Expertise
Lupus, autoimmune disease, chronic illness, and chronic urticariaEducation
Nova Southeastern UniversityHighlights
Founder of LupusChick.com, a nonprofit and social community
National speaker and author of “Chronically Fabulous,” a chronic illness memoir
Health journalist and editor with 15 years of experience
As both a patient and a journalist, I believe in the power of the written word — how it can meet someone where they are, provide answers and clues they have been unable to find, and help them on their journey of healing and thriving despite an illness.
— Marisa Zeppieri
Experience
Marisa has spent 15 years as a health journalist and editor. She has worked for some of the largest media outlets around the globe including Gannett/USA Today, Al Jazeera, Huff Post, Healthline, and more.
She is a former Mrs. New York who ran on the platform of lupus and autoimmune awareness and is the founder of LupusChick.com, a New York nonprofit and social community. Today, LupusChick reaches 500,000 people per month globally and just awarded its seventeenth scholarship to a lupus patient in college. The story behind LupusChick was also shared as the thirty-fifth chapter in “Channel Kindness,” Lady Gaga’s recent anthology.
Marisa has shared in own story her memoir, “Chronically Fabulous,” which won the 2022 Goody Book Award in the health category. She is a national speaker on lupus and on thriving despite chronic illness, and she hosts the online Tilly show for The Lupus Foundation of New England.
Education
Marisa received her undergraduate degree in art from The Art Institutes before returning for an undergraduate degree in chemistry/nursing at Nova Southeastern University. Unfortunately, she was diagnosed with systemic lupus just before graduation but used her medical education to later work as a health journalist and editor.
