Biography
Anissa Rafeh was born to Lebanese parents in 1974 in Kentucky, USA, a birthplace she proudly shares with her future husband, George Clooney. In 1979, the family moved to Dubai, where her physician father started a family practice. She went to an all-girls British school, where her American accent was constantly ridiculed and students were so bored because of the lack of boys, they actually studied.
In 1990, the family moved back to the US and settled in Richmond, Virginia, which some argue is even more boring than Dubai back when it was a desert. She enrolled in an American high school as a senior, where her now British accent was admired and, for the first time in seven years, she enjoyed the company of boys in class. She became so distracted that she hardly studied, leading to a dramatic drop in her grades, which led, in an ironic twist of fate, to her having to attend an all women’s college. Not surprisingly, she didn’t last long and transferred in her sophomore year to the University of Richmond, where she majored in political science and discovered her love of writing.
When she graduated in 1995, she moved to Lebanon to get her Master’s degree in political science from the American University of Beirut, where no one made any comments about her now American again accent unless she spoke Arabic (in which case, she didn’t blame them). She fell in love with the AUB and upon graduation, continued to work at their Publications Office as the copyeditor. In 2000, she decided to move into the world of journalism and joined a fledgling online news portal, Cyberia.
In 2002, she accepted a job as the production editor at Executive business magazine, and in 2004, was promoted to editor of What’s Up?, an entertainment magazine. Her first issue as editor featured the debut of her monthly column, The Simple Things, about life in Lebanon, which was read by exactly three people: the proofreader (who was paid), her mom (out of obligation), and one anonymous fan, the identity of whom remains a mystery to this day. In 2006, she decided it was time to go out on her own, so she started the copywriting service, Editmax, which she continues to run from her office in Beirut.
Anissa has had numerous articles published over the years, covering the worlds of politics, business and Hollywood. Miss Guided is her first book, the material of which was inspired by her wonderful experiences living in Lebanon, the country she loves even more than George Clooney.