Jamie Keiles

Early life

Jamie Keiles grew up in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, where she attended Central Bucks High School West. She graduated from the University of Chicago in 2014 with a degree in interdisciplinary studies in the humanities.

Career

In April 2010, at age 18, Keiles launched "The Seventeen Magazine Project", a blog documenting her attempt to follow the advice of Seventeen Magazine for 30 days. The project criticized Seventeen for promoting a limited conception of adolescent femininity; the project quickly drew coverage from feminist blogs as well as national outlets, including NPR's All Things Considered and CBC's Q, among others.

Upon completion of "The Seventeen Magazine Project," Keiles initiated "Hey Mainstream Media", a photo submission project encouraging internet users to air their grievances with mainstream media through the use of handwritten signs.

In July 2010, Keiles launched "Teenagerie". Though the site was initially founded as a means of challenging societal conceptions of adolescence, it has since expanded to cover a wide range of feminist issues. In August 2010, Keiles was the subject of much criticism from the conservative blogging community for a critique she wrote on the public image of Taylor Swift.

In September 2010, Keiles was listed as #7 on Woman's Day magazine's list of the eight most influential bloggers under 21, behind Bryanboy and Tavi Gevinson. That same month, she signed with Folio Literary Management, where she is currently developing her first book, a guide to media and culture for older teens. The book is expected to be released by the end of 2012.

As an undergraduate at the University of Chicago, Jamie worked for the alternative newspaper the Chicago Weekly.