About Neylan

Neylan McBaine grew up as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) in New York City and then attended Yale University. She currently lives with her husband and three young daughters.

As a writer, Neylan has been published in Newsweek, Meridian Magazine, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Segullah, Patheos.com, BustedHalo.com, the Washington Post's On Faith religion blog, among others. Neylan's work on women and Mormonism includes a FairMormon talk from 2012 that was widely distributed, and a roundtable podcast with leaders of key women's organizations within Mormonism. Most recently, Neylan's book Women at Church has been called "a monumental piece of work" and "a remarkable resource that belongs in every Latter-day Saint home."

In January 2010, Neylan launched the Mormon Women Project, a digital library of interviews with LDS women from around the world, in an effort to emphasize the many ways that modern faithful women choose the right. Because of the strong examples of Mormon women she grew up with, including her own mother who was a professional opera singer, and because of her personal connection with many women who struggle to find their place within LDS culture, Neylan felt it was important to challenge the cultural stereotype with portraits of all kinds of righteous women. The site, which posts one interview a week with the help of dozens of volunteers, includes over 200 interviews with LDS women from 22 countries. 

Neylan is also the author of a collection of personal essays, How To Be A Twenty-First Century Pioneer Woman (2008) , and the editor of Sisters Abroad: Interviews from the Mormon Women Project (Patheos Press, 2013).

As a brand strategist, Neylan works for Bonneville Communications, the agency best known for its work on Mormon.org and the I'm A Mormon campaign. Neylan focuses on research and stratigic planning for cause-oriented clients. 

 

Comments

[Therealnewiconoclast.wordpress.com]

On a bright note, my beloved oldest daughter is home from BYU for Christmas and as she and I were catching up over breakfast at McDonald's, she told me that she had been to #WeForShe and had met a really smart woman there with whom she had exchanged some emails - Neylene, something like that, she wasn't quite sure how to pronounce it? (We're from Minnesota, where people have Lutheran names.) Anyhow, I was quite excited by the idea, knowing something of you, and I wanted to thank you for taking the time to mentor in some small way my bright, strong, and marvelous daughter. She'll say, wrongfully, that her dad raised her to be a feminist. In reality, she's had it in her all along, and while I'm pretty outspoken, her quiet but strong and independent mother has as much or more to do with who Kate is than I do.

At any rate, thank you for taking time to encourage her. She very much took your remarks to heart and has enjoyed your correspondence. She is a miracle.

[Shane Pittson]

Hi,
I just wanted to get in contact. I attended your ward on Sunday April 12th and you gave a talk that I really appreciated. Unfortunately I wasn't taking notes and I regret that because there were more than a few things that you put very eloquently that I would love to reference. I understand that you have a much higher profile than most speakers on a given Sunday and may prefer not to give out what you said but i would love to have a transcript of that talk.

Thanks from a young Mormon feminist,