Ashley Wheat/31/OKC
Born and raised in Oklahoma City, my passion for all things literature was prominent throughout my childhood and continued into adulthood. I graduated from the University of Central Oklahoma in 2018 with a BA in Creative Writing with a concentration in poetry, scriptwriting, and short stories. I wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted to do with my degree since I was working in disaster restoration at the time – totally opposite of what I envisioned myself doing. However, upon taking a creative writing capstone course at the end of my college career, I soon realized that I was highly intrigued with publications, specifically literary journals and magazines.
From 2020-2022, I was the Editor-in-Chief and Design Director for the Oklahoma Women’s Journal, where I handpicked and edited the submissions. I also designed the magazines (assisting in designing issues 1-2 and issues 3-5 entirely on my own) and am self-taught in Indesign. Upon my departure from the OWJ in July 2022, I decided it was time to create something of my own - thus, Canary Collective was born. As one of the founding members of the Canary Collective and a mama of two dogs and two guinea pigs, I see the magazine as my adopted child that I am thrilled to share with the world.
As for my previous 8-5 job, I was a full-time Copywriter/Web-Specialist. I brought clients' businesses to life by creating content/copy for local and national websites. My goal was to continue writing website content while expanding my expertise in scriptwriting, web design, and all things SEO. (You can say continued education is important in my personal- and work-life.)
I currently work at Paycom as a content editor, where I polish the internal and external learning and development tools.
I have been published in For Women Who Roar, New Plains Review, Edify Fiction, 34th Parallel, and Unvael. I love the Ozark Mountains, spinach pizza, the Oxford Comma, and Paddington.
Want to collaborate or hire me to elevate your business?