Lynn Messina was born and raised on Long Island. She studied English at Washington University in St. Louis and King's College, London. Her first job was as an editorial assistant at the Museum of Television & Radio.
 From there she went to work for a publisher of TV guides, where she did interviews with minor celebrities for which she was frequently unprepared. She now copyedits on a freelance basis for a variety of magazines in New York. Her novels include Fashionistas, Tallulahland, and Mim Warner's Lost Her Cool.