RACHEL SHATTO
When Rachel Shatto chose to pursue a career in queer media, she looked to her passions: “queerness, pop culture, social justice, sex, and their intersections,” she says. “I wanted to think about it, talk about it, and most of all write about it.” Now Editor-in-Chief of Pride.com, the San Francisco Bay Area-based writer, podcaster, and sewist spends each day sharing the stories of LGBTQ+ luminaries like Janelle Monáe, Jamie Clayton, and Cassandra Peterson (aka Elvira). “The truth is, our stories are the best, the most nuanced, the richest—and the coolest,” she says. Intersectionality in storytelling and reporting has been top of mind for Shatto since her tenure as managing editor for Curve magazine. Her experience, as well as her own identities as a LGBTQ+ woman “helped me have a greater understanding for the need for intersectionality in my writing and the worldview that informs it,” Shatto says. “My intersecting identities have made me passionate about doing my best to always keep that at the forefront when setting an editorial agenda.” A surprising fact about Shatto? “I am absolutely crazy about the horror genre,” she confesses. “Any chance that I get to explore queerness through a horror lens, I am in heaven.” According to Shatto, who regularly podcasts on the Zombie Grrlz Horror Podcast Network, the genre is a perfect complement to queer identity. “These are the stories of outsiders and weirdos facing down monsters and, often, surviving,” she says. “What’s not to love?”
