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Connecting the Dots: Architectural Designer and Affordable Housing Advocate Priyanka Sen

I studied art history as an undergraduate at Boston University, and I kind of fell into architecture. They had a fantastic professor, an architecture historian, who became my mentor, and I studied architectural history and art history and then got the design bug. I love learning the history and theory of these things. What if I used my skills differently? I think I always loved watching buildings go up. Thinking about how we build community and society’s fabric – that’s what led me many years later to design school at the University of Cincinnati.

I wanted architecture to be more than it currently is. I wanted it to imprint more on community and society, and how we think about each other and spaces. Since I’ve graduated, I’ve focused my efforts on thinking about that, changing how I think about teaching. With everything that is going on in the world, I’ve been thinking more deeply about how we need to impact future generations and our earth. I would like to leave more of a legacy, getting my students to think about projects more deeply.

Arts + Culture, Education, Outreach + Advocacy, FeaturesLaura LeavittAugust 17, 2020Features

Nazly Mamedova on Humanizing Immigration Law

Nazly Mamedova, immigration attorney, world traveler, and linguaphile, has called Cincinnati home since she moved here as a teenager in 2004. We sat down to chat shortly after the June Supreme Court decision restoring the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, an immigration policy that grants recipients who came to the United States as children a renewable, two-year protection from deportation.

At Xavier University’s Brueggeman Center, where she studied as a fellow while earning her undergraduate degree in international affairs, we talked about the best and worst parts of being an immigration attorney, her family history, and her love of travel.

Outreach + Advocacy, Arts + Culture, FeaturesSuzanne WilderAugust 10, 2020Features

This is Entrepreneurship: Christina Davis on Time Management and Family Roots

Sitting in her car between errands, Cristina Davis, C.E.O. of Davis Cookie Collection, shared her journey to entrepreneurship. Although our interview was virtual, I could feel her energy and excitement about her business and the forthcoming opening of her first brick-and-mortar store through the screen. I knew instantly that this is a woman who can successfully juggle many roles: business owner, baker, mother, wife, mentor, community leader. Whether describing how to make it work as a wife/husband team or how she thinks up her next cookie recipe, Christina shows how her creativity and perseverance make it possible to live her dreams.

Home Away from Home: Erika Nj Allen

Erika Nj Allen is a soft, spoken, beautiful soul from Guatemala. She’s been on my mind for the past two days as I ponder what to write for her introduction. Should I describe Erika’s studio, where everything had a purpose and a reason why it was there? Should I describe her beautiful soul? Or maybe I should take a cue from her story and highlight how Erika comes full circle over 30 plus years – all of it starting in Guatemala with a letter of invitation to a U.S. art school she couldn’t, at the time, accept.

Meet the Women of Cincy Team: Olive Taylor

As Community Mix editor a big part of my job is just making sure that writers have content every month. I help organize the plans for ideas or topics they want to explore, make sure photographers are assigned to them and interviews are arranged. Once we have drafts in, I make sure everything goes out to another editor and out the door in time for the deadline.

Residency director is the bigger part of my responsibilities. There are so many aspects to the residency program, from mentorship to editorial or administrative responsibilities. We also like to focus on the other side of things making sure residents feel comfortable talking to me and maintaining a work-life balance.

August 2020, Meet the TeamShannon SmithJuly 31, 2020Community Mix

Women of Cincy Gift Guide: Fall 2020

August 2020, Gift Guide, EntrepreneurshipCourtney ReynoldsJuly 31, 2020Community Mix

Seeing Beyond the ‘Refugee Label’ with Tika Adhikari

We met Tika Adhikari at the University of Cincinnati a few days after World Refugee Day – a day that provides awareness of the experiences and struggles refugees face around the world. In her community liaison work and social work studies, Tika provides these services for refugee, immigrant, and minority populations and advocates for their representation in the decision-making process in our city. She believes in the power of kindness to build communities – which has inspired her to challenge impossibility and overcome significant obstacles to set and achieve personal and community-oriented goals.

Arts + Culture, Outreach + Advocacy, FeaturesKelly CarriganJuly 27, 2020Features

Wendy Calaway: Finding Hope and Fighting for a Safer, More Just Society

Wendy Calaway, professor and criminal defense attorney, grew up in Williamsburg, Ohio, just east of Cincinnati. She studied both political science and law at the University of Cincinnati. It’s there, in law school, where she found her passion for justice. We sat down via video conference to learn more about bail reform, overturning wrongful convictions, and what it’s really going to take for everyone to truly receive equal protection under the law.

Features, Outreach + Advocacy, EducationMichaela RawsthornJuly 20, 2020Features

This Is Entrepreneurship: Barb Smith on Sticking to Values and Pivoting During COVID

Meet Barb Smith, co-founder and president of Journey Steel. She is the living embodiment of Journey Steel’s motto: “We build and support dreams.” Barb spoke with us via videoconference about the values upon which she built her company and how she kept it afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic by sticking to those values. She also talked about what it’s like leading in a male-dominated sector as a Black woman.

BLOC Coffee: Gathering a Community; Transforming a Neighborhood

From its compassionate mission to its food and drinks, BLOC Coffee, established in 2007 at the heart of the Incline District in Price Hill, has something really special going. The location may seem top-secret to many Cincinnatians, but this hidden treasure needs to be exposed.

Having just wrapped up a sweet conversation with one of its founders, Stephanie Young, it’s no secret why it’s a success. Not only does her very presence radiate joy, but her outlook of “I get to do this” is also so authentic. But what exactly is “it” that she gets to do?

