Cristina Olivetti is a writer, adult educator, and an advocate for gender inclusion from Northern California. She earned her BA in Women’s Studies from Harvard University and her MFA in Creative Nonfiction from the Bennington Writing Seminars. In addition to studying at Bennington, she has workshopped with Cheryl Strayed and Lidia Yuknavitch.
Prior to pursuing her MFA, Cristina established a blog about parenthood which expanded to include an interview series highlighting the work of women writers. Her interviews have included best-selling author Jan Ellison (A Small Indiscretion) and national parent educator Katherine Reynolds Lewis (The Good News about Bad Behavior). Cristina’s essays have been published in national outlets including Scholastic Parent&Child, Spirituality&Health, the anthology entitled A Cup of Comfort for Mothers, and various online publications. She self-published a book called Writing Your Own Wedding Ceremony, excerpts of which were published in Catalyst, a national print and online progressive wedding magazine. Her piece, “Nine New Vows for Modern Couples,” is one of Catalyst’s top performing articles and is frequently used to market the publication online.
Cristina has been a life-long advocate for gender equity, and gender is the unifying theme in nearly all of Cristina’s creative work. In 2013 she founded a women’s leadership organization called Shine on Collaborative (www.shineoncollaborative.org). As founder, she authored an eight-week-long women’s leadership curriculum that continues to be taught by her colleagues. In addition to her work with women, Cristina also works on behalf of the transgender community. She has facilitated at Gender Spectrum, a national conference for professionals and families supporting trans youth and leads a series of educational workshops about gender identity geared toward educating adults who support trans youth. She is part of the team that is forming the Family Advisory Council at the UCSF pediatric gender clinic.
Cristina’s memoir, About Bliss: Letters to My Trans Son, is forthcoming from Jessica Kingsley Publishers/Hachette UK.