Laura Buchwald is a freelance writer and editor who lives in Manhattan and considers New Orleans her second home. She’s written for Gotham Magazine, LA Confidential, the websites of Penguin Random House and Simon and Schuster, The New York Daily News, and The New York Post’s Page Six, where she frequently covered the restaurant world and the antics of celebrity chefs. She is co-host of the podcast People Who Do Things, a series of conversations with writers and creators about the creative process.

The Coat Check Girl won a First Chapter contest sponsored by the Bronx Council on the Arts.

Photo by: Shirin Tinati