Alaina Lavoie (publishes journalism under the byline Alaina Leary) is a Boston-based “Swiss army knife” of publishing. Alaina is an award-winning editor, communications manager, writing coach, and journalist.

Alaina is currently the Communications Manager for the literary nonprofit We Need Diverse Books. She also teaches graduate-level courses in the Publishing, Literature, and Writing department at Emerson College, and is a book reviewer for Booklist.

Her goal as a publishing professional is to amplify marginalized voices across all aspects of the industry. She was awarded a 2017 Bookbuilders of Boston scholarship for her commitment to this work, and regularly organizes and participates in panels and events surrounding this topic. She was a judge for the 2020 New England Book Show, assisting with the inclusion of categories for accessibility, diversity in young adult literature, and diversity in children’s literature. She was also the communications lead for the virtual Everywhere Book Fest.

Some of Alaina’s current and former clients include Spoon University, HarperCollins, OurShelves, Ubisoft, Equally Wed Magazine/Palladino Publishing, Disability Rights Washington, Healthline, Greatist, Her Campus Media, AgoraPulse, Everyday Feminism, Shopify, The Food Network, Bustle Digital Group, Samsonite, American Tourister, Bust, Grateful & Co., Rue La La, Conscious Culture Publishing, Womenade Boston, Charlesbridge Publishing, Habitat for Humanity, Dance Studio Life Magazine/Gold Standard Publishing, and Luna Luna Magazine. Alaina is also an authenticity reader, and you can contact her to have work up to full-length book manuscripts read.

Her work has been consistently featured in Top 10 best national lists, and HelloGiggles named her essay as one of their staff favorites. Her social media and content campaigns have gone viral within hours. Her essay “My Dad Taught Me How to Shave My Legs” was featured on Cosmopolitan’s Snapchat in July 2016.

Her work has been published in New York Times, Washington Post, Publishers Weekly, Cosmopolitan, Teen Vogue, The Oprah Magazine, Boston Globe Magazine, Bitch Media, Refinery29, The Week, Seventeen, HuffPost, Healthline, Quartz, Marie Claire, Vice, Chicago Tribune, The Rumpus, Narratively, Allure, Racked, Bustle, TalkPoverty, The Establishment, Everyday Feminism, HelloGiggles, Bust, Redbook, Good Housekeeping, Woman’s Day, Brooklyn Magazine, Ravishly, YourTango, Culture: the word on cheese, Rooted in Rights, and more.

She attended BookCon 2018, 2017, and 2016; and ALA 2019 on behalf of We Need Diverse Books and helmed communications and publicity for the 2020 Diversity in Children’s Literature Symposium and Walter Awards. She often covers the nonprofit’s panels and programming live on social media and organizes interviews with publishing industry tastemakers and influencers. Alaina regularly serves as a judge for We Need Diverse Books anthology short story contests and Creative Writing Awards.

Alaina has a BA in professional writing from Westfield State University, where she was honored as a 2016 notable alumni, a Celeste and John Loughman fellow, and a Commonwealth honors scholar, and an MA in publishing from Emerson College, where she was recognized as a Dean’s Fellow.

She lives with her wife and their literary cats, Blue and Gansey. She’s a creative and activism-fueled combination of an ENFP, a Pisces, and a Gryffindor.

Pronouns: she/her or they/them

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