Minnesota native Julie Jo Severson grew up dreaming of working in a newsroom like Mary on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. These days she’s a freelance journalist, editor, and essayist living in Minneapolis..

Julie Jo’s writing portfolio includes local feature stories, essays, and mini memoirs published on a variety of online sites and in print publications including Plymouth Magazine, Edina Magazine, Lake Minnetonka Magazine, the ModernWell blog, Depart Smart, Grown and Flown, Mamalode, Midlife Boulevard, BonBon Break, Ten to Twenty Parenting, and her personal storytelling blog Carvings on a Desk. She’s also the author of  Secret Twin Cities: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure (released March 2020), Oldest Twin Cities: A Guide to Historic Treasures, and cocurator of Here in the Middle: Stories of Love, Loss, and Connection from the Ones Sandwiched in Between. 

With a longtime passion for preserving life’s rich and whimsical stories for the next generation, Julie Jo is also now available to work with individuals to record, transcribe, and shape their personal journies and family history into written legacies to share with kids and grandkids.