About... Me?
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The problem with bios:
they are inevitably reductive, especially for generalists or those who specialize in more than one field.
The problem with bios is that they change based on audience and context. For example, if I was submitting some creative writing to a literary journal, my bio might read something like this:
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Isaac James Richards is a poet and essayist who has won four poetry contest awards and five essay contests. He has published poetry in Irreantum, prose in Y-Magazine, and criticism in The Explicator. He is also a reader for Fourth Genre and a contributing editor at Wayfare Magazine.
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Meanwhile, my LinkedIn bio might start like this instead:
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Isaac James Richards is a public relations professional with a bachelor's degree in communications. He has worked as a content marketing writer for BYU Broadcasting and won the Stephen W. Gibson Entrepreneurial Communications Scholarship for his monetized YouTube channel, which boasts 1.2 million views. He is also the co-founder of Richards & Moore, LLC.
Put simply, we all know that each of us maintains not one, but multiple identities, and those too are in a state of constant and continuous flux. So below you'll find a variety of personas clustered around different components of my professional experience.
Thanks for indulging my belief in the multifaceted self!
Bio(s)
Rhetorician
This is my primary professional identity. I research and teach rhetoric, or the art, theory, and practice of communication. I'm currently a graduate student at BYU where I teach classes in both the English Department and the School of Communications. My foremost interests lie at the intersection of rhetoric, religion, and memory. My peer-reviewed scholarship has appeared or is forthcoming in The Journal of American Culture, The Journal for the History of Rhetoric, and Rhetoric Review. I am also currently co-editing an anthology of speeches from Latter-day Saint history.
Creative Writer
During my master's degree in English, I've used elective credits to take creative writing workshops in the MFA program. So far, I've won four poetry contest awards and five essay contests. My work, both poetry and prose, has appeared or is forthcoming in Irreantum, BYU Studies Quarterly, Y-Magazine, and Literature & Belief. I'm also a contributing editor at Wayfare Magazine, a literary journal published by the Faith Matters Foundation.
Professional Communicator
Thanks to my undergraduate degree in mass communications, I'm also a public relations professional and content creator. I interned as a content marketing writer for BYU Broadcasting where I wrote news pitches, blog posts, and press notes. I also won the Stephen W. Gibson Entrepreneurial Communications Scholarship for my monetized YouTube channel, which boasts 1.2 million views across 25 original videos. I have experience designing audio and visual communication with iMovie and Canva, and I am also the co-founder of Richards & Moore, LLC.
YouTube Influencer
I speak Telugu, a southeastern Indian dialect. My Telugu YouTube channel went viral in 2019, garnering 13.8 million impressions, 1.2 million views, 58,328 subscribers, and 36,900 watch hours across my 25 original creative content videos. I was also interviewed live by TV5 News and was featured in dozens of online and print news outlets including The Times of India and India Today. Ultimately, I received an all-expenses paid trip to the North American Telugu Association Convention where I delivered a ten-minute speech to an audience of over 3,000 people.
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Teacher
I currently teaching WRTG 150 "Introduction to Writing and Rhetoric" and ENGL 316 "Technical Communication" in the BYU English Department. I also teach COMMS 302 "Popular Culture and Media" in BYU's School of Communications. I worked as a writing tutor and student administrator in the BYU Research and Writing center where I consulted students on their writing assignments and trained new tutors. I'm also currently a Program Assistant for University Writing, responsible for mentoring new graduate instructors in pre-semester and weekly training meetings.
Christian
I'm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I served a two year mission in India where I taught free piano lessons and English classes, offered volunteer service, and supported local congregations. I've also served as a deacon, teacher, priest, elder, primary leader, ward executive secretary, and counselor in the elder's quorum presidency. My faith also informs my research and writing: I've been a research assistant for the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship and a participant in the 2023 Latter-day Saint Theology Seminar at Harvard Divinity School.
Amateur Archaeologist
I dug for a season with the Huqoq Excavation Project where I volunteered in the Ceramics Lab. I also studied for one semester at the BYU Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies and have visited more than a hundred archaeological sites in the United States, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Israel, Egypt, and India.
Dilettante Pianist and Dancer
I've taken ten years of piano lessons and am a Bronze American in Ballroom Dance. Accolades include winning my high school's "Dancing with the Stars" competition in the cha-cha, competing in the 2019 National Dancesport Competition, and a handful of regional piano awards complete with Bach and Beethoven statues.
Racquet Sports Enthusiast
I played no. 1 boys singles and was the captain for my high school tennis team, where I won third place in the district tournament, qualified for state three times (best appearance was consolation quarterfinals), and won an Athlete of the Year Award from the Rexburg Standard Journal. I am an intramural tennis champion at BYU and also enjoy ping pong, badminton, and pickleball.
Reader
What I'm Reading
I'm currently reading the complete essays of Michel de Montaigne, a collection of poems by Utah Poet Laureate Lisa Bickmore, a biography of Eugene England, and Crucial Conversations. I recently finished Multipliers by Liz Wiseman and Remembering Emmett Till by Dave Tell.
What I'm Writing
I'm currently working on a book-length poem titled Liminalities, composed entirely of formulaic rhyming couplets. I'm also writing an article on the Mormon Mexican History Museum, a book chapter on Nauvoo, a rhetorical analysis of Zitkala-Sa's early speeches, and an essay on the sublime.
Writer
Thinker
What I'm Thinking About
I've been thinking about discourse communities, epistemology, and genre. I'm particularly intrigued by the possibility of unintended audiences on the internet, and a communicative ethics of listening that may entail ignoring content that isn't meant for one's eyes--even if it is publicly available.
What I'm Currently Teaching
WRTG 150 - Introduction to Writing and Rhetoric
COMMS 302 - Popular Culture and Media
ENGL 316 - Technical Writing
Teacher
Learner
Yes, I am a reader, writer, thinker, and teacher--but most importantly I am a continuous learner. Here are a few things I have already learned in my journey:
(1) Writing is power. By writing personal statements, letters of intent, and scholarship applications, I’ve won $65,000+ in awards and grants. I’ve also consulted and coached others on their writing to help them earn university scholarships and get into their dream programs and jobs. Words make the world, and mastery of words is a key way to open the doors of opportunity.
(2) Resist the divides between art, theory, and practice. Education and employment are reciprocal and essential life experiences. Research and scholarship should inform action and execution. Even as I participate in academic research and teaching, I am committed to keeping my finger on the pulse of corporate reality and practice.
(3) The importance of intercultural awareness and cross-cultural communication. I believe in the power of travel, education, and international immersion to change the way one sees the world, self, and others. My research and teaching has taken me to six countries for a total of 26+ months abroad. Every time, travel has fostered in me an incredible amount of respect, admiration, and cultural envy for the diversity of places and people in our world. The more we sincerely learn about and ethically communicate with each other, the less we will be divided and the more we will be united.
In short, my training has equipped me to research, write, analyze, create, communicate, teach, train, coach, consult, design, strategize, collaborate, and lead in a variety of contexts. I'm always open to new opportunities, so feel free to contact me with a pitch or a collaboration idea!
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Keep learning.
- Isaac