In August 1922, her play The Lonely Road won her a scholarship to partake in Dr. George Pierce Baker's Harvard 47 Workshop[2][3] in Cambridge, Mass.

(Newspaper Enterprise Association)[6] in New York interviewing notable persons such as John D. Rockefeller, Sr.,[7] Will Rogers, Ring Lardner,[8] Mary Pickford,[9] Charlie Chaplin, Dorothy Parker,[10] Joan Gardner[11] and others.

In 1923, she went undercover as a reporter on Broadway under the pseudonym of Huldah Benson, showcasing the "lure of the floodlights to a country girl".

Oh, yes, I had given music lessons once and I used to sell records in a piano company back home" she says as she introduces herself for the first time in New York as Huldah.

The 6-part series was published nationwide in the newspapers, with accompanying illustrations for each segment of "Huldah"'s journey as a chorus girl on Broadway.

She wrote this daily column from her point of view about all topics ranging from day-to-day life in Akron, travelling, meeting her husband Bill in the 'Rigby's Books' bookstore (which is now the Akron Public Library), 1920s prohibition and speakeasys, raising a family, and book and film reviews.

[15] She was close friends with co-worker Herman Fetzer who went by the penname of Jake Falstaff, and wrote his column "Pippins and Cheese"[16] during the same years Van de Grift worked at the Beacon Journal.

Upon her death in 1927, Herman wrote a full front page tribute to Josephine for the Akron Beacon Journal on 23 August 1927, which was reprinted in November of the same year.

[19] After spending five weeks in the hospital following an unsuccessful childbirth delivery, she received several blood transfusions in attempts to save her life,[20] Van de Grift died suddenly at the age of 33 in late August 1927,[21] leaving her devoted readers wondering what would become of her 18-month-old daughter, Mary.

[22][23] Hundreds were present at a solemn high mass sung for Josephine, which was the cover story on the front page of the Akron Beacon Journal after her death.

[24] Upon her passing, writer and poet Herman Fetzer wrote a tribute to her in the Akron Beacon Journal, which follows:[25] “There will be no more columns under the title of “Demi-Tasse and Mrs. Grundy” and no more feature stories in the Beacon Journal signed “Josephine Van De Grift.” Josephine Van De Grift died yesterday at 3:45 p.m. at the Peoples hospital.

To the people who were constant readers of her column – and they were legion – it is as if a blind were drawn over a window through which they often looked, and always with pleasure.

After one day less than five weeks of pain, after operations and blood transfusions and the complicated attention of nurses and surgeons, Josephine crossed the narrow space that had lain between her and the shadows, and was alive no more.

A story about a man who had thrown a live guinea-pig into a furnace made her a changed person for a week.

When she was chided for this by her table companions, she said, “But their feet hurt them!” Her desk at the Beacon Journal office was the mecca for Lord knows what queer fish.

She wrote letters for people who did not feel at home with the written word; she transmitted telephone messages for printers who were prevented by their work from doing it themselves; she listened to the domestic troubles of many and gave each one what advice he needed – and what is more – the sympathy that he wanted.

"Won Friends Readily People who attended them merely for the sake of saying that they had seen Josephine Van De Grift went away with the feeling that they knew her very well.

She construed her talents to be musical – and there was no doubt that she had a sincere feeling and a definite gift in that direction.

For some time she conducted the society columns for the Beacon Journal, entering her connection with his paper seven years ago.

Five years ago this fall, a syndicate, attracted by the character of her feature stories, offered her a situation in New York.

She was fond of the queer people to whom one might speak on Washington Square Park; she loved the soft dreamy evenings of Chelsea.

"Fragments of Life There remains from her Greenwich Village experience a small sheaf of sketches – quiet little character studies which were not artificial enough for the magazines.

The problems of the young mother entered into Josephine’s writings, and the community which she had built up with all women was cemented by another bond.

When the word was printed, five weeks ago today, that she had undergone a major operation, and was in serious danger of death, it was a shock to the whole city.

For many days the city with its multitudinous voices poured its queries into the ears of every agency that might give an intelligent answer: How was Josephine?

Her decline became apparent during the week-end, and Sunday afternoon she died – a woman too young for death, but one who had done excellently well with what years were vouchsafed her.

[27] This writing club was named for Josephine Van De Grift Beacon Journal columnist and writer, who was also an instructor in the school.

[28] This writing club continued into the late 1930s with their monthly publication of the Findleyite, which was awarded national honors.

[29] In December 2019, on Christmas Day, author Kristin Carter-Groulx, great-granddaughter of Van de Grift, published a 700 page biographical book about Van de Grift and her column "Demi-Tasse and Mrs. Grundy" including transcribed news articles and photographs from Josephine's collection[30]