Aesha Waks Publishes Latest Book, ‘Swipe Again’

By Katie McFadden

The world of dating nowadays can seem more overwhelming than ever, especially with online dating being the primary mode of meeting someone. Rockaway Beach resident Aesha Waks tries to make sense of the latest confusion in the dating scene and post-pandemic social interactions by offering theories and guidance in her new book, “Swipe Again.”

Waks, the daughter of Israel Waks, former owner of Rockablue, Fashion Wave and Clothesliner, has made a name for herself as an award-winning actress, model, singer, and dancer. From dancing with Real 2 Real and rapping with them, to studying acting, appearing on the show “Gotham” and in films with Sam Rockwell, Stephen Lang and Jon Cryer among others, as well as modeling, Waks has an extensive creative resume.

However, after dealing with a personal issue with borderline anorexia and her late mother putting pressure on her to rise above it, she started doing research and physical training and putting her journey to recovery into words in a journal. “I had to learn how to cure myself,” she said. After graduating from NYU in 2010, she put what she learned about healthier living into her first book, “The Model Body.” And as a rapper, Waks’ words often start out as poetry, so in 2016, she released her own book of poetry called, “The Wild Rantings of a Teenage Girl.” After that, she set writing aside for a while.

As the pandemic rolled in, acting, dancing and modeling opportunities slowed down and her father’s latest store, Rockablue, where she had been helping, ultimately closed down, sending Waks on a quest to find meaningful work. “I was really searching for a meaningful job. I always helped my father with the clothing stores, but he shut down in the middle of the pandemic. I realized how much I enjoyed character analysis because it’s what I do as an actor, analyzing characters and building them to make them come to life. I also realized that I really like helping people. I worked at the YMCA for a while doing personal training and I spent time trying to help people figure out ways to help their ailments and work through eating disorders and I realized I wanted to find more ways to help people,” she said.

So in 2021, she enrolled in the Howie the Harp Peer Training program, an intensive instruction series that teaches participants how to become peer support workers, she started working closely with children with autism and she became a peer advocate focusing on mental health counseling between acting gigs. Enjoying the work, Waks decided to take it a step further and is now enrolled in a masters in mental health program at Bellevue University.

Waks’ passion for analyzing and helping people led her to putting thoughts and observations into writing again. “My latest books are where I really explore the problem of interpersonal communication between people,” she said. Amid the popularity of online dating apps, especially during the pandemic, where people “swipe” on someone they like or don’t like in the hopes of meeting someone, Waks put out a guidebook to navigating it all in June 2020 called, “Swipe.”

However, by the time that book had come out, Waks saw how quickly things began to change. “The ways people treat each other is so god awful. From my own experiences and then hearing friends’ stories and interviewing people, it’s become awful with people ghosting, lying, cheating and people catching STDs, so I delved into it all,” she said.

“During the pandemic, I heard so many horror stories from people using Hinge and Tinder. It was exciting at first because everyone had access to everyone, and it became like a shopping spree and free for all. But I’m not on the swipe sites anymore. It turned into a prostitution portal. Within five minutes, a guy will invite you to his apartment, or you’ll find he catfished you. It’s really become scary, and people are treating each other like trash. Even in the advertising for new dating sites, you’ll see things like ‘no f**bois’ or they’ll have things to verify you so there’s no catfishing. The new sites are an example of how much went wrong with swipe culture. Everything changed,” she said.

In response, Waks started doing deeper analysis of this evolving dating culture, conducting interviews, polls, reading articles and books and analyzing commentary on social media apps to come up with an updated map to guide people through the latest dating trends. It’s all in her latest book, “Swipe Again,” which came out in late January. Waks herself is featured on the cover of the book, in a photo taken by Victoria’s Secret photographer, Antoine Verglas.

Waks says “Swipe Again” can be seen as a sequel to “Swipe” or read as a stand-alone book, where she offers her raw, unedited thoughts based on her findings. In it, Waks even offers some unconventional advice to task folks to stay honest, even when it comes to things like cheating. “I started looking into why people cheat and thinking of a more ethical way to treat one another by telling your partner not to cheat, but if you do, let me know, so we can separate and if you want to come back to one another, get tested for STDs. At least nobody is betraying one another by being honest. It could even lead to less domestic abuse and fewer STDs,” Waks said. “I don’t know why everyone lies to each other. Make honesty sexy. Just be yourself.”

“Swipe Again” and Waks’ other books can be found in paperback or as digital books on sites like Barnes and Noble and Amazon. Waks herself can be found hosting the Winter Film Awards on Sunday, February 23 at 5 p.m. at The Empire Room in Manhattan, and on Friday, March 14, working as a round card model for FDNY Boxing’s 2025 International Battle of the Badges at Madison Square Garden. Tickets are available at FDNYBoxing.org. for more updates on Waks and her book, follow her on Instagram: @aeshahashwaks