DEAREST CONTRIBUTORS, thank you for accepting my invitation to share a piece of your life. You brought your history and hearts to these pages, and I am forever grateful that you believed in the power of this book.
Cayce Dumont, my endlessly talented collaborator and coconspirator, this book would not have been possible without you. Thank you for so patiently and lovingly working with each contributor, including myself. You helped me find and illuminate the soul of this book. From beginning to end you were a fierce advocate for my vision and you were the one who brought it all together.
David Kuhn, thanks for being an amazing book agent and for patiently waiting ten years for me to finally fall in love with a book idea. Oh, and thanks for coming up with the idea for the book and not giving me a chance to say no. To Kate Mack, my other book agent, thank you for your advice and steadfast support in helping with so many details throughout this process.
Carrie Byalick, my manager and favorite BOSS, you make everything more fun. Thank you for encouraging my true voice through this process and for your constant creativity and inspiration.
My fabulous team of publicists at IDPR—Molly Kawachi, Brianna Smith, and Lindsay Krug—you ladies are all class and I love you. Thank you for everything, always.
To my lawyers Jodi Peikoff and Michael Mahan and the rest of my Peikoff-Mahan family, no one loves their lawyers more than I love all of you. Thank you for taking care of me my whole career (and for receiving all my mail).
Tom Carr, thanks for always managing the business and helping me find ways to do the things I love.
I am very grateful to all the people at Simon & Schuster and Gallery Books, including Carolyn Reidy, Jennifer Bergstrom, and Jennifer Robinson for believing in this project as much as I do and helping me get it into the hands of readers; Aimée Bell, Lisa Litwack, Jaime Putorti, and Davina Mock-Maniscalco for making the book look beautiful; Stephen Fallert, Elisa Rivlin, Monica Oluwek, Caroline Pallotta, and their teams for carefully tending to so many details behind the scenes.
Thank you especially to my editor, Alison Callahan, who helped shape this book beautifully. Alison, thank you for believing this would work and for making it even better. And my very special thanks goes to Brita Lundberg, Alison’s editorial assistant, who has been endlessly helpful, smart, creative, and kind.
Many thanks to my former assistant Jessica Chou. Jessica, thanks for being there in the early days and for contributing your many talents and boundless creativity to the recruiting process!
A special thank-you to my longtime creative coach, Kim Gillingham, for helping me find my path to writing. Kim, I am so grateful for the decade of your wisdom, guidance, and friendship.
Finally, thanks to Ryan, my phenomenal partner in life. Your love and support make all things possible. Your creativity is a constant source of inspiration to me. Thank you for always believing I can do whatever I set out to do, and thanks for being my witness in this life.