The Dial Press Team
Whitney Frick, VP, Editorial Director. Whitney has focused her editorial career on helping to shape and amplify the voices of women. At Dial, she has published several critically-lauded and bestselling books, including the bestselling 100th selection for Oprah’s Book Club, Hello Beautiful, and the bestselling Read with Jenna x Today Show Book Club selection Dear Edward, both by Ann Napolitano; the New York Times bestsellers Quit Like a Woman by Holly Whitaker, On Our Best Behavior by Elise Loehnen, and The Book of Boundaries by Melissa Urban; and the Read with Jenna x Today Show Book Club selection Sam by Allegra Goodman. Whitney is also Glennon Doyle’s longtime editor, having published all of Glennon’s books, including, most recently, the Reese Witherspoon Book Club Selection and blockbuster bestseller, Untamed, which has sold more than 2 million copies.
Andy Ward, Executive Vice President & Publisher (he/him). Andy has been at Random House since 2009, and before that, spent almost fifteen years as an editor in magazines—first at Esquire, and then at GQ. Among the books he has edited are When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi, Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders, Fleishman is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner, Salt Sugar Fat by Michael Moss, Passing for Human by Liana Finck, The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg, Edison by Edmund Morris, and How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue.
Avideh Bashirrad, SVP, Deputy Publisher, (she/her). Avideh oversees creative strategy and publishing operations in tandem with an exceptional team of editors, publicists, and marketers. Previously, Avideh worked in marketing for fifteen years, where she directed campaigns for a range of bestselling authors including Laura Hillenbrand, Isabel Wilkerson, Elizabeth Strout, Curtis Sittenfeld, Charles Duhigg, George Saunders, Piper Kerman, and Jay-Z. She has been at Random House since 2001.
Maya Millett, Senior Editor. Maya’s editorial ethos is grounded in publishing books that make readers feel seen. Since joining The Random House Group in 2021, she has worked with numerous acclaimed authors, including Michelle Obama and Hanif Abdurraqib. At the Dial Press, Maya is acquiring fiction, narrative nonfiction, memoir, and poetry. Her authors include Sarah Kay, Naomi Jackson, LaTonya Yvette and DéLana R.A. Dameron—whose debut novel, Redwood Court, was the February 2024 Reese Witherspoon Book Club Selection. Maya spent several years as an independent nonfiction editor and producer, and as the executive book editor at StoryCorps, editing the organization’s anthologies published by the Penguin Press.
Katy Nishimoto, Executive Editor (she/her), Executive Editor at The Dial Press, which she joined in 2019 after 10 years on the agency side at WME. She’s published a number of nationally bestselling, critically acclaimed, and award-winning titles, including Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow, Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H, Horse Barbie by Geena Rocero, Lucky Red by Claudia Cravens, Falling Back in Love with Being Human by Kai Cheng Thom, The Prospects by KT Hoffman, and Knife River by Justine Champine. She sits on the boards of Baldwin for the Arts, a nonprofit founded by Jacqueline Woodson that provides residency fellowships to artists of the global majority, and Together Rising, a nonprofit founded by Glennon Doyle that has raised over $45 million for people in crisis. She is based in Los Angeles. You can find her on social media @pedrokat.
Clio Seraphim, Editor (she/her), acquires books for both the Random House and Dial Press imprints in the literary fiction, memoir, and food space. Among her authors are a range of debut and bestselling novelists, including Rachel Joyce, Harriet Kline, Kate Folk, Diane Zinna, Helen Monks Takhar, and Jessie Gaynor. She also works with Olympic runner, actor, and filmmaker Alexi Pappas; poet Olivia Gatwood; private investigator Ellen McGarrahan, creator of the Instagram sensation That Cheese Plate Marissa Mullen; and chef Eric Ripert.
Emma Caruso, Senior Editor (she/her), Emma joined the Random House Publishing Group in 2014, where she collaborated editorially with bestselling authors such as Janelle Brown, Torrey Peters, Caroline Kepnes, Martha Hall Kelly, and more. She moved over to the Dial Press in 2022 to help build the Dial Delights rom-com program. Emma has acquired and edited national bestsellers such as One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London, A Most Agreeable Murder by Julia Seales, and You, Again by Kate Goldbeck, as well as other celebrated and debut authors including Cara Bastone, Georgia Clark, Kate Robb, Lyla Sage, and Hannah Sloane.
