About Me

Elise McDonough is a longtime High Times staffer and author of The Official High Times Cannabis Cookbook (Chronicle Books, 2012). A graduate of the School of Visual Arts in New York City, Elise has frontline experience in graphic design, art direction, editorial design, and special event production. Most recently, she's served as Art Director for Medical Marijuana magazine, a quarterly print publication, plus books, calendars and DVD packaging.

Passionate about gardening and cooking, she authored Sustainable Food: How to Buy Right and Spend Less (Chelsea Green, 2009), and continues to be a committed activist for local food, drug law reform and environmental responsibilty.

She is married with two dogs and lives in Santa Cruz, California. Along with husband David Bienenstock, she was profiled for a cover story in the local alternative weekly Good Times called The Cannabis Couple.

FROM "THE CANNABIS COUPLE"
Published in Santa Cruz Good Times (May 2012)

As a self-described “cannabis couple,” Bienenstock and his fiancée Elise McDonough are unapologetic fans of the counterculture’s favorite celestial seasoning. But they hardly fit the stereotype of stoner-as-slacker: Along with being the West Coast editor of the nationally distributed pro-pot monthly High Times, Bienenstock is a digital film director and an eloquent speaker who has appeared on CNN, NPR and—of all things—Fox News.

McDonough is the production director of said High Times as well as an author and graphic designer who graduated from New York’s School of Visual Arts within the top 10 percent of her class. The partners maintain a home office in Santa Cruz, where they write books, help put together High Times and crank out HIGH TIMES Medical Marijuana, a quarterly spin-off publication geared toward medical cannabis patients, providers and growers."—Good Times Santa Cruz profile, "The Cannabis Couple"

Connect with Elise on Facebook by "liking" her page at High Times Cookbook, and follow her on Twitter at @EliseMcD420.