Kelly Conaboy

Kelly Conaboy

Kelly Conaboy

BA English ’09

Senior Features Writer, Gawker (New York City)

Age 36

My Greatest Accomplishment:

Tony Hawk taught me how to do an ollie for a story once, and he claims I basically did one. (That is true.) Still, I’d have to say my greatest accomplishment so far has been writing my first book, “The Particulars of Peter.” I thought writing a book was so far out of the realm of possibility that it wasn’t even one of my goals, necessarily, and it was indeed one of the hardest things I’ve done in my career. But I was so full of ideas after adopting my dog, Peter, that writing a book about him seemed like the only choice I had. Now that artifact of our relationship will live on after us forever, or at least until all books are banned under a future evil regime.

How Drexel Helped Me:

Scott Stein’s “Writing Humor and Comedy” class single-handedly convinced me that humor writing was something I could pursue professionally, or at least as a semi-embarrassing hobby. I loved humor and comedy before taking the class, but I’d never really tried to write a “humor piece;” after, I had the tools to build a collection of pieces that helped convince editors to give me a shot. I genuinely don’t know what I would be doing now if I hadn’t taken Scott’s class. I might be a doctor!

Where I Hope to Be in Five Years:

Resting on my laurels after having written a second book that was optioned and made into a critically acclaimed limited-run series starring Amanda Seyfried (as me).

The Change I Would Most Like to See in the World:

I wouldn’t turn down a complete reversal of climate change, if offered.