In 2021, she partnered with Editor Christine Pride to write the bestselling We Are Not Like Them, which was selected as Good Morning America’s October Book Club Pick. Their novel tells the story of an interracial friendship upended by a police shooting that hits close to home for two women. Christine and Jo chose to write this novel together, as a Black woman and women, in order to draw from their unique perspectives and experiences. In the writing process, they had to confront their own fears, biases and misunderstandings about race, which then informed the story and ensured it was authentic and relatable to thousands of readers. People magazine called We Are Not Like Them a “powerful and timely tale.” The Washington Post described it as an “emotional literary roller coaster.” And Real Simple deemed it a “book club winner.”

Their most recent novel, You Were Always Mine (Atria, June 2023), also explores race through the lens of an intimate relationship—a mother/daughter story. It’s a moving and provocative novel about a Black woman who finds an abandoned White baby, sending her on a collision course with her past, her family and a birth mother who doesn’t want to be found.

Once again, the pair bring their “empathetic, riveting, and authentic” (Laura Dave, New York Times bestselling author) storytelling to an unforgettable novel that revolves around provocative and timely questions about race, class and motherhood.

A former editor, columnist and travel writer with Yahoo, Current TV and the New York Daily News, Jo’s work has also appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, New York magazine, Glamour, Elle, Time, Marie Claire, the Daily Beast, and Slate. She holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania in economics and communication, a master’s in journalism from Columbia University, and a master’s in religious studies from New York University. She lives in Philly with her husband, Nick Aster and three young children.

With warmth, humility and humor, Jo helps audiences think critically about the intersection of ethnicity, experience and perspective and how it affects our communities and relationships; how we can lean into hard discussions about potentially divisive issues with the goal of moving toward fostering understanding and a sense of collective humanity; and how to hone craft and harness the power of story-telling to connect with our deepest humanity. Read Less ^