Natalie Nichols is an award-winning writer who spent her formative career years as the arts editor and music critic at a freewheeling L.A. alternative newspaper. She thought the experience would ruin her for mainstream jobs — and then she began a two-year stint working for Disney.com, at the same time starting a long relationship with the Los Angeles Times as a freelance pop music contributor.

She has also freelanced for music magazines and national publications such as USA Today, Harper’s Bazaar, Us Weekly, and Elle, and has written and edited marketing content for websites ranging from Cooking.com to SoapNet.com.

In the early 2000s, Natalie returned to the alternative press as arts editor for another L.A. weekly, where she indulged her passion for science fiction, comic books, genre TV, and all things geeky in a bimonthly pop culture column.

As a child, Natalie was made to go play outside instead of watching much TV. Now she can’t get enough.