I'm Diana Helmuth (pronounced "hell - myth")

I am a nonfiction author, freelance writer, Silicon Valley startup veteran, hiker, producer and cupcake baker. I'm a pretty bad gardener, but I try to do that, too.

 

My writing usually (but not always) centers on travel, nature, and millennial philosophical trends. I try to keep things funny. I also cry a lot.

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My first book How to Suffer Outside: A Beginner's Guide to Hiking and Backpacking  (Mountaineers Press) won the National Outdoor Book Award for Best Instructional. My second book, The Witching Year: A Memoir of Earnest Fumbling Through Modern Witchcraft (Simon Element), was featured on All Things Considered , reviewed in The New York Times, and nominated for the 2023 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Memoir & Autobiography. I was NPR's "Main Character of the Day" on November 1, 2023.

 

In addition to my nonfiction, I have interviewed 150+ subject matter experts for Abrams' Books famous Fifty Places travel series, and regularly contribute to the pop culture blog Pajiba. I occasionally write and test backpacking gear for Outdoor Life magazine.

Like most writers, writing is not all I do. In the San Francisco Bay Area, I have helped numerous startups with operational growth and thoughtful creation of first products. My business experience is here. 

I am a producer on Da7e and Neil's Pop Culture Adventure  (where we're currently re-watching Twin Peaks). Before that, I produced The Storm: A Lost Rewatch Podcast headed by Joanna Robinson (The Ringer), Neil Miller (One Perfect Shot) and Dave Gonzales (Thrillist), and saw it exceed 4 million downloads.

I studied Cultural Anthropology at UC Berkeley and the American University in Cairo under multiple scholarships. 

I have an obsession with empathy. You may have seen me dance.

I am on LinkedIn, Bluesky and Instagram, but we're having more fun on TikTok. 

 

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