Books
Candice Jalili
Journalist & Author
United States
Hi! I'm Candice, an author and journalist based in NYC. Below you'll find more information on my books alongside just a few of my favorite articles I've written for various publications.
United States
Hi! I'm Candice, an author and journalist based in NYC. Below you'll find more information on my books alongside just a few of my favorite articles I've written for various publications.
Books
A spin-off story to the beloved Finding Famous, Candice Jalili is back with another story in the Mashad Family universe: a laugh-out-loud, larger-than-life YA romance that brings reality TV down to earth....
Find the Amazon link to my prescriptive nonfiction book, JUST SEND THE TEXT, here, including sample pages.
The Princess Diaries meets reality television in a story about fame (the kind you definitely didn’t ask for), first love (the kind you didn’t even know you wanted), and most importantly, family (the kind you can’t live without).
Find more detail on my two-book deal with Disney Hyperion in this article.
Rolling Stone
For most of us, listening to music just feels like a pleasurable thing we do because we want to do it - like watching TV or going to a fun dinner with friends.
While women in America still have a long way to go in our fight for true equality, our nation is no stranger to feminist movements. For centuries, American women have banded together to fight for their rights. And many of those fights have taken place against the backdrop of some groundbreaking music.
TIME
Body language experts reveal how to tell if someone is lying, including facial and body cues and words to look out for in conversations.
Lying is, for better or worse, a behavior humans take part in at some point in their lives. On average, Americans tell one to two lies a day, multiple studies have suggested. But it's where some people are fibbing that might come as a surprise.
Being lonely is not just an emotion reserved for those who are single or alone. But there are ways to work through it. "It's very common that people find themselves in long-term relationships feeling lonely," says Niloo Dardashti, a New York-based psychologist and relationship expert.
Experts share research-backed tips for creating the perfect apology for each and every person in your life.
There are plenty of benefits that come along with living your life free of a romantic relationship. Here are a few perks of being single.
New York Magazine's The Cut
Feeling a little nervous before a job interview is inevitable, no matter how qualified you knowyou are for a position. Before the anxiety sets in, though, there are simple things you can do to maintain confidence throughout the process.
At first glance, if two people break up and one of them cheated, there's a clear villain in that story: the cheater, who broke a promise and hurt someone they supposedly loved. But there are always two sides to every story. Why did they cheat? What led them to that point?
Beyond the world's worst job-interview question ("What is your biggest weakness?"), what else should you look out for when you go in for a job interview? Office décor is one thing to notice, according to a science-backed guide, but fielding job-interview questions is another.
Sexual lulls are normal even for the most passionate couples - and they can actually be a good thing. One psychologist related an aspect of the issue to ennui: "The emotional experience of boredom is impossible to ignore, and in this way it indirectly helps people engage."
Waking up from a dream about an ex can be jarring. But, according to professional dream analyst and author Lauri Quinn Loewenberg, "Whatever's going on in the dream is going to reflect not necessarily [what's going on] between you and your ex, but what's going on with you."
How do you know if an open relationship is right for you? First you can consider the experiences of people who have shared their stories with the Cut: Open marriage taught one man about feminism. Another writer found that dating apps are full of people in open relationships.
For some couples in long-distance relationships, the miles between them are insignificant. The extra space and freedom might feel refreshing. For others, distance is a breeding ground for resentment and trust issues. Dr. Niloo Dradashti, a New York-based psychologist and relationship expert, shared seven important questions to ask yourself in order to know which of the two groups you belong to.
Some people, like Khloé Kardashian, enjoy counting calories during sex. She claims reverse cowgirl is the best calorie-burner. But how great of a workout is sex, really? Is that even true?
Of many questions about sexting and how to do it, here are some: Which is the horniest emoji face for sexting? Is everyone else sexting each other from work? Is it even fun? " Sexting is the perfect foreplay," says Kait Scalisi, MPH, a sex educator and founder of award-winning sex education platform Passion by Kait.
