An Introduction

I'm a writer and activist living in Austin, Texas with my husband, our two highly vocal cats (Tipsy and Stella) and two extremely goober dogs (Fizzy and Panda). 

Today, I lead the research team at the nationally focused pro-abortion organization Reproaction and am an extremely proud co-founder of The Flytrap, a feminist media cooperative.

From 2018-2021, I led the communications team at If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice, a legal organization at the vanguard of the reproductive health, rights, and justice movements. A lot of folks know me as the founder of the abortion-fundraising Taco or Beer Challenge. 

I've been freelance writing and multimedia producing for nearly 20 years, even while working a slate of full-time gigs. My work has been published in the New York Times, The Nation, MSNBC, The Baffler, the Columbia Journalism Review, DAME Magazine, Rewire News, The Texas Observer, on Cosmopolitan.com and Rolling Stone.com, in the Women's Review of Books, D Magazine, the Austin Chronicle, Salon, Bitch, Ms. Magazine, Jezebel, The Frisky and the Los Angeles Review Of Books' literary magazine, The Offing, among many others.

I was the Texas Observer's digital editor from 2015-2016, juggling a host of editing duties as well as keeping an eye on a state legislature famous for its tomfoolery while producing the Texas Miracle podcast, an audio news magazine dedicated to progressive politics, cultural commentary, and social justice in Texas. Prior to my gig at the Texas Observer, I covered reproductive rights and state politics across the South as a senior political reporter with Rewire, a non-profit online magazine focused on reproductive rights and justice, while writing the Texas Observer's monthly "State of the Media" column. Texans may also recognize my name from the virtual pages of Eater Austin and Eater Dallas, or from the Dallas Observer alt-weekly, where I worked my first gigs in journalism as a staff writer and humor columnist.

I've done a lot of personal writing and podcasting about social change and pop culture (and the intersections of social change and pop culture). My newsletter is Home with the Armadillo, where —very, very occasionally — I holler about Texas, politics, and reproductive justice.

I have a B.A. in digital journalism from New York University, and an M.A. in cultural anthropology from the University of Texas at Austin.

I'm always happy to take questions and assignments at andrea dot grimes at gmail dot com. For communications that require a more secure channel, you can contact me at grimesandrea at proton dot me.