Amanda Palleschi

Director

As a journalist, Amanda Palleschi’s work took her inside a hot air balloon, aboard a military helicopter, and on the back of a Harley Davidson. She’s told stories from cities and towns across the country, and learned how to write about virtually anything — on deadline — in the process.

Amanda joined West Wing Writers after serving as a speechwriter and communications aide for U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal. There, she helped the congresswoman tell her personal story and hone her message around immigration, health care, economic recovery from the COVID-19 crisis, and other pressing issues. Now at West Wing Writers, she helps leaders of all stripes — from local advocates to nonprofit leaders and Fortune 500 CEOs — tell their stories.

Before her time in politics, Amanda spent more than a decade as a journalist. She began her career writing for mid-size daily newspapers when they still came in print seven days a week, and went on to cover policymaking in Washington, DC. Her work has been published in The Atlantic, The New Republic, FiveThirtyEight, the Columbia Journalism Review and Washington City Paper, among others. She has also taught several semesters of writing composition to community college students, who ranged in age from 16 to 60.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University and a master’s in creative nonfiction from Johns Hopkins University. Raised in Minnesota, she now calls Washington, DC home.