About

Francesca grew up in Monmouth County, NJ, and and wrote her first “book” when she was eight years old. She attended a communications-focused magnet high school which sparked her interest in journalism. She went on to study English at Villanova University and gained local reporting experience as a summer intern at the Asbury Park Press, where she wrote about everything from heat waves to the best coffeehouses on LBI.

After college Francesca earned a certificate in book, magazine and digital publishing from New York University’s Summer Publishing Institute. The program led to her first editorial job as an editorial assistant at Hearst’s Food Network Magazine, where she spent the next four years covering food news, celebrity restaurants, cookbook releases and more. Francesca joined NBC’s TODAY as a commerce editor in 2021, where she focused on developing award-winning franchises such as Shop This List, Jet Set TODAY, TODAY Table and What to Shop This Week. She’s currently deputy managing editor, overseeing several shopping-focused franchises and partnerships in collaboration with broadcast producers.

Inspired by her own experiences planning her wedding and attending 30+ others in the span of a few years, Francesca began writing the manuscript for Have a Great Summer, about a jaded journalist who gets roped into covering her high school crush’s wedding in the fictional Jersey Shore town of Brantley Beach. She also drew inspiration from her editorial career, her teenage years working in boardwalk restaurants and the fashion and music of 2009.

Forever a beach girl at heart, Francesca now lives in Jersey City with her husband and dog. She’s currently at work on her second novel, which is slated for release with Kensington Books in May of 2027. When she isn’t writing you can probably find her cooking or rewatching an early 2000s rom-com.