Hello! I’m Sheila

I’m the author of the novels Friends in Napa (Mindy Kaling called it “smart and wildly entertaining”), The Goddess Effect (Kevin Kwan said it’s “laugh-out-loud funny”), and Incidentals, which comes out March 31st, 2026 and is already receiving rave reviews. I’ve been writing for The New York Times and The New Yorker for more than a decade. My work has also been published in Vogue, Air Mail, Inc., The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Bloomberg Businessweek, Fortune, Elle Decor, Surface, and other outlets. You can read some of my past articles — I’ve written thousands — here.

As a generalist, I cover a wide range of subjects, but there are a several to which I keep coming back — travel, food, wine, style, and The Way We Live Now. Broad, right! But after cutting my teeth as an entertainment reporter, I vowed never to be boxed in by one “beat” again. (Another story for another time.)

About this Substack:

Your Friend on the Ground takes its name from a podcast I started in 2023. While that show focuses on travel — where we go, how we get there, and the places that keep us coming back — one can be on the ground of … anything. Per the Internet:

Having reported thousands of stories over the course of my career, I’ve been on the ground of a lot. Political campaigns. Fashion weeks. Postage stamp islands. Erewhon. The publishing world. My own life! On a regular-ish basis, I’ll get on the ground with someone of note or write about something that you might want to know about. Does that strike you as maddeningly vague/broad? Consider this the newsletter equivalent of this “cheese” board. There’s something for everyone.

Subscribers get full, unfettered access to the whole resplendent spread as well as recommendations to places I actually go, sneak peeks of my upcoming projects, and more.