Grace Bonney

Grace Bonney is an author, blogger and entrepreneur. Bonney is most well known for founding the interior design blog Design*Sponge, which has been published for 15 years. Bonney wrote The New York Times bestseller, In The Company of Women, a book featuring more than 100 stories about women entrepreneurs who overcame adversity. Bonney also wrote the DIY interior design book Design*Sponge at Home.

Bonney was raised in Virginia Beach and attended the College of William & Mary, subsequently moving to New York. Bonney was bullied in middle school and high school for being queer; because of this, Bonney struggled with internalized homophobia until age 30. In October 2003, Bonney met Aaron Coles. They married in 2009 and divorced in 2011. Following the divorce, Bonney publicly came out as queer.

In 2013, Bonney married chef Julia Turshen. On the LGBTQ&A podcast, Bonney said, "I mean, it's a super stereotypical lesbian story of email, date, moved in three days later, married four months later, dog, house, all the cliches." Bonney identifies as queer. Bonney was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of 35.

Bonney has spoken out about how women have unrealistic expectations about work and life balance and believes it is important for women to learn about successful role models. Bonney was noted for entrepreneurial work in the Frederick Douglass 200 project, which honors the impact of 200 living people who embody the spirit and work of Frederick Douglass. Bonney came out as non-binary in 2022 and no longer used she/her pronouns.