GERIT Quealy is a writer and editor on various topics. She currently covers fashion, beauty and women’s issues for NBC Digital, and history and women’s issues for the Huffington Post.

She is also affiliated with LifeGoesStrong.com, a new website/webzine/resource for the boomer generation covering all aspects of life concerns from health and technology to work and style. As one of the original style writers for this vertical, she covers practical beauty and fashion, as well as style in the larger sense, such as manners, voice, handwriting, women’s issues and even a bit of men’s fashion and grooming. All or most of this is done with a sense of humor and an historical perspective wherever possible.

In her spare time Quealy is an independent Shakespeare scholar and actor, and gives frequent lectures and workshops on the East Cost and in the U.K. A native of Norfolk, Virginia, Quealy has studied at Oxford University’s Balliol College, the British American Drama Academy and William Esper Studio.

She traces her Irish roots through her father, and during her first trip to Ireland in 1992 with her family they found Quealys in Co. Kilkenny.

“Upon arrival in Dublin, I was told by an otherwise lovely man at the pub that Quealy was not an Irish name. However, he pronounced it correctly, as did everyone, which might be the first thing I loved about Ireland,” Quealy recalls.

“I have to admit my father did not stress his Irish heritage due to his complicated relationship with his father. But for some reason I’ve always resonated with it.”
Inspired by a New York Times article by the Irish poet Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill, Quealy began Gaelic classes and Irish singing and dancing lessons at the Irish Arts Center in New York. 
 

Return to Influential Women 2011