I’m a writer.

My work has appeared in places like the Oxford American, Paper Airplane, Lit Hub, Discover, VCU Magazine, Thrillist, and JSTOR Daily, among many others.

I report on business and work for outlets including the BBC, the Economist, the Washington Post, Fast Company, Business Insider, and Inc, among others. I received a Virginia Press Association award for my reporting on the post-Covid labor market. I also run a content studio called study.

A few feathers in my cap: My Oxford American story about the ask-me-anything phone line has been syndicated by Burnaway, Longreads, and Reader’s Digest, translated into Italian for Internazionale, and was named a top-five reader favorite of OA in 2025. My story for Lit Hub about semantic bleaching was named one of Lit Hub’s Best of 2022 and Lit Hub’s Most Popular Stories of 2022. It’s used by Cambridge Assessments in testing materials.

I’m also the creator and host of How to Be Anything, the podcast about people with unusual jobs. I have a BFA in creative writing from the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

You can email me at emilymccrary@gmail.com