Helen Thorpe

Helen Thorpe
First Lady of Colorado
In role January 11, 2011 – 2015
Governor	John Hickenlooper
Preceded by	Jeannie Ritter
Succeeded by	Robin Pringle (2016)
First Lady of Denver
In role July 21, 2003 – January 11, 2011
Preceded by	Wilma Webb
Succeeded by	Gabriela Vidal
Personal details
Born	London, United Kingdom
Citizenship	American
Nationality	British
Spouse(s)	John Hickenlooper (2002–2014)
Children	1 son
Residence	Denver, Colorado
Education	Princeton University, Columbia University
Occupation	Author and freelance journalist

Helen Thorpe is an American author and freelance journalist who was the First Lady of Colorado following her husband's inauguration until their divorce in 2015. She has written for major American newspapers and magazines, and has authored two books.

Thorpe attended Princeton University, graduating Magna Cum Laude. In 1989, she attended Columbia University as a graduate student, receiving a Master's degree in English literature.

Some of her first jobs following her graduation from Princeton were in Boston, working as a waitress and as an unpaid intern at the Atlantic Monthly. She then worked for a short time at both The New York Observer as a staff writer, and then, having caught the attention of editor Tina Brown, for New Yorker Magazine. In 1994, she was hired by Texas Monthly and moved to Austin. She left the magazine in 1999.

Her stories have also been published in George, New York, Westword, The New York Times Magazine, and 5280. She wrote Talk of the Town for the The New Yorker, and has written for Slate and Harper's Bazaar.

Thorpe also published two books. Just Like Us, which follows the lives of four Denver girls of Mexican ancestry and deals heavily with aspects of immigration into the United States, was published by Scribner in 2009. It subsequently won the Colorado Book Award and was named one of the best books published that year by the Washington Post. Her second book, Soldier Girls, was published by Scribner in 2014. It describes the experiences of three women who enlisted in the Army National Guard before 9/11. The three women had anticipated only part-time military service but ultimately served deployments in both Iraq and Afghanistan. One was a single mother of three children. Soldier Girls was named the number one nonfiction book of that year by Time Magazine.

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