Carolyn Hax graduated from Hopkins School in 1984 and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard University in History and Literature in 1988.

[1][2] Hax majored in history and literature in college with the goal of becoming a lawyer, but after working as a paralegal, she decided her skills translated to becoming an editor, and she landed a job in journalism with Army Times, the media outlet for the armed forces.

[3] In 1997, at the age of 30, she began writing an advice column for The Washington Post titled Tell Me About It, which developed a following of Gen-Xers.

"[2] The column, later renamed Carolyn Hax, is published daily and syndicated by The Washington Post to 118 newspapers around the US, including The Sacramento Bee, Detroit Free Press, and The Dallas Morning News.

[5] Her essay "Peace and Carrots" was included in the 2006 anthology Mommy Wars: Stay-at-Home and Career Moms Face Off on Their Choices, Their Lives, Their Families.

"[10] Hax married her second husband, a childhood friend, Ken Ackerman, in November 2002, and they are parents of twin boys and another son.