Entrepreneur

Marie Lyn Bernard Hansen, aka Riese, is the co-founder, former CEO and former editor-in-chief of Autostraddle.com, the world's leading independently-owned website for queer women. In 2015, Autostraddle won a coveted GLAAD Award for "Outstanding Blog," and in 2016, Riese was nominated for a GLAAD Award for Outstanding Digital Journalism. Autostraddle began as a spin-off of Riese’s popular, award-winning personal blog, Autowin.

Autostraddle has thrown parties, arranged worldwide meet-ups, produced an annual calendar and launched a very successful merchandise line of apparel, stickers, zines, bags, pins & journals. Its membership program, A+, was a groundbreaking enterprise that boasted over eight thousand members at its peak.

In April 2012, Riese took the website to the next level with A-Camp, an all-inclusive summer-camp-style experience for queer grown-ups: a long weekend in the San Bernardino mountains chock-full of panels, activities, performances, feelings and love love love. Autostraddle hosted 11 sold out A-Camps between 2012 and 2019.

In 2023, Autostraddle was acquired by QTPOC-owned tech and wellness company For Them, and Riese remained at the company in an editorial capacity.

Writer and Podcaster

Riese's work has appeared in nine books including The Bigger The Better The Tighter The Sweater: 21 Funny Women On Beauty, Body Image & Other Hazards of Being Female, Dirty Girls: Erotica for Women and The Best American Erotica of 2007.

Print credits include Marie Claire, Curve, Interlude, Go, CollegeBound Teen, NeXT, Listen and The Sarah Lawrence Review. 

Online publications include Nylon Magazine, Queerty,  Jezebel, Nerve.com, Bitch Magazine, OurChart and Emily Books. 

Her personal blog,  This Girl Called Automatic Win, garnered significant press, earned notable awards, and led to a gig as recapper for The L Word Online.

In 2019, Riese launched “To L and Back,” an L Word podcast that was cited as one of “12 LGBTQ Podcasts You Should Be Listening To” by The Advocate. “To L and Back,” garnering between 12k-25k downloads per episode, featured Riese and filmmaker Carly Usdin recapping the entirety of The L Word with a rotating roster of queer celebrities, and eventually spun off to include Generation Q.

Riese graduated from Interlochen Arts Academy in 1999 and from the The University of Michigan with honors in Creative Writing in 2003.

She is represented by Cameron McClure of the Donald Maass Literary Agency.

LGBTQ+ Marketing Expert

Riese has spoken about internet culture, community-building and LGBT entrepreneurship for venues including BlogHer, Yale University, New York University, StartOut, and The University of Chicago.

She has presented on how to reach the LGBTQ+ market at conferences including the Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing and the Community Marketing & Insights LGBTQ Tourism Forum.

At Autostraddle, Riese co-created dynamic, successful advertising campaigns with brands including HBO, ob Tampons, Showtime, The CW, Motrin, REI and Modcloth.

She has also consulted on LGBTQ+ inclusivity for a number of private clients and non-profits.