Ashley Wheat Poplin/34/OKC
Born and raised in Oklahoma City, I’ve always been drawn to stories — the ones we write, the ones we tell and the ones that help people feel a little more understood.
I graduated from the University of Central Oklahoma in 2018 with a BA in Creative Writing, concentrating in poetry, scriptwriting and short fiction. At the time, I was working in disaster restoration, which was about as far from a traditional writing career as I could imagine. But during my final semester, a creative writing capstone introduced me to the world of literary publications, and something clicked.
From 2020 to 2022, I served as Editor-in-Chief and Design Director of the Oklahoma Women’s Journal, where I selected and edited submissions, helped shape each issue and taught myself Adobe InDesign along the way. In 2022, I decided I wanted to build something of my own, and Canary Collective was born.
Today, my relationship with writing stretches well beyond the literary world. I’ve spent more than a decade working across communications, marketing, copywriting, editing and content strategy, helping organizations turn complicated ideas into clear, human stories. I’m especially interested in the place where creativity and strategy meet — whether I’m shaping a brand voice, building a website, editing someone’s work or creating a publication from a blank page.
My own writing has appeared in For Women Who Roar, New Plains Review, Edify Fiction, 34th Parallel and Unvael. As a founding member, Editor-in-Chief and Design Director of Canary Collective, I get to combine many of the things I love most: writing, editing, design and discovering creative work from people around the world.
Outside of work, I’m usually reading, writing, collecting far too much perfume, wandering somewhere in the Ozarks or hanging out with my husband, our two dogs and our two guinea pigs. I am a lover of spinach pizza and Paddington and, despite years of professional AP style use, am emotionally committed to the Oxford comma.
If you would like to see more of my work, you can browse my portfolio for selected writing, content and creative work, or take a look at my résuméfor the full professional rundown.
Want to collaborate or hire me to elevate your business?