Celeste Hamilton Dennis loves the scoop. Growing up in Levittown, NY with a single mother who asked questions at every turn—Who was at the pool today? Her mother ask where I was? How did the Bowmans afford that new porch of theirs?—it seemed inevitable she’d be just like her.

After studying literature at Boston College and University College Dublin, Celeste dabbled in music journalism. While it was awesome to get free tickets to concerts, it wasn’t her thing. So she decided to head to Guyana with the Peace Corps, where she taught reading at a high school and badly imitated Missy Elliott at karaoke.

She landed a job at Idealist.org after returning, and stayed for nearly a decade, working at all three of their offices: New York, New York; Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Portland, Oregon. At Idealist, she dabbled in community outreach and spent most of her time writing about social entrepreneurs and everyday changemakers. Remember how she loves the scoop? Interviewing is her thing. 

Currently, Celeste is an editor at the arts activism publication OF NOTE Magazine. She also writes for various national nonprofits and foundations, consults for web agencies around town, and is an active member of the Portland Solutions Journalism chapter.

When she’s not being a mom to two little girls, she’s trying her hardest to get invited to dance parties, dreaming about her next travel destination, and writing about mouthy women for a short story collection set in her hometown.