Author Jan Newhouse directs Jan Newhouse Associates, a communications consulting firm serving global companies. She has taught writing at the University of Missouri and Meramec Community College and currently teaches MBA candidates at Hult International Business School in Boston.

Diagnosed with breast cancer in 1987, Jan had a mastectomy and six months of chemotherapy. When the cancer metastasized 10 years later, she continued working and volunteered as a cancer advocate. Jan presented workshops on Writing toward Wellness. The Wellness Community of Greater St. Louis honored her with the prestigious Ambassador Award.

An active writer, Jan has published articles for professional and academic journals as well as feature articles and poems for general audiences locally and nationally. Moon Dance is her first book of poems.

Jan is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Michigan, earning her bachelor's and master's degrees in English as a Woodrow Wilson Fellow. She lives in St. Louis with her husband and daughter. Jan has been inspired to write by the courage and stories of those she has met facing life-threatening illnesses, many of whom were met in Stage Five: Staying Alive, a club organized to do just that: Stay alive.