Who we are

Hawthorn & Aster is a queer, women owned digital marketing company that offers a wide array of pre-publication services and social media solutions. We are authors and assorted bookish professionals who take the success of our authors personally. We want to see our authors thrive in this highly competitive space.

More than that, we seek to diversify the romance space, and elevate otherwise underrepresented voices. We believe that diversity and inclusion can only flourish if space is made for it.

Meet the Team

  • Ivy (She/Her)

    FOUNDER | MARKETING, WEB DESIGN, BETA/SENSITIVITY READING

    At some point, Ivy will figure out how to write a decent bio that isn’t exclusively comprised of chinchilla-esque cooing and dinosaur-esque squalling. But for now, you get this little paragraph to describe the level of chaos that exists between her (perfectly normal) sized ears.

  • Jasmine (She/Her)

    ADMINISTRATOR | MARKETING, SOCIAL MEDIA SOLUTIONS

    Hello Lovely People! I am Jasmine Thorne. I am a crazy cat mom of 2 little demon spawns and I am the token Canadian member of the team! I am a full time Massage Therapist and part time graphic designer. I love making pretty templates for our authors and I look forward to working with you all!

  • Chessa (She/Her)

    EDITOR, BETA READER, FORMATTING, BOOK COVER DESIGN, TIKTOKS, SELFIE QUEEN

    Chessa Andersen loves being called a “wizard” because it reminds her that she occasionally has brilliant ideas. When she's not arguing with her husband about being a wizard, she's unsuccessfully trying to teach her two cats, Mazikeen and Gimli, to play fetch.

    She doesn't mind shopping for cute shoes in a child's size four (hello, discount!) and wonders why adorable and friendly baby raccoons or deer don't wander onto the back patio and beg her for food. Chessa admits she pours too much dressing on her salads, unconditionally loves batter fried cheese curds, and firmly believes there's no such thing as "too much cheese".

    Connect with her through Instagram at @chessajandersen. To catch her attention and make her smile, start the message with, “Hello, you amazing little wizard.”

  • Carissa (She/Her)

    PROOFREADER, NEWSLETTERS

    I’m married to my own personal book boyfriend. I’m also a mom of 2 (one and one, I’m done). I’ve always loved reading, but started seriously reading romance books at the end of 2020 and quickly became addicted. I signed up for many as many ARCs as I could handle, but wanted to be more hands on in helping indie authors. I now PA for a few indie authors and started my proofreading business to help authors make their books as perfect as possible.

  • Iris (She/Her)

    BOOKMARK & STICKER DESIGN

    Iris is a coffee loving wife and mother of two kiddos, who works full time in public service. While searching for a way to calm her mind and relax after work, she rediscovered her love of romance books. That love turned into a passion for writing her own stories. She has since self-published multiple books, with no end in sight for the story ideas. While working to promote her own books, she began designing bookmarks and swag, sparking another creative outlet. So began Bookmarks by Iris.

  • Mugwort (She/They/Her/Them)

    H&A MASCOT

    Mugwort mugworts.