According to science, tricking yourself into thinking you're over a breakup is the key to getting over it. Which could require a little help from your friends, bringing us to one of the most difficult aspects of navigating your life after a breakup: How can you lean on your friends to get through it, without leaning on them so much that you start pushing them away?
The sky is blue. The earth is round. And, in Western society, so many people think relationships are meant to be shared with one person. But maybe monogamy isn't the only way to love.
In 2013, the Mediterranean diet got an incredible vote of confidence from a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, which found that the diet cut people's risk of heart disease by 30 percent.
Relationship tattoos are either romantic or cringeworthy. It's sweet if you're together forever ... and awkward if you're not. As in: Should you keep that tattoo of your ex? Should you still break up with that guy, right after he tattooed your name on his abs?
Getting dumped is never fun, but people often tend to forget that initiating the breakup can also be pretty awful - yes, you're in control, but that doesn't leave you immune to guilt, angst, grief, or some deeply unpleasant combo of all the above. After all, you truly cared about this person at one point.
Glamour
Every time I walk by a sex shop, I always wonder how the people who work there ended up getting that job. Do you have to be a sex expert? A kink aficionado? A therapist? And what are the people who come in regularly like?
Teen Vogue
I have been taking my birth control pill for the past five years, and I'd be lying if I said I had literally any idea what it was doing to my body. I mean, I know the effect it has on my body. I know I'm not pregnant.
Cosmopolitan.com
Candice is a dating expert and the author Just Send The Text, out Feb. 2, 2021, which she likes to think of as a 70,000-word-long reminder to be yourself. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @candicejalili.
First, a reminder: "a," as a prefix, means absence of something. So when you look at the term "agender," it refers to the absence of gender completely. More specifically, a person who identifies as agender might experience an "absence of any gender feelings or affiliation," says Courtney D'Allaird , assistant director of Gender and Sexuality Resource Center at the University of Albany.
Very simply put, " queer" is the concept of being different. And according to Courtney D'Allaird , assistant director of the Gender and Sexuality Resource Center at the University of Albany, "genderqueer" refers to being "differently gendered." So, yeah, the term is pretty broad.
Gender fluidity is the way someone identifies regardless of how other people see their body as looking, says Courtney D'Allaird , assistant director of the Gender and Sexuality Resource Center at the University of Albany. The term itself relates most closely to people who experience themselves across multiple spectrums of gender, says D'Allaird.
For starters, let's have a quick lil vocab refresher: The term "omni" is literally a root term for "all." So people who identify as omnisexual can find themselves attracted to all people, no matter their gender. But that isn't to say that people who identify as omnisexual are blind to noticing gender in general.
Unless you're currently in quarantine with your partner, your sex life has probably taken a big hit. Hell, even if you've chosen to ride this out with your S.O., it's possible that you couldn't even fathom being horny with everything happening.
In almost four years together, my boyfriend and I have never been long-distance. In fact, we're both vehemently against being in an LDR. Both bad texters with a love language of quality time, we're objectively in-person people who need to sit on the couch and deeply analyze the psyche of Jessica from Love Is Blind together-not via FaceTime.
As someone who has had many crushes, I know firsthand how freaking terrifying it can be to admit that you've caught feelings. Actually, it's so scary that I pretty much avoided doing it my entire life.
The world we live in is filled with a plethora of man-made binaries, says Courtney D'Allaird , assistant director of the Gender and Sexuality Resource Center at the University of Albany. And gender is no exception. Some people may think gender is as simple as identifying as male or female.
I'm not above a rogue text to an ex every now and then. The impulses from time to time are totally normal, so I certainly don't judge you for it. Luckily I'm in a relationship now, but when I wasn't, I'd especiallyget the I-want-to-text-my-ex fever around Valentine's Day when love is being literally shoved in your face and into heart-shaped chocolates.
Allow me to paint you a picture: It's December. You've been seeing someone for a bit, and things seem to have just taken a turn for the more serious. They invited you to their office holiday party, took you on a romantic AF ice-skating date, and even unexpectedly got you a cute lil holiday gift with a hefty price tag on it.
