I’m a writer and strategist living in Chicago.
I write essays and poetry about culture, language, fitness, and myself. I build programs and teams to turn strategy into action.
My debut essay collection, Beyond Measure, came out from Sarabande in 2018. I received MFAs from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and the University of Iowa’s Nonfiction Writing Program and a BA in creative writing and Spanish from Brown University.
BEYOND MEASURE
Beyond Measure is an exploration of the rituals, routines, metrics and expectations through which we attempt to quantify and ascribe value to our lives. How much can data tell us?
Rachel Arndt’s collection demonstrates beautifully the marvelous ability of the personal essay to carve out of the ordinary events of everyday life a piece of shaped experience. –Vivian Gornick, author of The Odd Woman and the City
Order from Sarabande
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Selected publications
The Believer
Tool: Uni-ball Vision Exact Micro Pen in Black, $24 for a dozen • Elevator, Chicago
The Atlantic
The Sexism of American Kitchen Design
The Outline
The inflatable swan is having a (very long) moment
Popular Mechanics
Why You Should Ditch Microsoft Word for NotePad • Hey Siri, Can We Talk? • How to Raise a Whiskey Pig
Little Village
LV Recommends: Casey’s General Store
What I do
As a business strategist and transformation leader, I design systems, put them in place, and then make them better. I know how a program should run, but crucially, I also know how to make an organization believe in how it should run.
I’ve build and honed global operating models, architected new solutions, and fostered team growth.
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I like to ask people what they actually do when they sit down at their desks. Do they open a browser tab to check email? Do they have spreadsheets open in the background? Who are they talking to on their first Teams call of the day, what are they trying to achieve, and what do they do after clicking “Leave”?
Ask me the same, and I’ll tell you that I greet my inbox—zeroed at the end of the previous day—with one hand on the mouse and the other hovering over the keyboard. I consult Gantt charts and make adjustments so they reflect today’s reality, not months-ago aspirations. I test the latest iteration of an AI automation tool, with my agent updating a changelog in the background. I am trying to achieve growth; I am trying to bring the business to the next level.
I stand up and get a snack. I come back to my desk.
On Teams, I speak with a steering committee about the global rollout of a new pricing model, using evidence from my team—plus a healthy dose of data-driven analysis—to gain executive buy-in. I raise the blinds to let the afternoon light in, and I type, creating a business requirements document to elevate our automation app from a handy tool to a critical and scalable product.
I update my team, and I close the laptop and go for a walk.