Meet a Board Member: Mickey Revenaugh
Yellow Arrow Publishing would like to introduce our new board president, Mickey Revenaugh. Mickey is an education innovator, mission-driven leader, and recovering journalist/current writer of creative nonfiction and fiction. In addition to cofounding a Maryland-based international network of virtual schools, she serves in board leadership for a New York City charter school, a national charitable foundation, and a global private school. Her writing has appeared in VICE, Chautauqua, Cleaver, Catapult, Louisiana Literature, Lunch Ticket, and many others. She holds an MFA from Bennington College, an MBA from New York University, and a BA in American Studies from Yale University. She lives and works in Brooklyn, New York, and can be found online at mickeyrevenaugh.com or on Instagram @mickeyrevenaugh.
Mickey states, “I look forward to joining forces with Yellow Arrow’s amazing corps of women-in-writing to bring forth the voices of others.” She further adds that her vision for Yellow Arrow in 2023 is “building on its inspiringly solid foundation to create an ever-growing, effectively sustaining community.”
Tell us a little something about yourself:
After an almost 20-year hiatus, I picked up creative writing again in 2014 when I entered the Bennington low-res MFA program, which did the trick! I produced a ton of material despite still working full time at my day job and got my degree (dual genre, nonfiction/fiction) in 2017, the year I turned 60. Now I am 65, have just retired from that same day job, and am excitedly/nervously diving into a daily writing routine. My current projects include a collection of short stories set in and around airports, and a nonfiction look at “21st century homeschooling.” I’ve also recently developed a love of flash and plan to keep producing and publishing short pieces, fictional and not. My publications and such are listed at mickeyrevenaugh.com.
What do you love most about where you live?
Baltimore is where the great professional adventure of my life took place—the founding and development of Connections Academy, a leading network of virtual schools now serving more than 100,000 students around the globe. Connections started in a borrowed office in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor area, with a founding staff made up mostly of Baltos and Marylanders (including more than a few now with Yellow Arrow, see below). The pilgrimage from Brooklyn, where I live, to Baltimore and back became a familiar rhythm of the next 20+ years. I earned super-elite frequent traveler status on Amtrak, memorized rest stops for the occasional times I drove, and regularly forced myself to explore outside the office and its immediate square blocks. I spent time in an elementary school in Coppin Heights, met parents in Dundalk, discovered tattoo parlors in Fells Point and took up a permanent seat in the FedEx Kinkos on Charles.
As Connections grew, Baltimore also evolved, gentrifying fast in the Inner Harbor, grappling with The Wire and Freddie Gray, always a dichotomy of have and have not, hopeful and desperate. Once the home office relocated to suburban Columbia and then closed altogether during the pandemic, the thing I missed most was that taxi ride from Baltimore Penn Station to Central and Fleet as the sun rose.
How did you get involved with Yellow Arrow and what do you do?
Yellow Arrow Executive Director Annie Marhefka and I worked together for years at Connections Academy, and she and I serve together on the board of a foundation named for our late founding CEO. As several other current and past Connections folks joined Yellow Arrow as board members and volunteers, Annie and I began talking about how I might be of service as well. I joined the Yellow Arrow board as president late fall 2022 and officially assumed office in January 2023.
What are you working on currently?
Now that I’ve retired from my corporate gig, I am working on developing a daily writing routine—now an official member of the #5amwritersclub!—with an eye to fleshing out my Airport Series short story collection, getting my nonfiction “21st century homeschooling” book project underway, and building up my portfolio of flash pieces. I am also leading several nonprofit boards, mentoring an array of rising professionals, and flexing my grabber tool for picking up track around the neighborhood.
What genre do you write and why?
I write creative nonfiction so I can draw on all the journalistic habits developed over a lifetime, and I write fiction because it’s such a relief sometimes just to make everything up.
Who is your favorite writer and why?
I’ve typically favored women writers, including Joan Didion, Louise Erdrich, Toni Morrison, Jumpha Lahiri, and Edith Wharton, but lately I’ve been inspired by George Saunders as both a writer and a teacher.
Who has inspired and/or supported you most in your writing journey?
My MFA advisor Dinah Lenney came into my writing life at a crucial time. She helped me see how the pieces fit together and gave me the confidence to imagine publishing. Also, my literary agent, Sharon Pelletier, manages to always be encouraging, even when sharing discouraging news.
What do you love most about writing?
I love making something solid and potentially lasting out of ephemeral moments, overheard scraps of conversation, imaginary connections among disparate objects.
What advice do you have for new writers?
Believe in your voice and your story enough to evolve a little every day.
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Welcome to the team Mickey! We are so excited to work with you this year. Yellow Arrow Publishing is a nonprofit supporting women writers through publication and access to the literary arts. You can support us as we SPARK and sparkle this year: purchase one of our publications from the Yellow Arrow bookstore, join our newsletter, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter or subscribe to our YouTube channel. Donations are appreciated via PayPal (staff@yellowarrowpublishing.com), Venmo (@yellowarrowpublishing), or US mail (PO Box 65185, Baltimore, Maryland 21209). More than anything, messages of support through any one of our channels are greatly appreciated.