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Stephanie Lowry Smith was diagnosed with depression in her early 30s, but she thinks she had symptoms as a child. “I would always describe it to people as though I was wearing a coat made of rocks,” she said. “Everything was difficult, and I frequently felt like I just wanted to go lay down and curl up in a ball, no motivation to do anything.
Valerie is Ideas Editor at The Dispatch, based in New York City. Prior to joining the company in 2025, she worked at The New York Times and NewsGuard Technologies, and she is currently a Novak Fellow through The Fund for American Studies. When Valerie isn’t commissioning and editing the next big essay for The Dispatch, she is probably people-watching in a funky cafe or scheming up her next oddly-themed party.