There's a good chance you recognize the gay pride flag, whether you've seen it via social media, on TV, or in your own community, but the truth is: The LGBTQ+ community has waaay more flags than the rainbow one that probably comes to mind.
Biromanticism is a term that takes the sexuality out of bisexuality and, instead, places the focus on the emotional aspect. In other words, a biromantic person is capable of feeling a romantic connection with people of both similar and different genders from their own. "Most people believe bisexual already has that concept of sexual to it.
Being ghosted sucks, but if you're dating in this day and age, it's unlikely you'll ever avoid being ghosted entirely (or even ghost a few people yourself.). It's just part of life! And while it can be confusing to have someone who seemed so into you suddenly just...go quiet, it's just proof it wasn't meant to be.
In most societies, each gender comes with its own set of expectations (think: men wear pants and women wear dresses or boys wear blue and girls wear pink).
QQ: When having sex with a new partner for the first time, would you rather it be mediocre, or mind-blowingly fantastic? If it's the latter (which I hope it is), then you've come to the right place... Allow me to drop some tea that hardly anyone dishes: Your sex life won't hit its peak until you master the sex talk.
Congrats on maybe even thinking about getting engaged! This is so exciting! In the age of rampant and zombie-ing, you somehow managed to find everlasting love. I'm quietly weeping tears of joy for you.
Being single around the holidays can be tough-especially when you don't have anyone around for cuffing season. But FWIW: Being single during the holiday szn can also be low-key great. I mean, what better time to fall in love than when you can go on romantic ice-skating dates and stroll hand in hand through cute Christmas markets?
This Thanksgiving, let's all take a page out of Ariana Grande's book and give thanks for all the trash exes we've finally nexted. Sure, we may have gotten stuck in some dicksand at one point or another-and there was that one time we stalked their Instagram page for a good two hours-but hey, we're healing.
Every time I cried growing up, my mother whipped out her camera and filmed me. What I once viewed as an unusual form of child abuse has turned out to be the best lesson she ever taught me.
Cosmopolitan
Even in the era of constantly googling every possible "can coffee kill you?"-type query that crosses the mind (it can!), guys are still out here believing and hawking the "blue ball" myth. This is the school of thought that when a man gets aroused, but for whatever reason (ahem, you not being interested in going that far perhaps?)
Elite Daily
Candice Jalili is the Senior Sex + Dating Writer at Elite Daily. Her first book, JUST SEND THE TEXT, a guide to letting go of your dating anxiety by embracing your most authentic self, will be out February 2021. You can also find her regularly writing for Cosmopolitan, TIME, Tinder SwipeLife, The Cut, and more.
A few months ago, I had the distinct honor and pleasure of being picked up by Paul, the greatest Lyft/Uber driver I've ever had.
Ghosting is the dating phenomenon that happens when people are too cowardly to actually end things with the people they've been seeing, so they choose to just... disappear instead. In this weekly column, we share a tale of a time a reader was ghosted.
You really like this guy. Like, a lot. As a normal human being with thoughts, feelings and stuff like that, you're dying to know how he feels about you. But then, as a millennial who's forced to play it cool, you'd rather gauge your eyes out than just ask him.
There are a lot of ways I could describe myself: Funny, nice, weird, quirky, lazy, annoying (in an endearing way, obvs), talkative, maybe even cute. But you know what adjective I would never use? "Sexy." OK, before you get all sad for me, this isn't a pity party.
I grew up in the fashion world. My mom is a fashion designer, and my sister is possibly the most glamorous woman alive. I was brought up in a universe where Vogue was the Bible, Karl Lagerfeld was Christ and Paris Fashion Week was Jerusalem.
When you really like someone, it's easy to overlook their flaws. Honestly, I would go so far as to say it makes us even love their flaws. Lots of times, this can be a good thing! Like when he has funky eyebrows, but you don't care because you think they're are adorable!
