Melissa Dahl
Melissa Dahl is the author of Cringeworthy: A Theory of Awkwardness, published by Portfolio/Penguin Random House. Also, she has a day job: She’s a senior editor at The Cut, where she directs the site’s health and psychology coverage. Melissa joined New York in 2014, when she co-founded the social science site Science of Us. She is earnestly, honestly committed to helping people improve their lives with lessons drawn from psychology, philosophy, and neuroscience; self-improvement isn’t a shameful endeavor, but it shouldn’t be a shallow one, either.
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The Usefulness of Awkwardness
Every emotion, even jealousy and anger, has a purpose. What is the purpose of awkwardness and how can we use it to our advantage?
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Five Common Awkward Situations and How to Navigate Them
These can include workplace or social situations.
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The Science of Romantic Relationships
Melissa writes a column for NY Mag on relationships, so she’s a good authority on this!
She’ll make your awkwardness work for you.
Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Elle, and The Guardian, among other publications; she’s also appeared on NBC’s Today show, and she’s a repeat guest on BuzzFeed’s AM2DM, where she gives evidence-based advice on topics like how to overcome self-consciousness, or how to identify your personal sleep pattern. (Melissa, fwiw, is a reluctant night owl who wrote an entire book about overcoming her own self-consciousness.)