A world where everyone can get & stay healthy.

It’s here.

Our Team

You can think of The Nessie’s writers and editors as your well-informed wellness hype squad. Our crew has worked with some of the biggest brands in the product testing and health and wellness space, including Greatist, Prevention, Self, The Wirecutter, National Geographic, Health, Runner’s World, and more.
In addition to our writers’ and editors’ experience, every piece of content on The Nessie is reviewed and fact-checked by at least two people from our panel of expert reviewers.
What does this mean for you? We’ve put in the work, and we’re able to give you recommendations you can trust.
Meet the whole team below.

Our Editorial Team

Melanie Ehrenkranz

Marketing & Content

Jenni Gritters is a journalist with 10 years of experience covering science, health, and psychology. Jenni has written…

Sara Hendricks

Marketing & Content

Jenni Gritters is a journalist with 10 years of experience covering science, health, and psychology. Jenni has written…

Leslie An

Editorial Assistant

Jenni Gritters is a journalist with 10 years of experience covering science, health, and psychology. Jenni has written…
Our Writers

Ashley Lauretta

Contributor

Jenni Gritters is a journalist with 10 years of experience covering science, health, and psychology. Jenni has written…

Amanda Tarlton

Contributor

Jenni Gritters is a journalist with 10 years of experience covering science, health, and psychology. Jenni has written…

Brooklee Han

Contributor

Jenni Gritters is a journalist with 10 years of experience covering science, health, and psychology. Jenni has written…

Colleen Stinchcombe

Contributor

Jenni Gritters is a journalist with 10 years of experience covering science, health, and psychology. Jenni has written…

Ebony Roberts

Contributor

Jenni Gritters is a journalist with 10 years of experience covering science, health, and psychology. Jenni has written…

Jenni Gritters

Contributor

Jenni Gritters is a journalist with 10 years of experience covering science, health, and psychology. Jenni has written…

Jessica Bernhard

Contributor

Jenni Gritters is a journalist with 10 years of experience covering science, health, and psychology. Jenni has written…

Joni Sweet

Contributor

Jenni Gritters is a journalist with 10 years of experience covering science, health, and psychology. Jenni has written…

Marissa Miller

Contributor

Jenni Gritters is a journalist with 10 years of experience covering science, health, and psychology. Jenni has written…

Pam Moore

Contributor

Jenni Gritters is a journalist with 10 years of experience covering science, health, and psychology. Jenni has written…
Our Experts

Allison Larraga, RDN

Contributor

Jenni Gritters is a journalist with 10 years of experience covering science, health, and psychology. Jenni has written…

Brenda N. Umana, MPH, 500-RYT

Contributor

Jenni Gritters is a journalist with 10 years of experience covering science, health, and psychology. Jenni has written…

Krista Linares, MPH, RDN

Contributor

Jenni Gritters is a journalist with 10 years of experience covering science, health, and psychology. Jenni has written…

Kimberly Shao, MD

Contributor

Jenni Gritters is a journalist with 10 years of experience covering science, health, and psychology. Jenni has written…

Naika Apeakorang, ND, LAc.

Contributor

Jenni Gritters is a journalist with 10 years of experience covering science, health, and psychology. Jenni has written…

Rebecca Valdez, MS, RDN

Contributor

Jenni Gritters is a journalist with 10 years of experience covering science, health, and psychology. Jenni has written…

Raj Dasgupta, MD

Contributor

Jenni Gritters is a journalist with 10 years of experience covering science, health, and psychology. Jenni has written…

Sequoia Ridley, RDN

Contributor

Jenni Gritters is a journalist with 10 years of experience covering science, health, and psychology. Jenni has written…

Taylor Thomas

Contributor

Jenni Gritters is a journalist with 10 years of experience covering science, health, and psychology. Jenni has written…

Victoria Sekely

Contributor

Jenni Gritters is a journalist with 10 years of experience covering science, health, and psychology. Jenni has written…

Wellness at Ness

The Nessie is part of the Ness Card ecosystem1. Our vision is a world where everyone can get and stay healthy—and a big part of that means meeting you wherever you are on your journey. We’ve designed our framework to address your needs in a holistic, accessible way.

Our Review Process

We know it’s a big deal—and a huge honor!—if you choose to buy anything that we recommend. Because of this, we only recommend products and services we stand by. Products must live up to both our medical and quality standards to earn our badge of approval. If we feature any Ness Card brand partners2, they undergo the same stringent testing process as any other brand. (Some brands become Ness Card partners after we feature them on The Nessie.) No matter what we test, we apply different methods to different product categories.

