{{Short description|American writer and influencer (born 1987)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2023}} {{Infobox social media personality | name = Casey Johnston | image = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1987|02|06}} | birth_place = Gloversville, New York, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | other_names = "Swole Woman" | occupation = {{hlist|Writer|editor|internet personality}} | years_active = 2009–present | known_for = | notable_works = | education = Columbia University (BS) | website = {{URL|https://www.caseyjohnston.website/}} | instagram_handle = swolewoman | instagram_display_name = Casey Johnston | instagram_years_active = 2016–present | instagram_genre = | instagram_followers = 36,277 (July 20, 2023) }} '''Casey Johnston''' (born February 6, 1987){{refn|Johnston's birthday of February 6,<ref>{{cite Instagram|user=swolewoman|last=Johnston|first=Casey|postid=CLAky5IghSh|title=For my birthday yesterday ...|date=2021-02-07}}</ref> and age of 36 in July 2023,<ref name="NYT2023">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/19/style/swole-woman-casey-johnston-lifting-instagram-newsletter.html|title=How a 'Swole Woman' Lifted Her Way to a New Outlook and Online Influence|last=Needelman|first=Joshua|date=2023-07-19|work=The New York Times|access-date=2023-07-20|archive-date=September 1, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230901030850/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/19/style/swole-woman-casey-johnston-lifting-instagram-newsletter.html|url-status=live}}</ref> place her year of birth in 1987.}} is an American writer, editor, and strength-training advocate. She has written the fitness advice column "Ask a Swole Woman" since 2016 and a newsletter about weightlifting, ''She's a Beast'', since 2021.
==Early life and education==
Johnston grew up in the city of Gloversville in upstate New York.<ref name="Troy2011">{{cite news|url=https://www.troyrecord.com/2011/09/28/five-questions-for-sept-28-2011-casey-johnston/|title=Five Questions for Sept. 28, 2011: Casey Johnston|last=Burke|first=Ed|date=2011-09-28|work=The Record|location=Troy, New York|access-date=2023-07-20|archive-date=September 1, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230901030850/https://www.troyrecord.com/2011/09/28/five-questions-for-sept-28-2011-casey-johnston/|url-status=live}}</ref> She played field hockey and lacrosse at the Emma Willard School in Troy, New York, and went to Columbia University in New York City, where she graduated with a bachelor's degree in applied physics from the university's engineering school in 2010.<ref name="Troy2011"/><ref name="Sun2023">{{cite news|url=https://www.thesunmagazine.org/news/heavy-lifting|title=Heavy Lifting|last1=Cohen|first1=Finn|last2=Gazmarian|first2=Anna|date=2023-03-08|work=The Sun|access-date=2023-07-20|archive-date=September 1, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230901030853/https://www.thesunmagazine.org/news/heavy-lifting|url-status=live}}</ref><!--https://www.apam.columbia.edu/files/seas/content/apam_image/spring_2010_newsletter.pdf-->
==Career==
Johnston worked as a writer and editor for ''Ars Technica'' after beginning her career there as an intern in June 2009.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.caseyjohnston.website/|title=About|website=caseyjohnston.website|access-date=2023-07-20|archive-date=September 1, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230901030853/https://www.caseyjohnston.website/|url-status=live}}<br/>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/author/casey-johnston-ars-technica/|title=Casey Johnston, Ars Technica|magazine=Wired|access-date=2023-07-20}}</ref> She was an editor for the product review website ''Wirecutter'' from 2014 to 2018.<ref name="NYT2023"/> In December 2014, a tweet by Johnston went viral when, after a male follower told her to "read the full article" about a story she had linked, she replied: "I wrote the article".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thecut.com/2015/08/art-of-being-underestimated.html|title=The Art of Being Underestimated|last=Roy|first=Jessica|date=2015-08-06|work=The Cut|access-date=2023-07-20|archive-date=September 1, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230901030854/https://www.thecut.com/2015/08/art-of-being-underestimated.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.buzzfeed.com/bradesposito/it-was-me|title=This May (Or May Not) Be The Greatest Mansplaining Shutdown Ever|last=Esposito|first=Brad|date=2014-12-08|work=BuzzFeed|access-date=2023-07-20|archive-date=September 1, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230901030917/https://www.buzzfeed.com/bradesposito/it-was-me|url-status=live}}</ref> While working for the website ''The Outline'' in 2018<!--https://www.grubstreet.com/2018/03/casey-johnston-grub-street-diet.html-->, she wrote an article criticizing the MacBook Pro's new butterfly keyboard design.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/apple-gives-up-on-its-worst-design-mistake-ever-the-butterfly-keyboard/|title=Apple Has Finally Changed the MacBook Pro Keyboard, Which Was Complete Garbage|last=Koebler|first=Jason|date=2019-11-13|work=Vice|access-date=2023-07-20|archive-date=September 1, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230901031904/https://www.vice.com/en/article/3kxmw5/apple-gives-up-on-its-worst-design-mistake-ever-the-butterfly-keyboard|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theverge.com/2023/5/27/23740087/apple-macbook-butterfly-keyboard-settlement-final-approval|title=Apple's $50 million butterfly keyboard settlement is finally approved|last=Davis|first=Wes|date=2023-03-27|website=The Verge|access-date=2023-07-20|archive-date=September 1, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230901031904/https://www.theverge.com/2023/5/27/23740087/apple-macbook-butterfly-keyboard-settlement-final-approval|url-status=live}}</ref>