According to recent reports, Jim Carrey's ex-girlfriend, Cathriona White, allegedly killed herself after finding out that her Hollywood star of an ex had apparently given her THREE STDs. Herpes type 1, type 2, and gonorrhea. It's a horrible, heartbreaking and tragic story for a million and one reasons.
Ah, ugly phases. A combination of braces, bad haircuts, acne, poor fashion choices and an unclear understanding of how to properly use deodorant. We all have them - some of us worse than others. The best part of my ugly phase was that it happened in high school.
I saw the new "Bridget Jones" movie last night, and like I do after I watch any of her movies, I left the theater deeply conflicted. On the one hand, I absolutely love Bridget. I love how kooky she is. I give her props when she shamelessly wears slutty outfits to seduce her boss.
I've had dandruff my whole life. Chill out. It's not a disgustingly overwhelming amount, and I swear I SHOWER. But no matter how much I shower or what shampoo I use, I always have a few of those pesky white flakes in my hair.
My boss sent out an e-mail about a week ago asking if anyone would be down to try out these new "wedgie" jeans Kylie Jenner has been wearing all over the place lately. I jumped on the opportunity because, honestly, I'm a 10-year-old boy at heart and the word "wedgie" cracks me up.
Being stressed out sucks. It makes you flustered, sick, bitchy. And most of all, it kills your sex drive. Oh, you didn't know that? Yeah, in order to fight stress, your body actually shuts down sex hormones so that you're better able to deal with the crisis that's causing you to freak out.
You know that movie plot where two best friends decide to go ahead and kiss on the condition that it won't change anything between them? But then things obviously DO get weird, but they get over it and get married and - we assume - live happily ever after?
I think getting over a crush can sometimes be harder than getting over a real, bonafide breakup. THERE, I SAID IT. Controversial opinion, I know. But hear me out. A breakup is a concrete thing that marks the end of a concrete relationship that really happened.
It's 4:30 pm on a Thursday, and you're kind of bored at work. Nobody is answering your texts, and you're out of stuff to do in the office, but you still have half an hour to kill before you're free! Like any good millennial (and/or stay-at-home mom), you turn to social media as a cure for your seemingly insatiable boredom.
Man Repeller
My life in New York City is most accurately portrayed by a montage of me running into every restaurant and shop in the West Village, frantically begging managers and cashiers to let me use their restroom. But I am not alone.
When I tell people I'm Iranian, the next question is almost always the same. "So, are you Muslim?" I tell them I'm not and, like clockwork, I see a look of relief sweep across their faces. I had a pretty unique religious upbringing, in that I was loosely raised both Muslim and Catholic.
I have very thick, wavy, Middle Eastern hair. In addition to there being mass amounts of it, each individual strand is thick enough to floss with. The last time I even bothered blowing it dry was over Thanksgiving because my mom made me. The whole process took an hour.
Betches
There's nothing worse than bad sex. Okay so like, maybe war and famine are up there, but I mean in terms of things you're likely to experience between now and next Monday, bad sex is kind of the worst.
Haute Living
"You have to try La Esquina. It's the best taco you'll ever try." "You need to go to L'Artusi for the best pasta you've ever had." "Did you see that Netflix special on Cosme? We have got to try it!"
Sitting in your SoHo studio dreaming of an Italian vacation that you just don't have the time (or money) to pull off right now? Well, dream no longer. There are plenty of restaurants right here that make you feel like you momentarily stepped outside of the hustle and bustle of New York City and into a beautiful restaurant along the Tuscan countryside.
With Labor Day right around the corner, Summer is officially coming to a close and, as far as I'm concerned, that means two things. On the one hand, I'm pumped for Summer to be over.
Her Campus SCU
It's Saturday morning. Hook up #7. You find yourself in his bed and those beans from Sarah's birthday dinner at Aqui last night are starting to catch up with you. Do you treat yourself to a nice liberating toot or suck it in and suffer in silence? 1.
