About Shamontiel

Writer ~ Editor ~ Dog Caregiver ~ President

Those five words pretty much sum up Shamontiel's career and passions, as a full-time freelancer, a Wag and Rover dog caregiver, and the 2020-21 president for Toastmasters and her condo association.

Who is Shamontiel?

Shamontiel (pronounced Shə mawn T L) Latrice Vaughn is a full-time, freelance editor and (copy)writer via Upwork. Her primary clients vary every quarter, but as of October, her lineup includes writing op/ed copy for a recently developed relationship site; and editing blog copy for a construction copywriter, a handful of memoirs and accounting/real estate books, and an attorney's legal blog.

The Chicago native has 15 years of combined publishing experience in journalism (Chicago Defender, Chicago Tribune, CBS Chicago, Yahoo! Contributor Network); print and online editing (Kaplan Financial, Sun-Times Network); website building and editing; and social media marketing. She is also the author of two novels ("Round Trip" and "Change for a Twenty," written during her undergraduate and grad school days). When she's not reading, writing or editing, Shamontiel is usually busying herself as a condo association president and Toastmasters president.

Volunteer

Shamontiel L. Vaughn, CC, PM5, ACB, is currently serving as the 2020-21 President for Unity Toastmasters, a community Chicago Toastmasters club. She's held four other offices in years' past: VP of Education, VP of Membership, VP of Public Relations (two times) and Sergeant at Arms. Shamontiel competed at the division level with a corporate Toastmasters group for the 2018 International Speaking Competition before joining Unity TM. In February 2018, she completed her Competent Communicator certification. In May 2019, she completed Pathways and became Presentation Mastery Proficient. And in December 2019, she earned certification in Advanced Communicator Bronze. With the help of her Toastmasters training, she was also a yearlong co-host (2019) of Do Not Submit Chicago: Rogers Park. As mentioned above, she's also the 2020-21 condo association board president for her residence.

Work

Her latest bylines can be found through her five publications on Medium, in addition to a handful of Upwork clients. She also dabbled in the marketing industry for a year and a half, after completing a co-writing partnership for J. Paye in Brief's law blogging series. (Her additional writing clips can be found in RETHINK Retail, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Defender, CBS Chicago, MADE magazine, Gurulife, Sun Times Network, Blavity and Citizens in America magazine.)

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 employment as an Assistant Copy Editor for Kaplan Financial.

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; journaling about her 15-year vegetarian lifestyle; and volunteering for (now-defunct) charitable organizations such as BEHIV to speak about safe sex, STD and STI testing.

Play

Her workout routine includes five days of dance choreography with Kukuwa Fitness, WERQ and/or DanceFunFitness. COVID-19 has ruined her usual 10,000 steps with dog walking for Wag! and Rover, but writing for "Doggone World" and an occasional walk with her regulars keeps her heart warm for fur balls.