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Marie Lyn Bernard[1] (born 1981), known professionally as Riese Bernard, is an American writer and digital media executive. She is best known as the CEO and co-founder of the lesbian and queer women's interest website Autostraddle. Bernard received a 2017 GLAAD Media Award nomination for her article, “105 Trans Women On American TV: A History and Analysis”.[2]
Bernard was born and raised in Michigan.[3] Her father, Victor L. Bernard, a scholar, researcher and professor in the field of financial statement analysis, died of a heart attack when she was 14 years old. Her mother came out to her as gay shortly after her father's death.[4][5]
She graduated from Interlochen Arts Academy in 1999 with a major in Creative Writing.[6] After graduating from University of Michigan with a bachelor's degree in English in 2003, she moved to New York City to pursue a career in writing.[7][8]
In 2007, Bernard created The Road Best Straddled, a spin-off of her personal blog This Girl Called Automatic Win, to recap The L Word, then in its fourth season.[8] This led to collaborations with The L Word Online and Showtime and her blogs gained sizeable followings.[9][10] She also interned at the now-defunct website Nerve and worked for the Donald Maass Literary Agency.[11]
Bernard has published writing in Marie Claire, Curve, GO, Queerty, Bitch, Jezebel and Emily Books.[12][13] Her article “105 Trans Women On American TV: A History and Analysis” was nominated for a 2017 GLAAD Media Award.[14] In 2018, Bernard's profile of Hayley Kiyoko was the cover story for Nylon's first-ever Pride Issue.[15]
Autostraddle
At the end of the final season of The L Word in 2009, she created Autostraddle.com with her then-girlfriend Alex Vega, with the intention of creating a digital website focused on gay women. Bernard stated she was inspired to create the website because nothing else like it existed at the time.[10] The website received a GLAAD Media Award in 2015 and receives 4 million unique page views per month.[8] In 2012, she created A-Camp, an annual 5-day "curated conference/camp/retreat combo" for queer women and trans people, located in Ojai, California.[16][17]
Bernard first began to identify as a bisexual, and then as a lesbian, in her twenties.[8] Bernard is Jewish.[7] She is divorced and lives in Los Angeles.
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