Bio
Originally from Scotland, Rachel moved to NYC in 2004 and co-founded the Utne Award-winning independent magazine $pread, where she was editor-in-chief from 2004-2008. She is an editor of the anthology $pread: The Best of the Magazine That Illuminated the Sex Industry and Started a Media Revolution (Feminist Press, 2015). This interview in The Atlantic captures some of the quirks and challenges of publishing a print magazine by and for sex workers in the mid-2000s.
After becoming a parent in 2010, Rachel became frustrated by the double evils of princess culture and princess-phobia and began writing about it on her (no-longer-active) blog, Not Anti-Princess. When she heard about the first Drag Queen Story Hour (DQSH) event in San Francisco, her response was, OMG, this is what I’ve been waiting for all my life! Rachel organized the first DQSH event in New York City in August 2016 and built Drag Story Hour NYC into a citywide nonprofit organization producing fun and fabulous children’s storytelling programs, where she served as executive director until 2022.
Rachel now works as the development director at the Street Vendor Project, a membership-based organization that builds power and community among the immigrants and other entrepreneurs who sell food and merchandise on the streets of New York City.
In her spare time, Rachel writes creative nonfiction and personal essays and interviews people she admires.
Email: rachelaimeegw@gmail.com
Instagram: @rachel_aimeeee