We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Nancy Ruhling. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Nancy below.
Nancy, so great to have you on the platform and excited to have you share your wisdom with our community today. Communication skills often play a powerful role in our ability to be effective and so we’d love to hear about how you developed your communication skills.
I’ve always been a reader and a writer. and I always knew that I would be involved in communications of some sort. As a child, I fell in love with the classics, particularly Mark Twain and Charles Dickens. They, of course, are known for their novels, but before that, they had been newspaper reporters. I followed in their footsteps.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
Throughout my career, I’ve worked for newspapers and magazines, writing on numerous topics ranging from art and architecture to science.
I created the weekly blog, Astoria Characters, to give back to my community.
Since 2009, when the blog debuted on the home page of the New York section of The HuffPost, I have profiled some 600 “characters” in Astoria, my Queens, New York City neighborhood.
Astoria, which Archie Bunker and the Steinway & Sons piano factory call home, is the most ethnically diverse neighborhood in New York City, and when I moved here 18 years ago, I became fascinated with the people, nearly 50 percent of them immigrants, who were walking up and down my street. I wondered what their stories were.
In the tradition of Mark Twain, I, a transplant from the novelist’s “Show-Me” state of Missouri, assumed the role of an “innocent abroad.” I set out to paint a portrait, in words and photos, of the actors in this wonderfully eccentric working-class neighborhood, where the same old ladies who throw cardboard pizza cartons into the street rush out with their brooms at the first blush of spring to save the pavement from the kiss of falling rose petals.
It was my intent to create a vibrant documentary-style tableau vivant that would serve as a historical snapshot of life in Astoria in the first decades of the 21st Century.
My premise was that every one of the 182,000 residents in this northwest Queens neighborhood 15 minutes from Bloomingdale’s flagship in Manhattan has a singular story that deserves its own 15 minutes of fame.
To date, I’ve written some 600 profiles on people who come from around the world — Belgium, England, Thailand, Greece, Guyana, Italy, Nepal, Nigeria, Scotland and Spain – and around the country – California, Missouri, Delaware, North Carolina, Alaska, Virginia, Hawaii and Texas.
The stories I’ve been told – of hard luck and hard work, of determination and dreams – have been a revelation to me and have resonated with readers around the world.
Astoria Characters has helped people in the community make connections that have changed their lives and propelled their careers. Recently, the owner of a new bakery and the owner of a new restaurant were introduced to each other because of the blog and are collaborating on events that involve the community. Another recent Astoria Character, a carpenter, received a significant commission because someone saw his story in the blog.
The series has led to my creating a website, AstoriaCharacters.com, which archives the articles.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
A keen sense of curiosity is the most important attribute for my job because I often come up with my own story ideas. Discipline is also a key requirement — deadlines are deadlines, and they don’t budge. Accuracy also is crucial, and that generally comes from listening, really listening, to what the people you are interviewing are telling you.
Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?
I took my first journalism class in junior high school with Homer L. Hall, one of the top teachers in the country. Unlike most junior high journalism classes at that time, we produced a real printed newspaper, not a mimeographed sheet, and we followed all the rules laid out by professionals. It was the toughest class I ever took, and it more than prepared me for my college journalism courses at the University of Missouri-Columbia, which is one of the highest-ranking schools in the country. Mr. Hall has remained a mentor and friend throughout my career.
Contact Info:
- Website: NancyRuhling.com
- Instagram: nruhling
Image Credits
Nancy A. Ruhling Portrait: Mister Astoria
