Heather Armstrong

Heather Armstrong
Born	(1975-07-19) July 19, 1975
Nationality	American
Other names	Dooce
Occupation	Blogger

Heather B. Armstrong (née Hamilton, born July 19, 1975) is an American blogger who resides in Salt Lake City, Utah. She writes under the pseudonym of Dooce. Armstrong explains that "Dooce" came from her inability to quickly spell "dude" during IM chats with her former co-workers.^[1]

Armstrong was raised a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Memphis, Tennessee, and majored in English at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, graduating in 1997. She then moved to Los Angeles, California to work. Armstrong married web designer Jon Armstrong and returned to Salt Lake City to work as a consultant and designer. On January 17, 2012 the duo announced they were in a trial separation.^[2][3] The Armstrongs announced they were divorcing on December 3, 2012.^[4][5]

They have two daughters together: Leta Elise (born February 3, 2004),^[6] and Marlo Iris (born June 14, 2009).^[7]

Armstrong was featured by Forbes magazine among 30 honorees on its list of "The Most Influential Women In Media" for 2009.^[8][9]

"Dooced"

In 2002, Armstrong ignited a fierce debate about privacy issues when she was allegedly fired from her job as a web designer and graphic artist because she had written satirical accounts of her experiences at a dot-com startup on her personal blog, dooce.com.^[10] She did not challenge her termination and has refrained from identifying her place of employment in interviews.

Armstrong warns her fellow bloggers:

I started this website in February 2001. A year later I was fired from my job for this website because I had written stories that included people in my workplace. My advice to you is BE YE NOT SO STUPID.

"Dooced" can mean "getting fired for something you've written on your website," a sense humorously disavowed by Armstrong in her blog's FAQ.^[11] This definition was used by the television game show Jeopardy! on December 10, 2009, as evidenced by a screenshot on her blog the following day.

Dooce.com

Armstrong has written extensively and humorously of her struggle with depression, entering a mental health hospital, as well as her pregnancies, parenthood, and her experiences with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Her relationship with the church has caused some controversy, as Armstrong is no longer a member. She attended Brigham Young University, which she has said is one of the worst places that exists and that she left the Church the day after she graduated.

Armstrong says the following about her site, dooce.com, which began in February 2001 with a post about Carnation Milk: "Since then I have published more than 5,300 entries covering topics such as breast milk pumps, golf cart rides with Norah Jones, and the one guy I dated who talked like Elmo during sex."^[12]

In 2004, Armstrong accepted text advertisements on her website for the first time. In 2005, Armstrong accepted graphic ads and wrote that the revenue from the advertisements would be her family's principal source of income while her husband made the transition to manage her advertising and business. Since then, she has appeared in Suave advertisements that feature her own image and trademark.^[13] In 2009, Armstrong again received mass media attention for using Twitter to get her washing machine fixed.

In November 2009, Armstrong introduced a new, interactive section to her website that allows registered users to post questions and responses. Armstrong introduced this new section, the Dooce Community,^[13] by posting an entry (11/2/09) on the main dooce.com page:

For a few years we've been trying to come up with a way for the readers of this site to connect and interact with each other, to get to know each other better, for me to get to know you better, and for little bunnies to fart sunshine. The comments section has sort of worked in this capacity, but not very well and not to the extent that it should. So we (meaning the team I introduced above) have put together a new section of this website where we can all pool our knowledge and experiences and drunken mishaps into one highly accessible and fun place.^[14]

Dooce.com has received multiple nominations and awards from The Weblog Awards (Bloggies), including a lifetime achievement award for Armstrong in 2008.^[15]

In 2015, Armstrong announced that she would be taking a step back from blogging in order to focus on speaking and consulting work. She still maintains Dooce.com, but posts are less frequent.^[16]

Books

In late 2005, Armstrong entered into negotiations with Kensington Books to produce two books, one of which was to be a memoir of early parenthood. The negotiations broke down in May 2006, and Kensington sued to force Armstrong to fulfill the terms of the unsigned contract. In October 2006 both parties agreed to a settlement which allowed Armstrong to seek another publisher.^[17][18]

Kensington Books released a book of essays, Things I Learned About My Dad: In Therapy, on April 29, 2008, edited by Heather B. Armstrong.^[19]

Her second book, It Sucked and Then I Cried: How I Had a Baby, a Breakdown, and a Much Needed Margarita was released on March 24, 2009 and published by Simon Spotlight Entertainment. It reached #16 on The New York Times Bestseller List for April 12, 2009.^[20]

Other ventures

Armstrong was a music columnist and consultant for the Alpha Mom media network. She and her ex-husband ran Armstrong Media, LLC, a web design, advertising and content-generation business. As of 2015, Jon Armstrong runs it without her.^[21] She also was a panelist for the online video series Momversation.

In late 2009, Armstrong announced a partnership with the television network HGTV in which she would "work with HGTV’s online and on-air production teams to create innovative convergence programming for the network." While the bulk of her partnership activities began in the spring of 2010,^[22] Armstrong began contributing weekly content to the network's Design Happens blog in February 2010.^[23] Her last post on Design Happens was in September 2010.

References