Sasha Cagen was born in Rhode Island and graduated from Barnard College. She is an author and entrepreneur who builds communities around passions and new ideas. She is most well known for coining the term “quirkyalone,” a person who prefers singledom to dating for the sake of dating.
Her first book Quirkyalone: A Manifesto for Uncompromising Romantics (Harper San Francisco, 2004), a singles manifesto for a new generation, spawned a holiday, International Quirkyalone Day (Feb. 14), a growing alternative to Valentine’s Day that celebrates all forms of love, an online community, and a movement.
Quirkyalone has been translated in German, Danish, and Portuguese, and was named a finalist in the Books for a Better Life Awards, 2004. Quirkyalone garned major media attention, including BBC, ANDERSON COOPER 360° on CNN, CNN Headline News, “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” on MSNBC, NPR’s “Day to Day” and in Bust, Detroit Free-Press, Fort Worth Star Telegram, London Observer, Miami Herald, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, New York Post, New York Times, Providence Journal, San Antonio Express, San Diego Union-Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, Seattle Times, Seattle Weekly, Shape, Time, Time-Out New York, Toronto Star, US News and World Report, and USA Today.
Sasha’s second book is To-Do List: From Buying Milk to Finding a Soul Mate, What Our Lists Reveal About Us (Simon & Schuster, 2007), a collection of 100 real, handwritten lists and the stories behind them. She began collecting lists as the founding editor and publisher of To-Do List, a print magazine that used the idea of a to-do list to explore details of modern life, and became fascinated by them because they are such a rare window into our everyday lives–and everything that’s on our minds. Among other major recognition, To-Do List was named Best New Magazine of 2000 in Utne’s Alternative Press Awards, Reader’s Choice. She continued the project on todolistblog.com, a blog that publishes handwritten lists.
Sasha’s essays have appeared in the Village Voice, Men’s Health, the San Francisco Chronicle, and in numerous anthologies.
She is currently at work on StyleMob, a new web community where users give and get style advice and vote on the best looks of the day. Called a “Facebook for fashion” by the New York Daily News and “addictive” by the San Francisco Chronicle, StyleMob is part of the new trend to democratize fashion.
Sasha Cagen lives in San Francisco where she writes lists on a daily basis, frequently writing down tasks that she has already accomplished so she can triumphantly cross them off.
She is also . . . in no particular order:
Creator of quirkyalone.net, a website that gets tens of thousands of hits on monthly basis and has a highly active online community with thousands of members.
A former zinester. Sasha got her start as a writer in the “girl zine revolution.” During the mid-nineties in New York, Sasha co-edited a cultishly beloved girlzine Cupsize with her friend Tara Needham.
A workshop leader. Sasha has led workshops at two of North America’s leading retreat centers: Hollyhock, in Canada, and Omega Institute, in Rhinebeck, New York.
A speaker. Sasha has spoken at numerous institutions and universities, including Google, San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral to Sonoma State University, University of San Francisco, and Boston College.
A teacher. Sasha occasionally teaches Personal Essay Boot Camp for mediabistro.com in San Francisco.
A very occasional filmmaker. Sasha co-directed and produced a short movie “How to Start Your Own Holiday,” for Current, Al Gore’s new cable network.
A marketing and publicity consultant
An budding hula hooper
A lapsed yogi
An obsessive listmaker
