Short Bio: 

Lauren Wise is an award-winning Arizona-based journalist, columnist, and editor and has worked for over 17 years within the magazine and book publishing industry. After graduating from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism (ASU) with a BA in Media Analysis and Criticism, she founded Midnight Publishing (Scottsdale) in 2009, an editorial company that provides authors with transparent, professional guidance into the publishing journey (as well as late night hours). It is through drive to deliver inspirational literature that brought Lauren to SparkPoint Studio (Phoenix) in 2015, where she’s currently the associate publisher for hybrid publishing imprints SparkPress and She Writes Press, the latter of which won 2019 Independent Publisher of the Year, and the editorial director at SheReads.com. She’s an award-winning rock music, travel, and culture journalist, and a member of the IBPA Advocacy Committee. She’s a journalism mentor for teen girls, volunteers regularly at the Phoenix Rescue Mission, and is the head of the Emerging Leaders Commitee at the AZ Muscular Dystrophy Foundation. She lives in Scottsdale, Arizona with her husband, toddler son, and a healthy book and whiskey collection.

Long Bio: 

Lauren Wise is an award-winning Arizona-based journalist, columnist, and editor; the associate publisher for hybrid publishing imprints SparkPress and She Writes Press, the latter of which won 2019 Independent Publisher of the Year; editorial director at SheReads.com; and the owner of Midnight Publishing, an editorial company founded in 2009.

Her passion lies in telling the stories of peoples and places. For 17 years, her expertise has been in heavy metal, rock music, and the culture surrounding it, as well as book editing and publishing. However, she has experience writing in other sounds and subjects, including travel, music festivals (from The Big Four to Bonnaroo), food and wine, art, and fashion. She’s been fortunate enough to work with dozens of legendary artists, musicians, and public figures, including Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin), Dolly Parton, James Patterson, John Densmore (the Doors), Alice Cooper, Neal Schon (Journey), Metallica, and Peter Frampton; Iron Chef champion/Food Network star Chef Beau MacMillan; 9/11 Air Force One Pilot Mark Tillman; and the first American exhibited at the H.R. Giger Museum, Vincent Castiglia.

She’s worked in investigative reporting and feature interviews, roundups and reviews, op/eds and public relations, for regional, national and international publications, including Noisey/VICE, Revolver, Phoenix magazine, LA Weekly, Phoenix New Times, Runway magazine,  Affliction.com, and Where Colorado.

She’s also been featured on radio stations for music analysis and criticism, television (including a two-time judge on Heavy Metal Television’s VJ auditions and anchor for “The Cutting Edge of Metal”, a news broadcast), and won “Most Metal Journalist” three years running from Heavy Metal Television.

In addition to music, she has a stack of clips in the areas of culture, nonprofits/poverty issues, history, culinary arts, and travel. She has experience in editorial positions at a range of magazines, including True West, a Western history publication; Runway, an international fashion magazine; and WHERE magazine, a century-old travel magazine available in over 150 regional markets.

Magazine work isn’t her only medium; she edits memoirs, creative nonfiction, and fiction through her company Midnight Publishing, and is also currently the associate publisher at two pioneering indie hybrid publishing imprints: She Writes Press, awarded 2019 Indie Publisher of the Year, and SparkPress. In addition, she is the editorial director of SheReads.com, a website with 300k monthly visitors featuring author interviews and is a resources for readers to find their next great book.

Lauren’s hobbies include oil painting, cooking, and exploring museums. Obsessions? Vinyl records, the Kansas City Chiefs, the sound of a piano and guitar, the beach, hockey, a nice glass of bourbon, and the feeling of a book in her hands—ironic, since she has about 400 on her shelves, and is allergic to paper.