July 2020, Outreach + Advocacy, Food + BeverageAbby FarrJuly 10, 2020Community Mix

Home Away From Home: Clara Matonhodze Strode on Creating a Home In A Complex Racial System

As the writer and creator of "Home Away from Home" I would be remiss not to speak on what it’s like to create a home as an immigrant in a country strife with racism – deliberately practiced or unwittingly doled out; institutional or personal. As such, I decided I needed to explore my own coming to America story within a racial context.

Your Next Must-Read: Books Written by Black Women from Cincinnati

This list began with a simple question that came to me one evening. It was after a long day of reading about the protests in Cincinnati sparked by the death of George Floyd. As the wave of peaceful protesters marched down the historic streets of our city, the question emerged, “What do I know about the history of Black people in Cincinnati?” The answer was a resounding, “Almost nothing.”

Re-Envisioning and Re-Energizing Healthcare with Ciara Staunton of Staunton Primary Care

When Ciara Staunton popped into our virtual meeting, she seemed excited and energized, but our healthcare-worker readers will know she’s had some exhausting months. Frontline workers of all kinds are donning their P.P.E. and masks and continuing to serve their clients, but there are still so many unanswered questions as our world works to respond wisely to the rise of COVID-19.

Staunton, however, is no stranger to new directions. She created her own private practice, Staunton Primary Care, as a nurse practitioner aiming to offer affordable and approachable family primary care in the Walnut Hills neighborhood. It was a joy to talk to her about her passion for accessibility and comfort in a healthcare setting.

Good (Man)ners: Discussing Compassion, Integrity, and Unity with Reverend Derek Terry

Signing on to our video chat with a joyful hello and a sparkly golden background, Reverend Derek Terry has calm but invigorating energy at 9:30 p.m. on a Wednesday night. He’s no stranger to being welcoming; as the head pastor of St. Peter’s United Church of Christ in Pleasant Ridge, he interacts with people of all backgrounds. The openly gay Black man has been noticed around the country for sharing the journey of discovering his sexuality in the shadow of the church. With the overwhelming uncertainty hanging over our heads due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, we turn to Rev. Terry’s message of hope, acceptance, and equality.

Black Lives Matter: What Needs to Change in Cincinnati?

As I knelt in the front line of the crowd and everyone around me chanted, “Hands up; don’t shoot,” I was struck by the simple privilege of being able to reach into my pocket for my phone while staring the police in the eye. I was part of a barrier of white people called forward to shield our Black cohorts – despite the fact that it was 1:30 in the afternoon and the event had been peaceful so far.

As white folks are called forward to literally place our bodies in defense of the oppressed Black community, the question on our minds shouldn’t be, “Has it really come to this?” but rather, “How the hell did we let it get this far?”

And more importantly: “What are we going to do about it?”

Sitting with the Uncertainty: A Conversation with Dr. Ashley Solomon

I’m a licensed clinical psychologist; that's my foundation, professionally at least. I'm also a wife and mom to four young kids: My daughter is almost six months old now and then [my other children are] two, five, and seven.

My professional background is specialized in the treatment of eating disorders; that’s where my dissertation research and all my clinical administrative experience was. I went to grad school at Xavier, and did the doctoral program in clinical psychology there. I love that work. I did it for almost 10 years following graduate school, and I never ever thought I would stop doing that – well, I haven't really stopped doing that work.

This Is Entrepreneurship: Christine Fisher on Managing a Start-Up Through COVID-19

We talked with Christine in late April about what it’s like to manage a company through a crisis (or two) with two young boys, a husband, and a dog in her immediate space. With characteristic candor and compassion, we learned not only about the struggles she and her colleagues are facing, but she talks first-hand about the struggles of the families, teachers, and school systems who are Possip users.

Home Away from Home: Claire Stewart

When you hear the word "immigrant," what picture does your mind conjure up? Whatever that picture is, I bet it's not a blue-eyed, blonde-haired, Australian dancing queen.

We met Claire Stewart at Lola's Coffee House, pre-COVID-19. Lola's, she would tell us, is her favorite Coffee Place in Cincinnati. She's Australian, but the coffee house is filled with French motifs. She loves Lola's, "because apart from Australian coffee, Lola's has the second-best coffee." Apart from her love of coffee, and her husband and son, her love is the Cincinnati dance group the Red Hot Dancing Queens, which she founded in 2015.

Meet the Women of Cincy Residents: Summer 2020

When Kiersten Wones and Chelsie Walter (former editor-in-chief and residency director, and executive director, respectively) came to me with the offer of becoming the new residency director, I was eager to start. I’m an alumna of the Women of Cincy residency, and my experience profoundly changed my perspective on work, careers, communication, and life in general.

The residency isn’t like any other journalism or communications internship; our residents are not nameless fact-checkers – we want them to leave with both professional and personal growth; we want them to go out into the world more confident and capable human beings.

June 2020, Meet the TeamWomen of Cincy StaffJune 5, 2020Community Mix

Luna Malbroux: At the Intersection of Comedy, Equity, and Inclusion

I am a comedian, a writer, a playwright, and I also write articles. Really, I think my thing is exploring creativity and conversations in as many different genres as possible. By day, I do a lot of cultural humility and equity training with organizations in Cincinnati and across the country. The work all bleeds into itself, whether it's focused through humor or focused through dialogue. I just started picking up playing a few instruments, so that’s going to be in the mix as well.