Melissa Kravitz Hoeffner Melissa Kravitz Hoeffner is a freelance writer who covers food, dining, travel, and lifestyle trends, as well as the intersection of gender, business, culture, and politics. She’s written about everything from how food commercials have paved the way for LGBTQ representation in advertising to the evolution of New York City's oldest drag queen restaurant. Beyond New York, her reporting has taken her to Italy, Ireland, France, Alaska, Denmark, Guatemala, and many more destinations. As a freelancer, Melissa writes features, profiles, and news articles for publications including Bon Appétit; Brides, Condé Nast Traveler, Cosmopolitan, Dish by AllRecipes, Eater, Food & Wine, Forbes, Glamour, Grubstreet, Insider, Liquor.com, Marie Claire, Mashable, Mic, Oyster.com, Racked, Real Simple, Refinery29, Saveur, Teen Vogue, The New York Times, Thrillist, Travel + Leisure, USA Today, Vice, and WSJ Magazine. In addition to editorial work, she’s also a copywriter, ghostwriter, creative consultant, writing coach, and translator.• 10+ years of experience in food, travel, and lifestyle journalism• Inaugural writing fellow for the Independent Media Institute's Earth | Food | Life project• Received a bachelor’s degree in creative writing from Columbia University About Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure, a Dotdash Meredith Brand, is a top travel media brand with a mission to inform and inspire passionate travelers. Our expert team includes a network of hundreds of writers and photographers across the globe, all providing a local eye on the best places to stay, eat, and explore. We reach an audience that takes 76 million round trips annually, offering valuable travel tips, ideas and inspiration, and products you need to get you to your destination — whether it’s a small town or big city, beach or lake, national park or theme park, road trip, cruise, or long-haul flight, and everything in between. Learn more about us and our editorial process