I’m a journalist and essayist based in State College, Pa. These days the bulk of my professional time is spent as managing editor of the Penn Stater magazine, a bimonthly publication for members of the Penn State Alumni Association. I’m also working on a spiritual memoir, so if you’re a seeker or a publisher, please hit me up.

Before I jumped back into a full-time position, I spent many years as a freelance editor and writer. I’ve had articles, essays and humor pieces published in a variety of media outlets, including GQ.com, SUCCESS Magazine, The Washington Post, American Craft, Scary Mommy, Nickelodeon’s NickMom and several others. My parenting essays have been syndicated on the Huffington Post, and for a time I wrote a syndicated column on family finances for regional parenting publications across the U.S. and in Canada. I’ve also done a lot of marketing writing and editing for businesses in a variety of industries, as well as personal writing for people who need help crafting the perfect wedding vow, eulogy, or letter. In the first part of my journalism career I was the features editor and a weekly columnist for The Island Packet newspaper on Hilton Head Island, S.C., and I very much miss the Lowcountry. 

Besides writing and hanging with my two sons, one of my biggest passions is hospice. I also facilitate a poetry class for seniors in the dementia unit of an assisted living facility for Ridgelines, a central PA-based language arts nonprofit.

This website serves as a space for the essays that I need to write for me, not to shop around. Until I get up the nerve to completely pull the plug on social media, you can find me on Instagram. To get in touch directly, email rspassante@gmail.com.