Kristen McGuiness is a best-selling author, editor, and long-standing publishing professional. After spending the first decade of her career working in editorial for Simon & Schuster and Harper Collins, as well as in film development at Warner Brothers, Kristen wrote the bestselling memoir, 51/50: The Magical Adventures of a Single Life, which was featured on the “Today Show” and in USA Today. Since then, she has co-authored dozens of books and her work has been published in Rolling Stone, Shondaland, Marie Claire, amongst others. She is the co-founder of Row House Publishing with Rebekah Borucki, and the founder and publisher of Rise Books, a publishing company dedicated to works that explore what it means to be radically inspired. She is also the author of the first book from Rise Books, Live Through This, pub date October 10, 2023. She lives in Ojai, CA with her husband, two children, and a dog named Peter. Live Through This is Kristen’s debut novel, set in 2016 at the edge of our modern times. After Jane Ambrose’s mediocre middle age life is upturned by a mass shooting, she is forced to face her complicated past but also her complicated marriage in order to find her voice in the gun control debate, and within her own life.

Lauren Schwarzfeld (Moderator) is the Director of Marketing + Publicity for Rise Books, a publishing company dedicated to supporting emerging authors while bringing their radical works of inspiration to life. She is also the author of a collection of personal essays Unboxed: Essays on Learning to Trust Myself So I Could Stop Doing the Things I Hate, published in 2021, and in addition to writing pitches and press releases, she is currently writing her second book, a novel. Lauren is co-leader of a Women’s Networking Club at YellowStudio in Cross River. Lauren lives in Mt Kisco with her husband, three children and two dogs.