Melissa Petro is a freelance writer and writing instructor living in New York City. Her writing has appeared in Marie Claire, Pacific Standard Magazine, Cosmopolitan, Redbook, Esquire, Salon, Daily Beast, The Guardian, Al Jazeera America, Jezebel, Narratively, New Inquiry, Broadly, and many other places. In 2015, she was one of 3 Finalist for the PEN America / Fusion Young Emerging Writer’s Prize judged by John Freeman, Roxane Gay, and Cristina Henrique. She is the founder and an instructor at Becoming Writers, which provides free and low cost creative writing workshops to underheard writers. Follow her on twitter @melissapetro