Karin Anderson, Ph.D., is an associate professor of Psychology and Counselor Education at Concordia University Chicago. As she questioned her motivations for her own marriage, she pondered women’s roles and options. Now back “out there” in the dating scene, she became keenly aware of the messages directed toward single women — messages that appeared disparaging and illogical, yet hailed from reliable sources such as the local bookstore’s self-help section. Drawing on the data of other academic researchers and firsthand accounts of many women, Anderson wrote It Just Hasn’t Happened Yet as an effort to provide a logical counter-message of encouragement.

Julia Duin has worked for five newspapers over a 25-year period, including the Houston Chronicle and, most recently, at the Washington Times. She has a master’s degree from Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry and has written five books. Her latest books are “Quitting Church: Why the Faithful are Fleeing and What to Do About It” (2008) and “Days of Fire and Glory: The Rise and Fall of a Charismatic Community” (2009); however, her first two books were on singles. She is pictured with her adopted daughter, Olivia.

In her first book, No Way Baby, singular Karen Foster explores and defends the decision to not have children. A pebble in the shoe of conventional wisdom, she is shining a light on the discrepancies between what we say we should do, what we think we should do and what we do. As a speaker and life coach, Karen encounters all sorts of interesting people ― many of whom continue to be amazed by her unwillingness to have children (or to do lots of other things so-called “normal” people do.

Michelle Gigon is the Food, Wine & Spirits Editor for Singular magazine and the leader of SingularCity’s Girls, Guys and Grapes group. On her list of favorite things are (A) discovering memorable epicurean experiences and (B) telling people about them. A former brand agent at CAA, Michelle is also a freelance creative director on lifestyle marketing programs for Lexus, Nestlé, TV Land and Aspen Food & Wine Classic.

Catherine “Cat” Larose is the author of Any Color but Beige: Living Life in Color, a memoir recounting her colorful adventures as she dives into the dating pool after leaving a 20-year marriage stubbornly stuck in neutral. Cat’s profession as an international color marketer helped her to see that, ironically, her own life lacked color. Undeterred by the prospect of starting over in her mid-40s, Cat began transforming her life one color at a time starting with herself, her space and finally her relationships with men.

Diane Mapes has published more than 200 essays and reported pieces in both local and national venues and is the author/editor of two books: How to Date in a Post-Dating World and Single State of the Union: Single Women Speak Out on Life, Love and the Pursuit of Happiness. She’s a regular contributor to MSNBC.com and MSN.com, and has written about the single life for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Match.com, Bust, Health and Singular magazine. She can be reached via her website, www.dianemapes.net.

Advice guru, Marnie Winston-Macauley — therapist, author, speaker — has been a radio, TV, and syndicated advice columnist and counselor for over 20 years. Witty, wise and totally irreverent with a self-professed loathing for psychobabble, she’s written over 20 books and calendars, along with  hundreds of relationship columns and features for prominent publications.  She has her MS degree from the Columbia University School of Social Work.  In media, her work has garnered her Emmy and Writer’s Guild Best Writing nominations. She is widowed and now living single. For personal advice, you can find Marnie Macauley on Liveperson.com

Reginald Nievera is the writer and creator of the ChicagoNow and Tumblr blog, The Male Perspective and a contributor to Singular magazine. He has studied the sociology of dating rituals and romantic relationships at Loyola University-Chicago and Illinois State University. He provides advice and insights on relationships and single-life utilizing a vast array of personal experience, theoretical perspectives, and existing literature.

Michael Poppa, a self-proclaimed “culinary school drop-out,” trained at the elbows of acclaimed restaurant chefs in his native Kansas City. Throughout his hospitality career Michael has been a contributing writer on food-related topics, including the Menu for One column for Singular magazine. He has managed various food and beverage establishments, and served as executive chef/culinary director for The American Pavilion at the Cannes International Film Festival.

SingularCity member Rick Ruiz is a rare commodity – a native Southern Californian. He has written for Newsweek and the long-defunct Los Angeles Herald Examiner, among others, and for the last 25 years, has been a communication consultant on environmental issues. Over the last 15 years, he has developed a keen interest in the martial arts, personal growth, spirituality and the unconventional.

Liesl Schillinger is a New York-based writer and literary critic whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, New York magazine, The Washington Post, the New Republic, The London Independent on Sunday, and other publications here and abroad.

Hannah Seligson is a journalist who divides her time between New York City and Washington, D.C. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Forbes.

Eric Spitznagel has written for Playboy, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, Details, Esquire and The Believer. He is the author of several books, and he edited a collection of questionable life advice called You’re a Horrible Person (But I Like You), which features contributors Ed Helms, Sarah Silverman, Zach Galifianakis and Judd Apatow among dozens of others. You can follow him on Twitter @ericspitznagel. He’s more afraid of you than you are of him.

Leslie Talbot is the author of Singular Existence – Because It’s Better to Be Alone Than Wish You Were, inspired by her website and popular blog. She’s discusses singles issues on numerous national radio and television talk shows and has been featured in Forbes magazine, The Boston Globe, the San Francisco Chronicle, USA Today and The Arizona Republic. Leslie lives in Boston with her cat and says, “I am single and living alone, so of course I have a cat. Isn’t it required?”

Sarah Treleaven attended McGill University in Montreal and started out her career at O, The Oprah Magazine in New York City. She has since written for a wide range of publications, including the National Post, Globe & Mail and Toronto Star newspapers, and Chatelaine, More, ELLE Canada, Quill & Quire and University of Toronto magazines. She has traveled extensively through North America, Europe, Australia and Asia, most recently sampling yak milk cheesecake on the Tibetan plateau, taking too many pictures of peacocks in Rajasthan, flying a plane near Puerto Vallarta, off-roading in Crete, eating a nine-course snake banquet in Hong Kong, and sea kayaking in Turks & Caicos. Sarah mostly resides in Toronto with her boyfriend, a chicken and a Chihuahua. (But not in a weird way.)