About

Hello! My name is Stephanie Murray, or Stephanie H. Murray if you found me because of something I wrote. I am an American freelance journalist and contributing writer for The Atlantic currently based in Bristol, England. I also have a newsletter called Family Stuff where I publish a weekly round-up of research on demography, family policy, and other family stuff (along with the occasional essay about, say, the #vanillawife TikTok trend, or whether and when it’s okay for my kids to see you naked).

Prior to journalism, I did public policy research, most recently for Wisconsin Policy Forum, where I led the research on a comparative analysis of municipal funding structures across states. I hold bachelor’s degrees in Economics and English (Creative Nonfiction concentration) from Saint Vincent College, as well as a Master’s of Public Affairs from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where I was awarded the school’s Penniman Prize for an analysis I conducted of potential approaches to combating the U.S. opioid epidemic.