Donna Jean MacKinnon was born in Cape Breton, emigrating to Upper Canada as an impressionable child. She attended Victoria College, U of T, and graduated with a degree in English and Near Eastern history.  Since then Donna Jean has paid the bills as a social worker, high school teacher, buyer at the Hudson’s Bay Co., antiques dealer and freelance writer before surfacing at the Toronto Star. There she toiled as a reporter, columnist and features’ writer for 21 years.  She wrote about everything from murder to interior design to medical break-throughs.

Donna Jean’s book NEWSGIRLS: Gutsy Pioneers in Canada’s Newsrooms is the result of 20 years of interviews and collecting every morsel of information about each reporter featured in the book. Donna Jean knew each Newsgirl while she and they were working at major newspapers. Thus the book is based on personal interviews and not dusty archival material.