Cecelia Tichi is a native of Pittsburgh, the "Steel City" of the Gilded Age, and is an award-winning author and Professor of American literature and culture at Vanderbilt University.

Her books include Civic Passions: Seven Who Launched Progressive America and What Would Mrs. Astor Do? The Essential Guide to the Manners and Mores of the Gilded Age. Cecelia currently resides in Nashville, Tennessee.