Amelia Nagoski

Amelia Nagoski conducts choirs for a living. Her doctorate is a DMA in conducting from the University of Connecticut, and she teaches as an assistant professor and music coordinator at Western New England University, where a good part of her speaking work concerns wellness for musicians. Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle, written with her identical twin sister Emily Nagoski and published by Ballantine in 2019, started from her own collapse under an academic workload. Its argument separates the stressor from the stress: removing the cause does not by itself discharge what the body is still holding, so the sisters set out physical ways of finishing the cycle, movement and breathing and affection among them. Emily Nagoski holds a PhD in health behaviour and works as a health educator. Neither sister sees patients, and the book synthesises other people's research; Amelia's doctorate is in conducting.