MEET OUR line editor

Jen

Jen Aly is an editor and long-time coach who helps writers get to the heart of what they're really trying to say — in a way that actually lands.

Her work is grounded in more than a decade of teaching English and writing at the college level, as well as over 20 years of coaching entrepreneurs, creatives, and healers to clarify complex ideas and express them with confidence and impact. She knows firsthand what it means to wrestle your ideas into language that has to carry real weight — writing her TEDx talk, selected for TED.com, was a true rite of passage: every word counted, and it took a sharp tool to pare it down for an opportunity that demanded nothing less. That experience lives in her editing work every day.

Jen brings a deep reverence for the kind of work her authors are doing. She has spent decades immersed in personal and spiritual development — through coaching certifications (including Martha Beck and Best Year Yet®), retreats, ongoing study, and a daily qi gong practice — and she meets each writer's ideas with the care and respect they deserve. She is especially drawn to the kind of book that finds someone at exactly the right moment — the stories that heal, shift, and quietly give courage to people who didn't know they were waiting for exactly those words.

Her approach to line editing is warm, direct, and collaborative. She specializes in strengthening clarity, flow, and voice — helping writers find the words that feel most true to what they're trying to express.

Originally from Tennessee, she has lived in Hawaii and California, and after 12 years in Asheville, North Carolina, Jen sold everything and began traveling full-time. She spends most of her time in Latin America, where she continues to coach, travel, and work on her Spanish.