A Magazine for All

Women, by Bad Bitches.

Black and white high-contrast photo of a young woman with short hair, looking at the camera.

Women's ideas, opinions, and voices have been overlooked for centuries, their stories shoved under the rug in fear of retaliation. But if we don’t share our stories - who will?


Pretty Things is a magazine dedicated to sharing women’s stories. A welcoming space for those cast aside by a "less feminist" magazine , we accept all genres and formats—whatever form or shape your work takes, our publication aims to capture your experience of being a woman in today’s world, no matter what that entails. 

Whether your story is 

JOYFUL

disheartening

or

painfully complex

We Want to Hear It.

Silhouette of a woman wearing a cowboy hat, pointing a gun with her right hand, holding a baton or stick in her left hand, dressed in western attire with a belt and chaps.
Silhouette of a woman in a cowboy hat, crop top, and pants, holding a gun in an outstretched arm.

Masthead

Lauren Downs

Founding Editor-in-Chief

A young woman wearing a white dress and a yellow sash that says 'IOWA' stands outdoors on a stone balcony with decorative balusters. She is smiling, with her hands behind her back, and there is lush green foliage and trees in the background. The photo was taken on a sunny day.

Lauren is a graduate of the University of Iowa with B.A. in English and Creative Writing, certificate in Publishing, and minor in Translation. Her love of feminist literature came from immersing herself in the works of Toni Morrison, Virginia Woolf, Clarice Lispector, and countless others. You can find her work in Boundless, Cave Writing, Catharsis, and The Broken Clock magazines. When Lauren’s nose isn’t in a book, you can probably find her teaching men basic communication skills.

Elizabeth Schmidt
A woman standing on rocks by the ocean, wearing a black off-the-shoulder top and a long animal print skirt.

Marketing Director

Elizabeth is a student from Milwaukee, Wisconsin completing her BA in English at the University of Iowa. Currently in her final year, she has a love for history and believes in writing as a means of connecting and building community. In her free time, you can usually find her by the water or on a walk with no particular destination.

Alexandra Valentine
A young woman with glasses and long brown hair smiling outdoors during twilight, with trees and people in the background.

Senior Copyeditor 

Alexandra is a graduate of the University of Tennessee with a BA in English and Creative Writing and a minor in Art History. She enjoys exploring different feminist works with her current favorite writers being Audre Lorde, Angela Carter, and Carmen Maria Machado. She loves to be engaged with a wide array of artistic and creative pursuits. If Alexandra isn’t curled up with a book or craft, she’s dragging someone off for a dip in the river.

Elizabeth Pellerin
A woman with glasses and dark, wavy hair smiling in front of a wooden background, wearing a reddish-brown dress and a necklace with a pendant, and a small white flower in her hair.

Senior Copyeditor 

Elizabeth is a graduate of St. Thomas University, holding an Honours in English Literature, a Concentration in Creative Writing, a major in Digital Media and Creative Arts, and a minor in Journalism. She's always been fascinated by the power of storytelling, and writes to inspire others to imagine, learn, and discover more about themselves and the world around them. Whenever she's not reading or writing, you can find Liz hyper-fixating, rambling to her friends, or playing video games that range from cozy to unhinged.