Jen Angel

Angel was born in Dearborn, Michigan to John and Pat Engel and started using the last name Angel in high school.[1] She earned a degree in journalism in 1997 from Ohio State University.

Jen Angel began writing and publishing her personal zine, Fucktooth (1991-2000), while in high school.[2] She continued her media activism through a variety of publications and organizing efforts. From 1996 to 2004, she was a co-editor of Zine Yearbook, a yearly anthology of writing from zines and underground publications. Angel coordinated the publication of Maximum Rock'n'roll from 1997 to 1998 which led to her temporary relocation from the Midwest to the Bay Area.[3] She co-founded Clamor magazine with Jason Kucsma for which the Utne Reader profiled them in their Young Visionaries: 30 under 30 article in 2002.[4] Her writing has been featured in magazines including Bitch, Punk Planet, and In These Times.

Angel helped organize the Underground Publishing Conference in Bowling Green, initially called the Midwest Zine Conference in 1999, which later became the Allied Media Conference, which continues annually in Detroit.[4] She also founded Agency, an anarchist public relations project and Aid & Abet, an event management group.[2] She was a core organizer of the Bay Area Anarchist Book Fair and helped organize the Bay Area Radical History Project which sought to connect newer activists from the Occupy movement with veteran activists from earlier movements.[3][5]

Angel moved back to the Bay Area in 2006 and created her company Angel Cakes in 2008. Their retail shop opened in Oakland in March 2016.[6] The shop offered 120 flavors of cupcakes and donated money and provided desserts for social justice efforts such as environmental justice, housing, and criminal justice reform.[6]

Angel was robbed in a bank parking lot on February 6, 2023, and then critically injured as a result.[2] She died on February 9. Angel did not believe in "state violence, carceral punishment, or incarceration" and her loved ones have been pursuing restorative justice approaches in response to her death.[7]

• Personal website
• Clamor Magazine