My latest for the New York Times

I wrote a piece for the New York Times about the rise of African skin care ingredients and how that dovetails with another major trend in the industry--compassionate consumerism. Many companies are trying to do good in Africa, offering fair wages and other benefits--the building of schools and infrastructure and provision of childcare, for example-- to the mostly female collectives that collect the natural ingredients that end up in our favorite products.

The next steps are clear: We need more companies that are owned or co-owned by African nationals and we need the ingredients to be refined and packaged in Africa so that there is more value added "on the ground."

From the article:

The beauty world is following in the footsteps of programs like Toms Shoes and Lauren Bush’s FEED bags, the purchase of which include donations to needy children in Africa. According to a Nielsen study, the number of American consumers willing to pay more for products from socially responsible companies jumped from 36 percent in 2011 to 44 percent in 2013.

“This is not just a fad, this is a global trend,” said James Russo, a senior vice president for global consumer insights at the Nielsen Company.

Read the whole story here.

A Team of One's Own

I wrote a blog for TheBookDesigner.com's Joel Friedlander, one of the better-known figures in the self-publishing world. When I was getting ready to self-publish SOCIAL DEATH, I was on his website all the time, reading the comments and posts and learning the in's and out's of the business. So it's a real thrill to be able to share my own experience of going Indie with his readers.

I titled the piece "A Team of One's Own" as a deliberate play on Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own. Much like Ms. Woolf recognized and campaigned against the dominance of men in the book world-- it still doesn't take female authors seriously, argues the novelist Jennifer Weiner -- self-published authors and self-published books aren't given the respect that they are due.

I do believe and hope that is changing, and that my book and this blog are a part of that change. As both a female and an Indie author, I invite you to read the post and weigh in with your thoughts!

Real Men Read Social Death

I got a kick out of this photo sent to me by a reader vacationing in Florida.

All that is missing is the pina colada.

My New Book Is Out!

March has been a bit of a whirlwind. After returning from an amazing trip to Thailand--going there was a lifelong dream--I released my third novel, Social Death: A Clyde Shaw Mystery. That's me above (in the rockin' red silk jumpsuit) with the designer Nanette Lepore, who threw a party for me in her Madison Avenue shop.

Social Death opens with veteran news producer Clyde Shaw heading to the scene of a murder on the Upper East Side. Clyde thinks it's just another high-profile crime, the kind she has built her high-powered career on, but it's not. The murder victim is the daughter of Clyde's billionaire boss -- and best friend since childhood. 

As a high-stakes network ratings war begins, Clyde's own privileged yet troubled past comes back to haunt her, and she's forced to choose between finding her best friend's killer and losing everything -- her job, her reputation, even her life.

Please consider buying it (only $2.99 on Kindle and $12.99 in paperback) and reading it. If you like it and are so inclined, please leave a review for me on Amazon, Barnes and Noble or Goodreads (where you can read an excerpt.)

Thank you for your continued support. It makes all the difference!