Bio

Janet Eastman has traveled the world covering design shows and interviewing the most famous architects, interior designers and product designers, most recently for the Los Angeles Times. But her favorite subject remains people and the inventive ways they make their home their own.She writes for national magazines and design websites, and splits her time between Southern California and Ashland, Oregon, where the downtown speed limit is 20 mph -- slow enough to notice the smallest architectural details.She worked as an editor and reporter at the Los Angeles Times for 19 years, as the editor of Orange Coast Magazine for nine years, and she has taught writing classes for 20 years on the high school, college and professional level. She has a master’s in English, with an emphasis in Rhetoric and Composition.Janet was hired at the Los Angeles Times in 1989 as a features editor and she launched award-winning Fashion and Home & Garden sections. In 2002, she asked to be set free outside the newsroom to do what she loves: report.  She wrote more than 300 feature stories as a staff writer. On a four-month trip around the world, she wrote 30 blogs and print stories for the Los Angeles Times Travel section.

As a design writer, she interviews the top architects, interior designers and product designers in the world. As a features writer, she delves into behavior stories, from the serious to the surreal. She’s reported on how people live and what they do. One story of desperate retailers allowing customers  to shop with their 160-pound Saint Bernards generated lots of buzz on websites. She wore a hard hat to see the Disney Concert Hall being built for a preview story and she was sent across the country to review pricey hotels and spas. She’s also covered the top design shows in London, Milan (photo above), Valencia, Spain, New York and Miami. She flew to Rio to interview architect Oscar Niemeyer who designed Brasilia.

Since she is an editor as well as a writer, she works well with photographers, graphic artists and page designers to put together compelling packages.

Janet worked her way through college as an assistant at a Southern California advertising agency and as an editor at Maui Magazine, which won several national editorial awards. Just out of college, Janet wrote a cover story for a national magazine in 1981 on ‘‘Job Burnout,’’ a new term that caught national attention and made her a popular guest on TV and radio shows. She was the editor of Orange Coast Magazine, a regional consumer monthly magazine, from 1979 to 1989.

She has written two books. One on teen self-esteem titled “BodyPride.” Another on relaxation titled “Simple Indulgence.” Both put her in the spotlight of TV cameras. She feels comfortable telling a story in front of a mike and audience. She has spoken in front of 1,000 people at conferences.She was a national spokesperson for a new product for Kraft Foods that became one of the company’s top successes. She was hired by Nordstrom department store to be on a panel of fashion experts and she also speaks frequently on behalf of the Los Angeles Times, occasionally being sent to calm disgruntled groups.Janet has visited most of the 50 states, most of the European countries, U.K., Mexico, Canada, Cuba, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, South Africa, Mauritius, India, Egypt, Thailand , Cambodia, Venezuela, Brazil, Myanmar, Vietnam, Russia, China and Japan.  She also attended the radical Burning Man event in the Nevada desert.