Ingrid Ricks is a Seattle-based journalist, author, marketing consultant and teen mentor who leverages the new world of digital publishing to give at-risk teens a voice. Using her award-winning debut memoir Hippie Boy: A Girl’s Story as a teaching guide, she recently co-launched WeAreAbsolutelyNotOkay.org, a nationally recognized mentoring/publishing program that helps at-risk teens find their voice by writing and publishing their personal stories.

Ingrid’s essays and stories have been published in Salon, Ladies’ Home Journal, The Advocate and a variety of other publications. She writes emotionally charged memoirs with such vivid scenes and compelling story lines that they are often mistaken for fiction. In addition to Hippie Boy, she is the author of Focus, a memoir about her journey with the blinding eye disease Retinitis Pigmentosa, and a memoir story collection, A Little Book of Mormon (and Not So Mormon) Stories.