Johnston became interested in weightlifting after seeing Reddit posts by a beginner female weightlifter.<ref name="GQ2022"/><ref name="Defector2021"/> She had put on some weight while in college, and begun running and dieting with a focus on her body image, behaviors which increasingly strained her over seven years.<ref name="GQ2022">{{cite news|url=https://www.gq.com/story/why-lifting-weights-is-for-everyone-casey-johnston|title=Why Lifting Weights Is for Everyone|last=Cohen|first=Chris|date=2022-03-07|work=GQ|access-date=2023-07-20|archive-date=September 1, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230901031910/https://www.gq.com/story/why-lifting-weights-is-for-everyone-casey-johnston|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Defector2021"/> She began strength training in 2014, using Mark Rippetoe's book ''Starting Strength'', and as she got stronger and felt better she soon "couldn't stop talking about" the virtues of weightlifting.<ref name="GQ2022"/><ref name="Defector2021"/>
In July 2016, Johnston started writing a fitness advice column, "Ask a Swole Woman", for the website ''The Hairpin'', at the request of ''Hairpin'' editor Silvia Killingsworth, one of many people to whom she had enthusiastically talked about weightlifting.<ref name="GQ2022"/><ref name="Defector2021">{{cite news|url=https://defector.com/swole-woman-casey-johnston-wants-to-teach-you-what-your-body-is-for|title=Swole Woman Casey Johnston Wants To Teach You What Your Body Is For|last=McKinney|first=Kelsey|date=2021-12-22|work=Defector|access-date=2023-07-20|archive-date=September 1, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230901031918/https://defector.com/swole-woman-casey-johnston-wants-to-teach-you-what-your-body-is-for|url-status=live}}</ref> ''GQ'' described her tone as "that of an enthusiastic amateur with an eye for bullshit".<ref name="GQ2022"/> After ''The Hairpin'' shut down in 2018, the column moved to the magazine ''Self'' and then ''Vice'', which dismissed her during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021.<ref name="GQ2022"/><ref name="Defector2021"/> She then launched a weightlifting newsletter, ''She's a Beast''—which "Ask a Swole Woman" became part of.<ref name="Defector2021"/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.outsideonline.com/health/wellness/fitness-influencers-health-wellness/|title=Meet the Fitness Influencers Shaping Wellness in 2022|date=2022-02-07|last=Perry|first=Grace|work=Outside|access-date=2023-07-20|archive-date=February 5, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205170554/https://www.outsideonline.com/health/wellness/fitness-influencers-health-wellness/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Cut2023"/> {{As of|2023}}, ''She's a Beast'' has about 25,000 free or paid subscribers, and Johnston has over 34,000 Instagram followers.<ref name="NYT2023"/><ref name="GQ2022"/>
An ebook published by Johnston in December 2021, ''Liftoff: Couch to Barbell'', describes a twelve-week regimen for weightlifting beginners.<ref name="GQ2022"/><ref name="Defector2021"/> It is intended to make weightlifting more accessible for women or men who may not consider themselves typical weightlifters, and those who, in her words, feel that "their body [is] never hot enough, always in too much pain".<ref name="Sun2023"/><ref name="GQ2022"/> Over 11,000 copies have sold digitally.<ref name="Cut2023">{{cite news|url=https://www.thecut.com/article/casey-johnston-weight-lifting-liftoff-profile.html|title=Casey Johnston Turned Bulking Up Into a Business|last=Gould|first=Emily|date=2023-01-19|work=The Cut|access-date=2023-07-20|archive-date=July 20, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230720220843/https://www.thecut.com/article/casey-johnston-weight-lifting-liftoff-profile.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== *{{cite news|url=https://theoutline.com/post/2402/the-new-macbook-keyboard-is-ruining-my-life|title=The new MacBook keyboard is ruining my life|last=Johnston|first=Casey|date=2017-10-17|work=The Outline|ref=none}} *{{cite news|url=https://www.grubstreet.com/2018/03/casey-johnston-grub-street-diet.html|title='Swole' Writer Casey Johnston Breaks Up Deadlift Sets With Thin Mints|last=Crowley|first=Chris|date=2018-03-30|website=Grub Street|ref=none}} *{{cite web|url=https://www.thecut.com/2022/02/casey-johnston-didnt-start-weight-lifting-to-be-strong.html|title=I Didn't Start Weight Lifting Because I Wanted to Be Strong|last=Johnston|first=Casey|date=2022-02-02|work=The Cut|url-access=limited|ref=none}}
==External links== *{{Official website|https://www.caseyjohnston.website/}} *''[https://www.shesabeast.co/ She's a Beast]''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnston, Casey}} Category:Living people Category:1987 births Category:People from Gloversville, New York Category:Journalists from Upstate New York Category:Emma Willard School alumni Category:Columbia School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni Category:21st-century American journalists Category:21st-century American women journalists Category:American online publication editors Category:American women editors Category:American female weightlifters