What Was Mine (Ross) - Author Bio

Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1954 (?)
• Raised—King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, USA
• Education—B.S., Cornell University; M.F.A., New School for Social Research
• Awards—Shorty Award
• Currently—lives in New York City, New York, and Salisbury, Connecticut


Helen wrote her first novel in a composition notebook (you remember those). She was only eight, and the story revolved around a family of birds—proof that she's been interested in family dynamics for a long time.

Ross earned her B.S. from Cornell University and her M.F.A. from The New School for Social Research in New York. She spent the next 20 years working in advertising, in New York City and San Francisco, as a writer and creative director for top agencies and global brands.

When social media took off, Ross created her own blog, AdBroad. She then became noted for channeling Don Draper's wife Betty, from Mad Men, into an online presence. Ross gave Betty her own Twitter acount—@Betty Draper—a profile on Linked-In and Betty's own blog where she could kvetch about the woes of a 1960s  housewife. These and other cross-platform type narratives, earned Ross a good deal of attention in the press and online media, including an article in the Wall Street Journal, as well as a Shorty Award. (Yes, the "Oscars for Twitter." Really.)

Ross is also an author of note. Her poetry, essays and fiction have appeared in The New Yorker, New York Times, and in literary journals and anthologies. Her first novel Making It: A Novel of Madison Avenue appeared in 2013, and her second, What Was Mine, in 2016. The second book debuted on January 5 and was sold out on Amazon before 8 A.M. People magazine selected it as a "Best New Book of 2016."

Ross lives with her husband in New York City and Salisbury, Connecticut. (Adapted from the author's website.)