Kristen Hare

Hi! I’m Kristen Hare. I’m a journalist, educator, author and creator of Work-Life Chemistry.

I’ve spent my career telling stories that help us make sense of our shared experiences — and that’s how I realized that the story we tell ourselves about “work-life balance” doesn’t add up.

My mission is to help you recalibrate your approach to daily decision making so that when you view your life in totality, your formula is bubbling rather than burning up or out.

As Poynter’s local news faculty member, I teach local journalists the critical skills they need to serve and cover their communities, including career and relationship management, resiliency and storytelling. Before joining faculty in 2021, I spent eight years covering the people and business of local news for Poynter. I also write Local Edition, a weekly newsletter for and about local news. I previously worked as a projects reporter with the St. Louis Beacon and as an enterprise reporter with the St. Joseph News-Press.

Before that, I spent two years in Guyana, South America, with the Peace Corps. My stories have earned national honors, including the Darrell Sifford Memorial Prize in Journalism from the University of Missouri and first place wins from the Society for Features Journalism. I write feature obituaries for the Tampa Bay Times, and wrote the book “100 Things to Do in Tampa Bay Before You Die,” now in its third edition.

I live outside Tampa, Florida, with my husband and two teens. You can follow me on X at @kristenhare.