Nancy Trejos has been a staff writer for The Washington Post for 11 years. She has covered schools, local government, and the Iraq war. In February 2007, Ms. Trejos joined the business section of the Post. She covered real estate as the real estate boom went bust. In November 2007, she became the Post’s personal finance writer. Ms. Trejos has also written pieces for Latina magazine, including one about Latina women who are HIV-positive. She wrote a Washington Post magazine story about traveling to Colombia to find a half-brother she had never met before. Prior to arriving at the Post, Ms. Trejos wrote for the Los Angeles Times. She graduated from Georgetown University with a B.A. in Government. She grew up in Queens, N.Y., and travels extensively, including to her parents’ homelands of Colombia and Ecuador. She lives in Washington, D.C. HOT(BROKE) MESSES is her first book.