Emma is looking for voice-driven, empowering, and bingeable romantic comedies; book club women’s fiction; and narrative nonfiction and celebrity memoir that spark joy, subvert traditional genre expectations, and explore the female experience with both humor and sharp cultural observations.
Debbie Aroff, VP, Director of Marketing and Brand Strategy for The Dial Press and Ballantine Bantam Dell (she/her). Throughout her career, Debbie has worked across all genres: from literary and commercial fiction, to inspirational and celebrity memoirs, to self-help, narrative nonfiction and more. She equally enjoys helping to establish new voices, as she is spearheading campaigns to elevate platforms for bestselling authors such as Glennon Doyle and Jodi Picoult. Debbie is energized by the increased interest in rom coms over the past few years and is especially excited to work with authors in the Dial Delights program. Debbie started her career in 2003 as a Publishing Assistant at Random House and has been with the group ever since.
Maria Braeckel is Vice President and Director of Publicity for Hogarth, Random House, The Dial Press and the Modern Library. In addition to guiding media and event strategy for the imprints, she has led publicity campaigns for Elizabeth Strout, George Saunders, Téa Obreht, Curtis Sittenfeld, Adam Johnson, Kelly Link, Ibram X. Kendi, Tara Westover, Brené Brown, Hanif Abdurraqib, Charles Duhigg, Kimberly Drew and Jenna Wortham, Gabrielle Hamilton, Lena Dunham, and Ed Catmull, among others. She has been with Random House since 2007.
Raaga Rajagopala, the Publishing Manager at One World and The Dial Press, began their publishing career as an intern with Hachette Book Group’s Sales Analytics department, following which they were a part of Atria Books’s Marketing and Publicity departments. There, they had the pleasure of working on books by Michael Arceneaux, Marc Lamont Hill, Colton Haynes, Dr. Devon Price, and Akwaeke Emezi. Currently, Raaga is a board member of Baldwin For the Arts. When they’re not reading, they can be found walking their dog or catching the sunset on the beach.
Leila Tejani, Editorial Assistant Leila is an Editorial Assistant at The Dial Press, working with authors such as Olivia Gatwood, Marissa Mullen, and Amy Taylor. Leila is interested in literary genre fiction, such as speculative, sci-fi, mystery, and horror. On the nonfiction side, she is interested in work that combines memoir with history and opinion writing. She is drawn to stories that amplify the South Asian and Muslim-American experiences, narratives that take place in urban settings, and dark humor in both fiction and nonfiction. Prior to joining the Random House and Dial teams, Leila worked in a neuroscience lab and in HBO’s marketing department. She is a graduate of Columbia University.
Talia Cieslinski, Editorial Assistant Talia is an Editorial Assistant at The Dial Press, working with authors such as Ann Napolitano, Julia Seals, Glennon Doyle, and Kate Stayman-London. Talia loves reading propulsive literary fiction that is reflective of the world we live in, with a focus on challenging power structures. Talia also reads poetry, short story, and essay collections that push genre boundaries as well as narrative nonfiction that center new perspectives and fresh voices. Before joining Dial, Talia worked at Guilford Press and taught high school English in New Orleans. Talia is originally from Philadelphia and is a graduate of Tulane University. Talia lives in Brooklyn and is determined that this is the year she will learn to play the guitar.
JP Woodham, Editorial Assistant. JP is an editorial assistant at The Dial Press, assisting Katy Nishimoto and Maya Milllett, and working with authors like KT Hoffman, DéLana R.A. Dameron, Tara Stringfellow, and Justine Champine. JP loves epic coming-of-age stories and quiet, contemplative literary fiction. He’s interested in queerness, Blackness, and the intersection between these identities. A pop culture fanatic, JP adores non-fiction about popular media, the internet, and modernity. Before joining Dial, JP graduated from Columbia University and was a bookseller for Barnes & Noble in Park Slope.
Sam Zukergood, Editor, joined The Dial Press in 2024 after 8 years at Macmillan, where she helped launch Melinda French Gates’ imprint in partnership with Flatiron Books, called Moment of Lift. Sam published the instant New York Times bestseller Dear Black Girls by Olympic Gold medalist A’ja Wilson, and she’s proud to have acquired and edited It’s Not Hysteria by Karen Tang, MD, MPH. At Dial, she will be acquiring and editing books by experts and thought leaders in wellness spaces—including but not limited to books in the women’s health, prescriptive nonfiction, psychology, relationships, parenting, inspiration, spirituality, and illustrated lifestyle categories. Her active hobbies include running and hot yoga, but she also loves lounging on the couch with her two cats, Greyson and Babe.