Jessica Pressler
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Jessica Pressler (born 1977/78) is an American journalist and contributing editor at ''
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
'' magazine. Her 2015 article "The Hustlers at Scores", was nominated for a
National Magazine Award The National Magazine Awards, also known as the Ellie Awards, honor print and digital publications that consistently demonstrate superior execution of editorial objectives, innovative techniques, noteworthy enterprise and imaginative design. Or ...
, and was later made into a feature film called '' Hustlers'' in 2019. She also wrote a story about
Anna Sorokin Anna Sorokin (russian: Анна Сорокина; born January 23, 1991), also known as Anna Delvey, is a con artist and fraudster who posed as a wealthy heiress to access the upper echelons of the New York social and art scenes from 2013 to ...
that was later developed into the mini-series ''
Inventing Anna ''Inventing Anna'' is an American drama television miniseries created and produced by Shonda Rhimes, inspired by the story of Anna Sorokin and the article in ''New York'' titled "How Anna Delvey Tricked New York's Party People" by Jessica Pres ...
'' released by
Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
in 2022.


Early life

Her mother, Judith Pressler, was a
guidance counselor A school counselor is a professional who works in primary (elementary and middle) schools or secondary schools to provide academic, career, college access/affordability/admission, and social-emotional competencies to all students through a school ...
at Swampscott High School and her father, Michael Pressler, was a professor of English and the director of the
interdisciplinary arts Interdisciplinary arts are a combination of arts that use an interdisciplinary approach involving more than one artistic discipline. Examples of different arts include visual arts, performing arts, musical arts, digital arts, conceptual arts, etc ...
program at
Shippensburg University Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania (Ship or SU) is a public university in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. It is part of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. Founded in 1871, it later became the first teachers college in Pennsylvania. ...
in Pennsylvania.


