Heather M. Gray
has over 10 years of research experience in adolescent issues including: teenage pregnancy and its prevention, dating violence, body satisfaction, and eating disorders. Having grown up with three sisters, including an identical twin, Heather has been immersed in girl issues for a lifetime. She graduated with a BA in Psychology from Brown University in 1990 and landed her first job as a Research Assistant for the Harvard Eating Disorder Center's long-term study of girls and women with eating disorders. This experience led to her interest in inspiring girls to empower themselves rather than listening to the mixed-up messages we receive from so many sources. After getting her Masters in Public Health from the University of North Carolina, she moved to New York City to write Real Girl/Real World with Samantha. She currently lives in the West Village of New York City.

Samantha Phillips
graduated with a BA in Comparative Literature from Brown University in 1990 and received a Masters in Education from Lesley College. She is currently a freelance writer for numerous magazines and newspapers, and a contributing writer for Fit Pregnancy magazine. She is a part-time lecturer at the University of Miami, where she has taught freshman writing classes. She lives in Miami with her husband, Bruno, and daughters Sophia and Laura. Under duress, she did give Sophia a Barbie when she turned three (aah) and her family now has a tangled collection of disheveled Barbies that live mostly in a drawer. She is presently working on a new project with Heather.