a brief bio on rita ross
Rita Ross was raised in the pastoral New Jersey suburbs where she learned about fashion from her father’s tie closet and her grandmother’s sweater factory. It was also here that Ross learned the fine mechanics of maneuvering through the maze of America’s finest shopping institution: the mall.
While not driving around in her mother’s Volvo, Ross attended the Montclair Kimberley Academy where she graduated from in 1994 wearing a pristinely white Laura Ashley dress.
Ross’ style changed abruptly after matriculating at one of New England’s crunchiest institutions. After graduating magna cum laude from the University of New Hampshire (where she studied English and African-American studies, not fashion) in 1999, Ross returned to the tri-state area where she shed her hippy garb.
In 2003, she completed her masters degree in English Education at New York University and has since taught 11th, 12th and Advanced Placement English in Gramercy Park’s Baruch College Campus High School. She thanks her students for their insightful feedback on her writing and their myriad shopping tips.
Ross is most recently a recipient of a Fulbright-Hayes Fellowship to India. She also received a New Visions Teaching Fellowship in the summer of 2005 where she traveled throughout the Middle East, doing research on the post 9/11 classroom. She has been a presenter at the National Conference of Teachers of English and attends workshops on the arts all over the city.
Ross is an avid reader of everything from Lucky Magazine to Gabriel Garcia Marquez. She loves stationary, decoupage, a good bargain, yoga and cookies from the West Village’s Lifethyme bakery (lowfat banana chocolate chip is their magnum opus). She can usually be found at Starbucks, wearing a cashmere turtleneck sweater, writing reviews, grading papers and sipping decaf soy lattes.
You always look so cool… [ F. Scott Fitzgerald ]