Called "the hardest-working woman in feminism" by Michelle Tea, Jaclyn Friedman is a writer, performer, and activist. Her writing has been featured in Bitch Magazine, AlterNet, Women's eNews, PW.org, and PopPolitics. She's also appeared as a guest blogger on Feministe, and in the Lambda Award nominated anthology Pinned Down By Pronouns. Friedman holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College and has received a 2001 Cambridge Poetry Award, a 2004 Somerville Arts Council Artist Grant, and a recent fellowship from the Vermont Studio Center.

In her work as the Program Director for the Center for New Words, she programs and produces a 50 plus event-per-year series of author discussions, as well as writing workshops, open mics, political discussions, music concerts, book groups, and special events. She is Co-Founder and Co-Chair of WAM!, CNW's conference on Women, Action & the Media. Before coming to CNW, Friedman worked as Program Director of the LiveSafe Foundation, an organization dedicated to teaching self-defense, de-escalation, and safety skills in communities with high rates of violence. In her spare time, Friedman plots world domination through truth and secretly watches reality television. Her favorite lipstick color is Wicked.