"My goal: Less guilt, more common sense  --  whether we're talking baby care, child care, elder care, or self care."
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I focus on a woman's life stages, from babycare to eldercare to self care: her health, self-identity, relationships, sexuality, and role as family gatekeeper and caregiver.

Whether I'm writing for market-leading media, translating medical jargon into a consumer-friendly voice, delivering critical consumer insights, developing custom content for your site or app, or speaking to a large group, you get fresh angles and common sense, communicated in a pitch-perfect voice for the message and audience you're targeting. And I work fast.

* Highest-quality research, writing, and editing (with engagement metrics, awards, and happy editors/sources to prove it)

* Versed in all aspects of digital media (e-newsletters, interactive tools, apps, blogs) as well as books and magazines

* Deep domain expertise in health and wellness, family, sex, pregnancy, parenting, aging, Alzheimer's, eldercare

* My 11 books include Momfidence! and 7 collaborations, including a New York Times bestseller

* Spokesperson: national TV ("The Oprah Winfrey Show," etc.), keynote speeches, presentations, webinars, radio tours, major magazine and newspaper interviews

* Extensive network of top-tier thought leaders in health and medicine

I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. (I'm the former Paula Spencer.)

Follow me on Twitter: @PSpencerScott


Specialties:

Aging / Eldercare

  • 2011 Met Life Journalists in Aging  fellow, selected by the Gerontological Society of America and New American Media.
  • Senior editor of Caring.com, the leading site offering advice and support on eldercare  -- the next huge topic in American family life.
  • Fellow of Alzheimer's Disease 2012, sponsored by the National Press Foundation.
  • Developed "Steps & Stages" resource for Alzheimer's caregivers (9 weekly newsletters, symptom guide, self-staging tool, advice & support content), Caring.com
  • "Self Caring" and "FYI Daily" blogger
  • Guest editor of Touching Lives, nationally-distributed hospice publication
  • Presenter at Aging in America annual meeting (2010, 2011) and "Conversations in Caregiving" webinar hosted by Leeza Gibbons (2012)
  • Expertise in Alzheimer's/dementia/cognitive health, caregiver stress and self care, senior health; special focus on the emotional/relational aspects of caregiving
  • Dozens of features for Caring.com, Touching Lives, MSN, Yahoo, iVillage, AOL, Parade, Arthritis Today, 50 Plus
  • Experienced caregiver (parents)

Family Life / Parenting

  • MOMFIDENCE book, column, website, and blog
  • Coauthor, NYT bestseller The Happiest Toddler on the Block with Dr. Harvey Karp
  • Coauthor, Bright From the Start with Dr. Jill Stamm
  • Author of three Parenting Magazine books & Parenting: The New Mom's Gift Kit
  • Wrote BabyCenter.com's popular, traffic-driving "My Baby/Toddler/Preschooler/Big Kid This Week" newsletter series, ages 1-8
  • Editorial Director, WellUs World, Inc., digital interactive family-health magazine (2012)
  • Consultant to BabyCenter.com, Gerber, First Moments, Kajeet, and other family-friendly companies
  • Contributing editor for 15 years to Parenting and Babytalk magazines; "Relationships" columnist, Parenting
  • My parenting articles also in Family Life, Parents, Newsweek, Reader's Digest, Redbook, Grandparenting, Kiwi, whattoexpect.com, others.
  • Interviewed as family expert by Real Simple, Smart Parenting, Ladies Home Journal, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, New Choices, Fit Pregnancy, WebMD, American Baby, many others.
  • Momfidence blog called one of "Great Blogs on Children, Health, and Parenting" in US News and World Report
  • Not least, mom of four, stepmom of two

 Self Care / Sexuality / Health

  • Coauthor, The V Book with Harvard's Dr. Elizabeth Stewart
  • Coauthor, Consciously Female with Dr. Tracy Gaudet, director of Duke Integrative Medicine
  • WebMD contract writer-editor
  • Dozens of bylined articles: Health, USA Weekend, Newsweek, Glamour, Redbook, Weight Watchers, Body & Soul, iVillage, MSN, Yahoo, elsewhere
  • Former "Suburban Farmgirl" columnist for MaryJanesFarm
  • Appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show"
  • Writing awards from American Speech, Language, Hearing Association; Arthritis Foundation; National Political Women's Caucus; others

Pregnancy

  • Author of 3 pregnancy guides: The Pregnancy Journal gift book, Everything Else You Need to Know When You're Expecting, and Parenting (Magazine) Guide to Your Pregnancy
  • Coauthor, Body, Soul and Baby with Duke Integrative Medicine director Tracy Gaudet, MD
  • More than three years of life spent pregnant!

 Member

  • University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill Medical and Science Journalism Program Advisory Board and guest speaker
  • Association of Health Care Journalists
  • Journalists Network on Generations
  • Reporting on Health
  • The Authors Guild
  • American Society of Journalists and Authors (1995-2008)

 


Photograph by Charles Harris