All of the products in the follow categories get evaluated by Ness’s medical standards, The Evidence Test, and reviewed by relevant experts from our Wellness Council:

All of the products and services in the following categories are actually tested by our writers and reviewed by relevant experts from our expert panel:

How The Evidence Test Works

When we write about a product category that requires evaluation about health claims, we use The Evidence Test.

The Evidence Test is an evidence-based decision making framework that helps us determine what’s healthy, what’s not, and everything in between.

All our writers and editors are trained to use The Evidence Test to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of products and services. Members of our expert review panel regularly audit our application of The Evidence Test to ensure compliance.

Our research and review process is intended for informational purposes only—never as a substitute for medical treatment, diagnosis, or advice. Always consult a healthcare provider if you have questions about how a product, service, or intervention may impact your individual physical or mental health.

Here’s how the scoring system works:

A product or service must have at least two pieces of evidence, scientific evaluation, or peer-reviewed research to earn the highest score on The Evidence Test, Healthy.

This means there’s good to strong data to suggest that this product or service is a healthy addition to your wellness routine.

If data suggests a product or service has a health benefit for some people but not for others, it’ll score a Healthy-ish. This score will also be given if there’s some research that indicates a benefit, but not enough to come to a consensus.

A Healthy-ish score means that it may be helpful to certain individuals on their wellness journey based on their individual circumstances, and it’s unlikely to be harmful to anyone. However, it isn’t definitively healthy for all.

Products or services with limited or conflicting evidence that tends toward the positive receive the Helpful score. This means we’re unable to determine its exact health benefits, but we don’t believe it’ll cause harm, either. In short, the product or service could be helpful to your overall wellbeing, but it’s not likely to do much more than that.

If the available scientific information suggests that the product or service is harmful to human health, it’ll score an Unhealthy

In this scenario, Ness does not recommend the use of the product or service. 

When there isn’t enough credible scientific information to suggest a product or service is healthy or unhealthy, it will be scored as Undecided/Unknown. In these scenarios, we cannot say definitively that the product will be helpful or harmful in one’s wellness journey.

The Evidence We Use

We believe in bringing scientific rigor to wellness. To do that, we steer clear of pseudoscience and trust the experts—the ones on our team, and the ones out in the world. 

Ness relies on high-quality, peer-reviewed scientific research and publications from the global medical community. This includes systematic reviews, meta-analysis, randomized control trials, cohort studies, case control studies, case series, and case reports. 

We also leverage information and recommendations from identified authorities in the field of medicine, health, and wellness like the CDC, WHO, USPSTF, SAMHSA, Examine, and NCCIH. Any exceptions to this are rare but justified, and we’ll let you know if a source isn’t coming from a peer-reviewed journal or an identified authority in the given field. 

When using this evidence for The Evidence Test, we strive to use a minimum of two resources to support our recommendations. 

How We Test Products & Services

For fitness gear, self-care tools, or healthy and wellness wearables and apps, we get the products in our writers’ hands for rigorous testing.

Our writers carve out time to physically test and use products to determine what’s best on the market. They develop a testing rubric with a variety of factors to consider when buying a product, like usability, durability, comfort, accessibility, and price. Each product gets a score for every factor, and we use that as a guide to determine what’s great (and what’s not).

But we don’t just add up the scores, rank the products, and call it a day. We believe in taking a more holistic view, allowing you to shop based on your needs. For instance, if something is expensive but really effective, we’ll tell you if it’s worth shelling out some cash to invest in something that works—but we’ll also make sure to feature items that don’t cost as much, too.

After our writers have tested each product, they’ll either keep the product to regularly re-test, or they’ll donate to charities and nonprofit organizations in their area.

Our Editorial Independence

We maintain strict independence and freedom to cover any product or service at our discretion. We do not accept any form of compensation in exchange for coverage or favorable reviews, nor do we give preferential treatment to our partners.

How We Make Money

We’ll occasionally partner with the brands we review and include in The Nessie. In those instances, we’re sometimes compensated when you click on a link on The Nessie and purchase a product or service. This in no way affects our reviews of brands or the recommendations we give our readers. That’s grounded in hours and hours of research and hands on testing.

If you have any questions about who we’re working with or how we make money, don’t hesitate to ask us at [email protected].