About Michelle Zaffino
Michelle Zaffino is an author, information scientist and digital librarian in San Francisco, with over 15 years of experience, including journalism, content and information architecture, product, magazine, book and online publishing, UX strategy, fact-checking, copywriting and editing. She worked in New York for several Hearst publications, and while managing the research department at Marie Claire, she wrote Does Your Man Need A Makeover?, which inspired tv’s Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.
She’s been published in Marie Claire, Redbook, Sports Afield, SEEN, Double Negative, Sportswear International, IndiePlanet, Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood, The Bold Italic, Her Fab Life, the Sephora blog, Eco Fashion World, Eco to the People and In the Stacks video book review. Michelle offers tips to aspiring writers in the On Storytelling video series. She recently completed her first teen novel, How Good It Can Be, a sequel, The Love Quad, ALLEGRA, a historical novel for teens, and is currently working on a series for young adults and a memoir. She’s serializing a mystery set in San Francisco at the Librarian Detective website. Michelle learned to surf in her 40s during the pandemic and wrote the novel Be There.
In 2012 Michelle graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pittsburgh School of Information Sciences with a MLIS and is founder of the book discovery & publishing startup In the Stacks.tv, creators of the Librarian Brain and MyLibrarian app.
Through the experience of writing 5 novels, Michelle realized that whether your book is indie or traditionally published, book discovery is broken, so she learned to code in front-end web development bootcamp, in order to build products to fix it. MyLibrarian / In the Stacks is her way of sharing good books with the readers who love them. As video and podcast book reviews continue to expand, so will the In the Stacks digital library, and the Librarian Brain was born out of our love for metadata and aims to ensure diversity and inclusion in book publishing artificial intelligence.
When she isn’t working remotely as a virtual nomad, you can find Michelle at a coworking space or coffee shop in San Francisco, where she’s lived for 15+ years. Michelle is a founding member, circle leader and advisor of SheFundraises, a pitching platform and community for founders, and a passionate digital collectible enthusiast.
Partnerships: Michelle is an influencer for and/or is affiliated with the following brands, companies, and institutions: SheTransacts, Women 2.0, Galvanize, CapitalOne, Mechanics’ Institute San Francisco
Provenance: Global Citizen, previously Nob Hill, San Francisco, 94109, Turtle Bay, New York, 10017, and I grew up in Warren, PA, 16365.
Special Talents: Can type with a pen in my hand (an old newsroom habit); I know when to hold ’em and when to run.
Specifically: You won’t hear from me before 10am (my mornings are mine), and I never wear my eyeglasses in public.
Favorite Colors: Citron, Black, and Navy. Blackwatch Plaid.
Raison d’être: I believe that not broadcasting your individual style is a crime, and that it’s smart to be nice.
Bragging Rights: Scored my first library card at age 4.
Favorite Book: The President’s Daughter by Ellen Emerson White, about the eldest daughter of the first woman president of the United States.
Sad Fact: I’m probably one of the only librarians who doesn’t like cats.
Life Lessons Learned: Pour some for everyone, even if they say no.
Motto: In Zaffino, Veritas
