Born and raised in the Great Lakes State of Michigan, Tina Essmaker is an editor, copywriter, and community manager who now lives, works, and plays in New York City. She spends half of her week building community with the great folks at Crush + Lovely and divides the rest of her time between freelance writing projects and other creative pursuits.

Tina is co-creator of The Great Discontent, an online journal of interviews focusing on creativity and risk, which she publishes with her partner-in-crime, Ryan Essmaker. Together, they founded the small creative studio, No Little Plans, formerly known as Designing Monsters.

Aside from her various day jobs, Tina draws and is available for commissioned work. She also keeps a blog, which she periodically updates with essays, photos, and reflections on her experience of growing up motherless.

If you ever want to win Tina over, there are a few things she can't resist: a really strong cup of coffee, a good sample sale, cat GIFs, surprises of any kind, dark chocolate, and heartfelt words.

​​Follow @tinaessmaker

Say hello to Tina: tina [at] nolittleplans [dot] is