About

Hi, I’m Em Cassel. I’m a Minneapolis-based writer and editor and one of the cofounders of Racket, a newish online alternative publication from a group of former City Pages editors. You can read more about Racket, and the online alt-weekly revival more broadly speaking, via Poynter.

Prior to Racket, I was the first and last woman to serve as editor in chief of City Pages, a very cool place where I got to edit issues about bikes and death, write feature-length love letters to Hamm’s, and pen essays about seeing Fleetwood Mac with my ex-boyfriend’s secret girlfriend. (It’s also where I became an award-winning “business” reporter lol.)

As a freelancer, I’ve written for a number of local and national publications, among them Minnesota Monthly, where my work includes a recent cover story about the 50th anniversary of Twin Cities Pride. Over at VICE, I’ve reported on topics ranging from physical and emotional health to finance to ~lifestyle~ topics like how to stop shopping at Amazon when you know it’s bad but do it anyway. You can find all of those stories—including a personal favorite about that time I quit drinking and it gave me wild nightmares—here.

Want to pitch me on an assignment? Shoot me an email: emilylcassel@gmail.com.

My interests include—from most to least specific—collections of short fiction written by contemporary American women, emo bands from the Greater Philadelphia area, professional wrestling, and riding bikes. You can find me on Twitter, on LinkedIn, or hanging around at bars in south Minneapolis.