Angela Nissel is author of two books: the national best-selling comedic memoir The Broke Diaries and the critically acclaimed -but only her mom and some cousins seemed to have purchased it- Mixed. In addition to books, she was a writer/ producer on the medical sitcom Scrubs for 7 years and other shows she worked on – well, you probably didn’t watch them.

Angela was born a lower-middle class light-brown child in Philadelphia. She even stayed in that fair city for college, graduating from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in medical anthropology. That degree led to a stellar career as a temp for the IRS, a “melter” in a metalworking shop, and as a “sleep apnea auditor” working the 12AM to 8AM shift at a local hospital.

After analyzing the snores and hacking spit of  sleeping people she co-founded a dotcom, OkayPlayer.com with her friend Ahmir Thompson of The Roots. The site is still very alive and well but she left it permanently to the care of its co-founder after The Broke Diaries was published. She decided to pursue writing full-time and finally ventured out of Philadelphia to Hollywood.

Upon arriving in Hollywood, she learned that just because someone’s vanity plates read “PRDCR”, doesn’t mean he has the connections to make your book into a screenplay or even help you get a writing job.

Barely paying her rent through freelancing, she put a few possessions on Ebay for extra cash—the winning bidder of one item was a television executive who had read The Broke Diaries.  She introduced Angela and some of Angela’s newer writing samples to a television literary agent.  Soon, the broke girl had numerous job offers and landed on Scrubs -  the only job she’s had where her medical anthropology degree came in handy.

When she’s not writing her own stuff or silly stuff for people on TV to say, Angela is helping other writers edit their work, praying that THIS TIME, The Broke Diaries will really make it on the big screen, or raking up horse poo at The Gentle Barn.