“I got married two weeks before my mom passed away, and then a year later, I was receiving some kind of artistic success that I'd never had. All of these really beautiful things happened where I was in love and I had a career I loved, but it was all kind of under the shadow of this really dark and painful thing.”

American musician, singer, songwriter, and author

Michelle Zauner is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and author, best known as the lead singer of the indie pop band Japanese Breakfast. She is also known for her memoir Crying in H Mart, published in 2021. Her memoir spent 60 weeks on The New York Times hardcover non-fiction bestseller list. In 2022, Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in its Innovators category, reflecting her reach beyond music into writing and public culture.