About Me

Rachel Dodes (right) is a freelance culture writer. She’s a regular contributor to Vanity Fair, and her work has also appeared in Town & Country, ELLE, Esquire, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, among other publications.

Her first novel, The Memo—co-written with her friend Lauren Mechling (left)—was published by Harper Perennial in June 2024. (You can order it here.) Named a “Best of Summer” book by Vogue, Esquire, Town & Country, Elle and Vanity Fair–as well as “lowbrow and brilliant” by New York Magazine–it’s currently being developed for television. Rachel and Lauren’s collaboration continues: they recently started a Substack called Funny Girls.

Dodes previously was a staff writer at The Wall Street Journal where she covered the fashion and film industries. Starting in 2017, she co-hosted a weekly independent news/comedy podcast called “Nope,” until the news became so unfunny she had to go on hiatus. She lives in New York with her husband, son and dog.

You can contact her here.