Maggie Peña

Photo of Maggie Peña
Location
Los Angeles, California
School
Miami University
Expertise
Cheap & flavorful meals, Colombian recipes, Low-Stakes baking
  • While working for her college newspaper, Maggie won a regional award for a column about Ohio-based restaurant Gold Star Chili and was later offered the chance to interview the CEO.
  • As a fresh-out-of-college "adult," she is determined to discover, test, review, and share inexpensive and easy — but still delicious — meals (especially crockpot and one-pot meals).
  • Her work for Hemera's Bench, a small business specializing in frozen New Zealand-style pies and Asian flavors, inspired her to reevaluate and reimagine grocery store frozen food aisles.

Experience

Maggie discovered a love of food writing after her first food article — which sang the phrases of a Colombian delicacy, hot chocolate with cheese — and kept sharing her favorite recipes and meal hacks. She is by no means a food "expert," but she doesn't think anyone needs to be a food expert to find joy in it. Her goal is to make everyone feel safe and comfortable cooking and encourage people to try new recipes and techniques. When she's not writing, Maggie loves to bake and try new dessert recipes, and though some have failed miserably, her love for baking has never (and likely will never) wane. A "girl's best friend" has always been writing for Maggie. From writing and editing her 6th-grade magazine to becoming the head student editor of her junior high school newspaper, to developing her love of documentary film writing in high school, to majoring in journalism and authoring over 100 articles across four years, writing has always been her passion. In college, Maggie sharpened her writing skills and, at the same time, honed in on her specialties.

Education

Maggie graduated from the honors program at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, with bachelor's degrees in journalism and American studies. She worked for the school newspaper all four years and authored over 85 pieces.

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Stories By Maggie Peña