Meet Emilia Benton

We had the good fortune of connecting with Emilia Benton and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Emilia, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
I’m a freelance health and wellness journalist who is especially passionate about elevating and amplifying diverse and underrepresented voices, whether that’s professional athletes/public figures, human-interest subjects, or expert sources. As a minority myself (I’m a Peruvian American Latina), I speak firsthand when I say I know representation matters.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
As a writer, my work has been published by outlets such as Runner’s World, Outside, SELF, Women’s Health, the Houston Chronicle, and many others. I only first went freelance after getting laid off from my last “real job.” At the time, I didn’t know many other people who were freelancing full-time vs. doing it as a side hustle, and I’m not sure I would have ever taken the plunge if that hadn’t happened to me. In hindsight, I wish I had planned to eventually go freelance before leaving my previous job so that I would’ve gotten ahead of the game in terms of building the necessary relationships with editors for it to be a sustainable career. Since I didn’t have that leg up, I spent a good year and a half still applying to other full-time jobs while simultaneously building a big enough client base that eventually did make it sustainable, and the rest is history. Almost nine years in, I say all the time that this is the dream job I never knew I wanted.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I’m a new Denverite myself (I moved here from Houston in late summer 2025) and I am still getting to know the city, so I’d love it if someone would still do this for me. But as a long-distance runner, one of my newfound favorite spots is Washington Park, which seems to be a popular spot to walk and hang out as well. I also love how walkable my neighborhood is and am a fan of having a chill morning sitting outside at the Schoolyard Cafe. I also love occasionally escaping my home office for a stop at the downtown Denver Public Library.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Ali Feller, AKA “Ali on the Run,” which is also the name of her popular running podcast. We go back to the NYC running blogger days of the early- to mid-2010s. Prior to her current life as a podcaster, she was doing what I’m doing, i.e. freelancing for many of the same health and fitness consumer publications I write for now. When I decided I wanted to pitch my first article to Runner’s World, she helped me by sharing how to craft a pitch and suggesting who to send it to. That first story ended up opening a lot of doors for me in my current career, and I’m very grateful for Ali’s mentorship.

Website: https://www.emiliabenton.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emiliambenton

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilia-benton/

Image Credits
Aside from the running photos (those were purchased from Marathon Foto), all should be credited to Lindsay B Photography