Year & Major: 4th year in Creative Writing: Fiction, Rhetoric and Professional Writing
Campus & Extra Involvements: Editor-in-Chief of Odyssey online; Content Creator for the Odyssey Teaching Assistant in DAAP for History of Visual Communications; Multiple Publications: Short story “Noticed” won for the Fiction Category in the League for Innovation Student Literary Competition. After advancing to the national competition, “Noticed” won second place and was published in the League’s Fall anthology, “Even the Dirt Keeps Breathing.” Published in The Clarion with a poem called “Time” & international publications. She has also has written two novels and swept away the Spectrum Awards in April of 2016 within Sinclair.
Her Campus: Thank you for sitting down with us today, Autumn. Can you tell me more about your international publications?
Autumn Lala: With IMIRAGEmagazine, I collaborated with a model, Luna, and ended up getting published internationally with the modeling images. At Sinclair Community College (before transferring to UC), I was published in their annual Literary Journal with poems, “Ars Poetica” and “b’shert”. “b’shert” is the most recent publication of IMIRAGEmagazine (which was recently published). “Ars poetica” is in works for images and poses with the poems.
HCUC: What is your favorite part of being Editor-in-Chief of Odyssey?
AL: The creators. More than that, I’ve always viewed the O in Odyssey as opportunity. It is so hard to get experience when graduating, so now having a place to publish, get you work out & learning marketable skills with social media marketing is really huge. Everything is a team effort. Community is so important and I’m really trying to make community be better and be stronger. It is so much more than editing articles, it is about building a team.
HCUC: How important has your personal team become in your college career?
AL: My (now) fiancé has been so supportive with everything. My best friend Gannon Woods has always been there to help me with writing and to talk me up. Danielle Koste (a published author) has been a huge part of my growth by adding me to a Facebook group. My grandma was an Italian opera singer, she listened to one of my lyrics for post-hardcore music, and she said to me “I’m proud of you.” She was a huge supporter of mine, never told me that my dreams were invalid or unachievable, and really is an influencer.
HCUC: What would you advise to any young women aspiring to achieve their dreams?
AL: It coincides with a tattoo I have: choix (which is choices in French). I realized through some advice from family that I never want to have regrets. Life is always worth the risk, whether the reward is experience or what you originally hoped for. If I hadn’t collaborated with Luna, the model, I wouldn’t be internationally published. When it comes to seizing life for what it is, you need to be an opportunist. Recognizing these opportunities and taking them is good. You never know what path you’ll be on if you don’t take it.