Career

Pressler became the co-editor of ''
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
'' magazine's '' Daily Intel'' blog in 2007 after working as a staff writer at ''
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
'' magazine and as a freelancer for celebrity magazines. At ''New York'', she has written extensively on "the culture of wealth and money," interviewing
Wall Street Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for t ...
CEOs such as Goldman Sachs
Lloyd Blankfein Lloyd Craig Blankfein (born September 20, 1954) is an American investment banker who has served as senior chairman of Goldman Sachs since 2019, and chairman and chief executive from 2006 until the end of 2018. Previous to leading Goldman Sachs, ...
and AIG CEO
Robert Benmosche Robert Herman Benmosche ( , May 29, 1944 – February 27, 2015) was the president and chief executive officer of American International Group (NYSEAIG. He was appointed President & Chief Executive Officer by the US Department of Treasury and AI ...
about their firms’ involvement in the
2008 financial crisis 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...
. Pressler has profiled New York personalities
Lynn Tilton Lynn G. Tilton (born April 22, 1959) is an American businesswoman and collateralized loan obligation (CLO) creator, owner and manager. She is the chief executive officer and sole principal of Patriarch Partners, LLC and its affiliated entities, ...
and
Anthony Scaramucci Anthony Scaramucci ( ; born January 6, 1964) is an American financier who briefly served as the White House Communications Director, White House Director of Communications from July 21 to July 31, 2017. Scaramucci worked at Goldman Sachs's inv ...
. Her feature articles about the feud between
Chris Burch J. Christopher Burch (born March 28, 1953) is the founder and CEO of Burch Creative Capital, a firm based in New York City that manages venture investments and brand development,Tory Burch Tory Burch (née Robinson; born June 17, 1966) is an American fashion designer, businesswoman, and philanthropist. She is the Executive Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of her own brand, Tory Burch LLC. She was listed as the 88th most powerfu ...
and the culture of
Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo County ...
startups have appeared in ''The Best Business Writing'' editions. In 2014, Pressler wrote a story about a Stuyvesant High School senior who had allegedly made $72 million trading stocks, which was later revealed to be not true.
Bloomberg News Bloomberg News (originally Bloomberg Business News) is an international news agency headquartered in New York City and a division of Bloomberg L.P. Content produced by Bloomberg News is disseminated through Bloomberg Terminals, Bloomberg Televi ...
rescinded a job offer made to her for their investigative unit after the student confessed he had "made the whole thing up." On December 28, 2015, Pressler published an article for ''New York'' called "The Hustlers at Scores", a story about strippers who manipulated money out of their clients. She was nominated for a
National Magazine Award The National Magazine Awards, also known as the Ellie Awards, honor print and digital publications that consistently demonstrate superior execution of editorial objectives, innovative techniques, noteworthy enterprise and imaginative design. Or ...
in 2016. A team of producers that included
Will Ferrell John William Ferrell (; born July 16, 1967) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. He first established himself in the mid-1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'', where he performed from 1995 to 200 ...
"snapped up" the film rights in February 2016. The story was adapted into a film by
Gloria Sanchez Productions Gloria Sanchez Productions is an American film and television production company. History In 2014, Jessica Elbaum founded the production company as a sister label of Gary Sanchez Productions, founded by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, with a focus ...
titled '' Hustlers''; it stars
Keke Palmer Lauren Keyana "Keke" Palmer (born August 26, 1993) ( ) is an American actress, singer and television personality. Known for playing leading and character roles in comedy and drama productions, she has received a Primetime Emmy Award, five NAACP ...
,
Constance Wu Constance Wu (born March 22, 1982) is an American actress. Wu was included on ''Time'' magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2017. She has earned several accolades, including nominations for a Golden Globe Award, fo ...
and
Jennifer Lopez Jennifer Lynn Affleck (' Lopez; born July 24, 1969), also known as J.Lo, is an American singer, actress and dancer. In 1991, she began appearing as a Fly Girl dancer on the sketch comedy television series ''In Living Color'', where she rema ...
, with
Julia Stiles Julia O'Hara Stiles (born March 28, 1981) is an American actress. Born and raised in New York City, Stiles began acting at the age of 11 as part of New York's La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club. Her film debut was a small role in ''I'' ''Love Yo ...
portraying "Elizabeth", a fictionalized version of Pressler. The film was released in 2019. In 2018, she wrote a story about New York City high society grifter
Anna Sorokin Anna Sorokin (russian: Анна Сорокина; born January 23, 1991), also known as Anna Delvey, is a con artist and fraudster who posed as a wealthy heiress to access the upper echelons of the New York social and art scenes from 2013 to ...
, which was developed into the mini-series ''
Inventing Anna ''Inventing Anna'' is an American drama television miniseries created and produced by Shonda Rhimes, inspired by the story of Anna Sorokin and the article in ''New York'' titled "How Anna Delvey Tricked New York's Party People" by Jessica Pres ...
'' by
Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
and
Shonda Rhimes Shonda Lynn Rhimes (born January 13, 1970) is an American television screenwriter, producer, and author. She is best known as the showrunner—creator, head writer, and executive producer—of the television medical drama ''Grey's Anatomy'', it ...
. Pressler's book, "Bad Influence: Money, Lies, Power, and the World that Created Anna Delvey", is scheduled for publication in 2022. Pressler has also written for '' GQ'', ''
Elle ''Elle'' (stylized ''ELLE'') is a worldwide women's magazine of French origin that offers a mix of fashion and beauty content, together with culture, society and lifestyle. The title means "she" or "her" in French. ''Elle'' is considered the w ...
'', ''
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'' and '' Smithsonian''. She was a regular ''
Gossip Girl ''Gossip Girl'' is an American teen drama television series based on the novel series of the same name written by Cecily von Ziegesar. The series, developed for television by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, ran on The CW network for six sea ...
'' episode recap writer for ''
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'' website, and made an appearance as a ''New York'' magazine editor in one of its episodes.


Personal life

In 2008, she married Benjamin Wallace, a
freelance ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...
magazine writer and author. They later divorced, and she is now married to Josh Uhl.


References


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pressler, Jessica 1970s births 21st-century American journalists 21st-century American women writers Living people American magazine journalists American women journalists Journalists from Massachusetts New York (magazine) people People from Marblehead, Massachusetts Temple University alumni