Lenore Skenazy

Ever since her column "Why I Let My 9-Year-Old Ride the Subway Alone" created a media firestorm, Lenore Skenazy has been declaring that our kids are smarter and safer than our culture gives them credit for. In response to the blowback, she started Free-Range Kids, the blog-turned-book-turned-movement that garnered her the nickname "America's Worst Mom." (Google it!) She has lectured everywhere from Microsoft to DreamWorks to the Bulgarian Happiness Festival (a real thing) as well as schools and conferences across the country. You may have seen her on The Today Show, The Daily Show, Dr. Phil, or her own reality show, World's Worst Mom. Lenore is cofounder and president of Let Grow, a nonprofit promoting childhood independence. Before all this, she was a columnist at the New York Daily News and New York Sun. And before THAT she used to write for Mad Magazine and Cracked. (Note: She did not "write for crack.") Lenore lives in New York City with her husband and beloved computer.