Featured on April 20, 2002 and June 26, 2004

BEE LAVENDER is the 32-year old mother of two children (one a teenager).   Since 1997, she has been the publisher of the online edition of Hip Mama .   She created and publishes Girl-Mom an advocacy site for teen parents, and Yo-Mama Says a news and commentary site for activists.

Currently writing a book about radical education and youth liberation, Lavender is also the co-editor of two books Breeder: Real Life Stories of a New Generation of Mothers , and Mamaphonic , plus the Zine series A Beautiful Final Tribute published in seven issues.   Lavender's writing appears in various periodicals and several anthologies including Young Wives Tales and Pills Thrills Chills and Heartache: Adventures In First Person.

In reviewing Lavender's editorial work, the New Yorker said "It is the quality of the writing that sets Hip Mama apart." Publishers Weekly has called her essays "haunting."   Fast Company said her work is "proof that being a mother doesn't have to be boring -- or apolitical."   Time Magazine named her a "mother superior" of the current wave of feminist writers. 

Born and raised on a peninsula on the Puget Sound, Lavender has lived in the Pacific Northwest her entire life. After surviving a rare genetic disorder and childhood cancer, she became a parent in her teens. Her daughter was four years old when Bee completed her masters degree in public administration. She has worked as a policy analyst, a civil rights consultant, and staff public advisory boards. Bee Lavender now resides in London with her family.