Chanel Miller
Chanel Miller is an author and artist best known for her memoir Know My Name, published in 2019, which brought her into public consciousness after years of being identified only as “Emily Doe” — the anonymous sexual assault survivor whose victim impact statement in the Brock Turner case went viral in 2016 and was read into the Congressional Record. Born in 1992 and raised in Palo Alto, California, Miller grew up in a household that valued art and storytelling, and she pursued creative writing and literature before her life was upended by the assault she suffered at Stanford University in January 2015.
Her victim impact statement, read aloud at Turner’s sentencing hearing, was shared millions of times online after Buzzfeed published it in full. The statement’s clarity, emotional precision, and moral authority made it a landmark document in the #MeToo era, prompting widespread outrage at Turner’s six-month sentence and triggering changes to California’s sexual assault sentencing laws. For three years after the trial, Miller maintained her anonymity while rebuilding her life, working as a writer and illustrator.
In Know My Name, Miller reclaimed her identity and told the full story of the assault, the trial, and its aftermath in her own voice and on her own terms. The memoir is remarkable not only for its unflinching account of trauma and the legal system’s failures but also for its luminous prose style, dark humor, and insistence on portraying herself as a complete human being rather than a symbol of victimhood. The book became a New York Times bestseller and won the National Book Critics Circle Award for autobiography.
Miller’s artwork — drawings and paintings that process her experiences with tenderness and wit — has been exhibited and shared widely. She has spoken at universities and advocacy organizations about survivor rights, the criminal justice system, and the power of storytelling as a tool of healing and social change. Her book is now taught in college courses on trauma, law, gender, and creative nonfiction.
