PUbLISHED work

Courtney Kocak is a writer, podcaster, and comedian based in Los Angeles. She originally hails  from a rural farming community in Minnesota, home to more cows than people. She graduated from UCLA’s Professional Program in Screenwriting and wrote for Amazon’s Emmy-winning animated series Danger & Eggs, voiced by Aidy Bryant, and Netflix’s Know It All podcast.

As a writer, her bylines include Cosmopolitan, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, BUST, Bustle, InsideHook, and more. Courtney reports on gender, sexuality, psychedelics, reproductive rights, sex work, and sustainability. Her KCRW radio story about Maebe A. Girl, the first drag queen elected to public office in the U.S., won an LA Press Club award for gender/LGBT reporting.

Courtney hosts a podcast called The Bleeders about book writing and publishing. She trained in comedy and satire writing through The Second City, as well as essay writing and memoir through Catapult, including a 12-Month Essay Generator taught by Chloe Caldwell. Courtney is currently at work on a coming-of-age memoir in essays.

Writer of essays, articles, and interviews for a variety of publications, including:

THE WASHINGTON POST

• My breakup survival plan? Binge-reading the New York Times Vows column.

THE LOS ANGELES TIMES

• I begged him to be my boyfriend. 

HELLO GIGGLES

• How I overcame laxative abuse—the eating disorder we don't talk about enough

• I want to shout my abortion before it’s too late

KCRW

• SoCal ayahuasca retreats can bring healing. Not all are safe

• For Maebe A. Girl, gender nonconformity isn't her only political act

• Poet Bridgette Bianca on connecting through spoken word

• Happily leather after at The Eagle in Silver Lake

• Strippers dance to a different tune with new employee status