Alene Dawson
Writer & Journalist
FEATURED ARTICLES
Why Gratitude Is Good
Los Angeles Times
Tap Your Well Of Creativity
Los Angeles Times
Q & A: Richard Branson
Town & Country Magazine
Q & A: Deepak Chopra
Coast Magazine
Q & A: David Lynch
Los Angeles Times
Q & A: Zendaya
Los Angeles Times
ABOUT
ABOUT
​Alene Dawson is an award-winning writer, journalist, editor, and storyteller whose work shapes how large audiences understand meaning, well-being, and modern life. Her reporting and essays sit at the intersection of social science, culture, and human experience, translating complex research into narratives that resonate emotionally and travel widely.
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She has written more than 230 reported features and in-depth interviews for the Los Angeles Times (many for the Mind & Body section), including cover and section cover stories reaching millions through national and international distribution across major newspapers. Her reporting has appeared in a Los Angeles Times section honored by the Society for Features Journalism for excellence in features journalism. Her writing also includes widely read personal essays published across major national platforms.
Her bylines also include Elle, Glamour, Marie Claire, InStyle, Town & Country, Essence, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, CNN, MSN, Shondaland, and Fodor’s Travel, among others—including publications with print circulations in the millions and digital audiences exceeding 25 million monthly readers. A longtime industry insider and former syndicated columnist, Dawson has spent years chronicling the rise of the modern wellness movement from niche subculture to a projected $9 trillion global industry.
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INSTITUTIONAL & FEATURE REPORTING
Dawson is a trusted editorial partner to major research and cultural institutions, including the John Templeton Foundation’s flagship platform, Templeton Ideas, where she produces feature reporting, interviews across multiple editorial formats, and event coverage, translating research on awe, imagination, beauty, and human flourishing into compelling, widely shared public narratives. Her work helps amplify institutional missions, extend the life of research, and deepen public understanding of complex subjects by bridging scholarly insight and connecting big ideas with mainstream audiences.
Her Templeton work includes reporting on major public programs such as A Night of Awe & Wonder in Los Angeles and deeply reported features including Behold: Beauty Is Not Optional, an exploration of why beauty and the humanities matter through nature, art, and aesthetic experience; and Humanity 3.0: What Does It Even Mean to Be Human?, a widely read reported feature examining technology, identity, and longevity with technologist and longevity entrepreneur Bryan Johnson. She has also conducted long-form interviews, such as Lessons From the World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness, a conversation with Robert Waldinger of Harvard Medical School on the science of happiness and human flourishing, and reported features that include interviews with Dr. Laurie Santos of Yale’s Happiness Lab for The Awe-Seeker’s Guide to Travel.
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HIGH-IMPACT JOURNALISM & INTERVIEWS
Dawson is known for widely shared, high-impact journalism that catalyzes public conversation around culture, well-being, and modern life. Her Los Angeles Times feature The Key to a Happy Life? Gratitude That Goes Beyond Thanksgiving and her CNN stories Gen X Is Balanced and Happy and What Is Beauty—and Who Has It? are among her widely read and shared works.
She has interviewed a wide range of influential figures, from Richard Branson, Zendaya, Deepak Chopra, and David Lynch to Misty Copeland, Ela Gandhi, Tracee Ellis Ross, Jennifer Aniston, Moby, and Maria Sharapova—along with Nobel Prize–winning scientists and scholars, Olympic gold medalists, policymakers, and cultural changemakers—producing stories that have been widely shared by their subjects and amplified across major cultural platforms.
Her entertainment reporting has brought her into conversation with Oscar- and Emmy-winning actors, directors, writers, and producers, as well as Grammy-winning musicians, offering a rare window into the creative forces shaping modern storytelling and culture.
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AREAS OF FOCUS
Dawson’s work spans social science and culture, with reporting across health, well-being, beauty, luxury travel, style, and relationships—always grounded in rigor, curiosity, and human insight.
Her work sits at the intersection of research and culture, helping audiences understand not only what trends are emerging but why they matter.
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WELL HAPPY THRIVE​
Through Well Happy Thrive, where she serves as Editor in Chief, Dawson explores the cultural and scientific dimensions of well-being, with widely read essays including The Revolutionary Power of Self-Care.
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CREATIVE PROJECTS & COLLABORATIONS
In addition to journalism, Dawson develops original creative projects for television and film, bringing journalistic depth and cultural intelligence to visual storytelling. She collaborates with organizations and creative partners seeking to elevate their narratives, broaden reach, and communicate ideas with clarity and emotional power.
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MISSION
She believes in the power of journalism and narrative to clarify ideas, connect people, and influence how we live for the better. Her work is driven by a mission to make the world a better place through storytelling.
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LOCATION
She is based in Los Angeles.
SCREEN AND RADIO
ON
AIR
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Alene on KTLA Los Angeles discussing her Los Angeles Times article "Liking Yourself Just The Way You Are"
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Listen to Alene on NPR discussing her Los Angeles Times articles and more.
Feb.
26
What's new.
ON
STAGE
Alene has appeared on and written for the big and small screen.
With a passion for Shakespeare, Alene studied British Classical Theatre at the University of Oxford in England and went on to work with modern day Oscar, Emmy, and Tony-nominated wordsmiths.
She's worked on Broadway, off-Broadway and in major theaters across the country. Roles include several Shakespearean favorites such as Hero, Titania, Ophelia, Juliet, and others. She was Estrella in the original production of Oscar-nominated Jose Rivera's adaptation of Sueno, Annarose in the original production of Fire's Daughters directed by Emmy and Tony-nominated writer Ntozake Shange and was also in the Atlantic Theatre's production of Edmund written by Pulitzer Prize-winning David Mamet and twice Belle/Lily in A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.
More information HERE.
CONTACT
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