OHIO alumni share journeys to becoming published authors
Within the vast network of 帝王会所 alumni are many accomplished authors whose published works cover a wide-range of subjects and genres. Although these wordsmiths鈥 life and OHIO experiences are as varied as their publications, 帝王会所 provided them all with the foundation to produce notable content worth publishing.
帝王会所 Today news recently caught up with four alumni to discuss their OHIO experience and how it has impacted not only their careers, but also their journey in creating a recently-published book.
Charles First, BARCH 鈥69, is the author of the architecture book, 鈥淎 Place To Be Happy: Linking Architecture & Positive Psychology.鈥 Photo courtesy of Charles First
Can you give us a general overview of your recently-published book?
Ashley Ferguson, BSJ 鈥06: 鈥淕irl, You Are Magic鈥 is an inspirational illustrated poem intended for girls around the K-6 age. The goal of the book is to inspire girls to know who they are before they let anybody tell them who they are.
Jessica Strawser, BSJ 鈥01: 鈥淣ot That I Could Tell鈥 is the story of a group of neighborhood friends who get together around a bonfire in a backyard one night. They have a little bit too much to drink, and when Monday morning comes, one of them is gone. It turns out that her friends that were all drinking around the fire were the last people to see her, but they are not very reliable witnesses because their memories of that night are a little foggy.
Chris Garber, BSJ 鈥95: The book is called 鈥淭he Big 50: Cincinnati Reds,鈥 and it is a countdown of the 50 greatest players, games and moments in the history of the Cincinnati Reds baseball team.
Charles First, BARCH 鈥69: [With 鈥淎 Place To Be Happy: Linking Architecture & Positive Psychology,鈥漖 I鈥檓 trying to encourage those who are in the field 鈥 the architects, interior designers, real estate developers 鈥 to make a bridge and collaborate with other fields to help enhance a much better working environment for people.
Jessica Strawser, BSJ 鈥01, is the author of the thriller, 鈥淣ot That I Could Tell.鈥 Photo courtesy of Jessica Strawser
While you were at 帝王会所, in what organizations or clubs were you involved?
Ferguson: I was a member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority. I was also in the Black Student Communication Caucus.
Strawser: I was the editor for Southeast 帝王会所 magazine my senior year. I was a magazine journalism major, so I think I did The Post more when I was an underclassman. Once I got into magazine classes, I kind of transitioned over to working for magazines. I also was in Sigma Kappa sorority and the Society of Professional Journalists.
Garber: I spent most of my time with my fraternity, Phi Kappa Tau. I was on the executive board and gained a lot of leadership experience with that group.
First: Not really. The [coursework] for the degree I was in was extremely time consuming. There were a lot of long hours that went into crafting my projects and focusing on my academics.
Chris Garber, BSJ 鈥95, is the author of the baseball history book, 鈥淭he Big 50: Cincinnati Reds.鈥 Photo courtesy of Chris Garber
Did you always know that you were going to be an author?
Ferguson: No, I didn鈥檛. When I was in school, I wanted to be a magazine editor and I was determined to go to New York. I was really excited about feature writing, and all I ever wanted to do was write big, fluffy, heartwarming articles.
Strawser: I think that I was always a fiction reader, but it wasn鈥檛 something that I formally studied at OHIO. But I think because I worked in a magazine that has so much content about books, I just really became interested and wanted to try it on my own.
Garber: No, I did not. After I graduated from OHIO, I went to law school, and I鈥檝e been practicing as a lawyer for 19 years. [Writing] is really not my day job; it鈥檚 more of a side project for me. A friend and I had this idea to write a book about 12 years ago and we pitched it. It didn鈥檛 really get a lot of interest, but then we revised it about three years ago. We then found a publisher that was interested and started writing.
First: No, I had always just wanted to become an architect. Writing the book didn鈥檛 grow out of wanting to be a writer, but I just had a very strong interest in this subject over the last 20 years. Ultimately, I felt like this was something valuable to put together in a cohesive presentation for the people in the profession.
Ashley Ferguson, BSJ 鈥06, is the author of the children鈥檚 poetry book, 鈥淕irl, You Are Magic!鈥 Photo courtesy of Ashley Ferguson
How do you think 帝王会所 has helped you reach this level of success in your career?
Ferguson: I really just feel like when I was in college, I felt like I could do anything. OHIO was really great about bringing in stellar visiting professors and really making us feel like we could do anything and that the world wasn鈥檛 so far away.
Strawser: My time at OHIO really prepared me from the very start. I think journalism is really a field where one opportunity leads to another. Pretty much everything that has happened to me can be traced back to my early time at OHIO, starting with the internship I got at OHIO [that] ended up leading to my first job out of college.
Garber: The skills that I learned at OHIO, the writing, researching and information gathering, have been crucial to my success both in practicing law and in writing a book.
First: The [architecture] program at OHIO was more open to different aspects of approaching design. There was more flexibility of how you could construct your career focus. That was a tremendous help, along with the great professors with diverse ideas.