About Shamontiel

Shamontiel (pronounced Shə mawn T L) Latrice Vaughn is a full-time, freelance editor/writer on Upwork with 13 years of journalism experience (Chicago Defender, Chicago Tribune, CBS Chicago, Yahoo! Contributor Network); 12 years of editing experience (Kaplan Financial, Sun-Times Network); 10 years of digital experience; and 18 years of social media experience.

TO WORK

Shamontiel is the Vice President of Education for a Chicago Toastmasters group (Unity Toastmasters) and competed at the district level for the 2018 International Speaking Competition. This book and magazine enthusiast is also the author of two novels ("Round Trip" and "Change for a Twenty").

Her current magazine and blog content can be found in Saybrook University's "Unbound" digital magazine, The Chicago School of Professional Psychology's "Insight" magazine, Pacific Oaks College's "Voices" magazine, Dallas Nursing Institute's blog and The Santa Barbara & Ventura Colleges of Law's blog.

Before working with TCS Education's higher education affiliates, she spent a year as one-half of the writing team for J. Paye in Brief's law blogging series. Her additional writing clips can be found in the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Defender, CBS Chicago, AXS, MADE magazine, Gurulife, Sun Times Network, Blavity, Citizens in America magazine, Fate magazine, TheFrisky.com and more.

As a tech enthusiast with a web editing background, her resume includes past full-time employment as a Digital News Editor for the Chicago Tribune, and as a Staff Writer and Web Editor for The Chicago Defender. Her print editing background includes Feld Entertainment and Pearson Education, as well as an Assistant Copy Editor for Kaplan Financial.

TO LEARN

This Chicago native graduated Cum Laude from Lincoln University (MO) with a Bachelor of Arts in English/Creative Writing. Shamontiel has also taken graduate school courses at DePaul University in Lincoln Park. Her areas of educational focus were writing, communications, Spanish and criminal justice. She is also a member of Sigma Tau Delta, the International English Honor Society.

Shamontiel has participated in various political and news events, including promoting and raising money for President Barack H. Obama's presidential campaign; completing canvass assignments for the Affordable Care Act registration; educating curious minds about a vegan lifestyle; and volunteering for organizations such as BEHIV to speak about safe sex, STD and STI testing.

TO PLAY

Although reading will always be her favorite hobby, music isn't far behind, specifically positive hip-hop, dance/pop, R&B, smooth jazz, a select few country artists and neosoul. Health and fitness are a priority for her everyday life as a 14-year vegetarian (and struggling vegan that didn't quite work out). She's taken just about every fitness or contemporary dance class there is from belly dancing to boxing to weight training. Practicing yoga, WERQ dance fitness and reaching 10,000 daily steps a few times a week are mandatory to keep her (reasonably) sane.

When she's not chatting it up on social media, there's a pretty good chance she's traveling to somebody's beach, lakefront, bookstore or vegan restaurant.