Nerissa Pacio Itchon is an award-winning San Francisco-based fashion journalist whose work has been published in such publications as the Los Angeles Times, L.A. Weekly, Women’s Wear Daily, Detour magazine and the San Jose Mercury News.

A graduate of U.C.L.A. and the University of California— Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism, Nerissa was a staff reporter for several years at the San Jose Mercury News where she wrote about the arts, nightlife, fashion and beauty before becoming the fashion and society editor at 7×7 magazine, San Francisco’s monthly lifestyle glossy focusing on fashion, food, people and entertainment.

In addition to having served as the co-chairperson for the San Francisco Chapter of the Asian American Journalists’ Association Scholarship Program and a writing coach for the San Francisco State University Undergraduate Journalism Program, she has taught an undergraduate fashion journalism course at the Art Institute of California-San Francisco and has been asked to speak at numerous fashion-related events and judge fashion competitions throughout the Bay Area.

Currently she is a product copy manager, editor, and beauty blogger for Sephora.com and a freelance style writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Brides, Silicon Valley’s Scene magazine, and other publications. Throughout the years, her work on other topics has been published in the Chicago Tribune, the Arizona Republic, the Fresno Bee and the Orlando Sentinal.

Nerissa loves covering not only the visual beauty of fashion, but the intriguing stories behind it. Throughout her years in the industry, she has found joy and inspiration interviewing a bevy of stylists, hair and make-up artists, photographers, models and designers— from Stefano Pilati and Betsey Johnson to up-and-comers still hand-stitching one-off pieces in their tiny studio apartments.

You’re as likely to find Nerissa scouring the discount bins of her local vintage boutique as you are to see her clicking through net-a-porter.com. She considers “spa-ing” a legitimate hobby, Sephora is easily her second home, and on a recent trip to Paris, she realized she was willing to do whatever it would take to track down a pair of enviable heels she spotted on a girl in the metro. (p.s. She eventually found them!)

Things she can’t live without? Her Cynthia Rowley carry-all, her handsome husband, and her reporter’s notebook.

To view some of Nerissa’s work published in 7×7, click here.

To view some of Nerissa’s work published on the San Francisco Chronicle‘s sfgate.com, click here.

Email Nerissa at nerissasnotebook@gmail.com.

Follow Nerissa on Twitter @nerissapacio.