this…
to this…
I write about whatever I am pondering -second marriages, ageing parents, ageing me, marrying children, ex-husbands, living in Manhattan after thirty years in London- 3am sirens replacing 3am car alarms.
When I met Stretch in 2015, all three of my kids were either living in the States or had plans to move there. Plus, my mother, who lives in San Francisco, wasn’t getting any younger. So, Stretch’s Manhattan address only added to his appeal. He was GD, geographically desirable. Fast forward six years, and all my children have jumped ship, moved back to London, while I have moved to New York to be with my now husband, Stretch. Suffice to say, Covid or no Covid, I travel a lot to see the people I love.
Ten Things You Might Want to Know About Me
- I wish I had Melissa Biggs’ hoodzpah and smarts to form Indagare, a world class luxury travel business.
- I love the honest, off-the-wall monthly editor’s letter by Condé Nast Traveler’s Global Editor-in-Chief Melinda Stevens.
- A bête-noire of mine, over-used words like pivot, folks, amazing. And don’t get me started on he passed. David Sedaris says it best in this New Yorker article.
- I always look forward to my likeminded friend Nancy Weltchek’s Weltchek Weekly for guidance on better writing: The Emily Post of business writing.
- I have my best thoughts on airplanes.
- I always feel better after a visit to the hairdresser.
- I love repurposed old buildings. The living room in our Manhattan apartment used to be a squash court.
- Falling in love in my fifties feels a lot different than my twenties—wiser about myself and my needs—I wore dusty rose to my second wedding.
- I have a soft spot for pots, especially ones made by Connecticut-based Frances Palmer.
- Call me old-fashioned, but I still prefer the touch and feel of an actual newspaper, magazine or book.
I’d love to hear from you. Send me a message!
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