Editing, Professional Development, Proofreading, and Writing Services with Dr. Margena A. Christian
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2018/05/19
Dr. Margena A. Christian was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. She has a background of African American, Cherokee Indian, and German. I was lucky enough to interview her about some of the work done by her. Christian founded and owns DocM.A.C. write Consulting. Full interview here. Part 1 of this GMP series here. Here we look at some of the professional work in editing, professional development, proofreading, and writing services.
As the conversation with Dr. Christian continued, I asked about DocM.A.C. write Consulting, which is a service for editing, professional development, proofreading, and writing.
In terms of the clientele, I wanted to know of the importance of these services to the improvement of written work. Christian said that people want to improve their writing as well as the skills necessary to improve it.
“Educators need to remain current with pedagogical strategies so professional development is one way to achieve this. I also do dissertation coaching,” Christian stated, “Thus far I’ve helped two people complete their dissertation. The coursework is the easy part; the hard part is crossing the finish line by submitting the dissertation! There’s a great deal of folks who are ABD (all but dissertation) who need the right push to move along. That’s what I do.”
However, to maintain the basis for training people, you need people. Christian needs clientele. Those who are clientele come from the word of mouth, as they say uncommonly, and through professional networking, as they say more commonly.
With the quality of the work, and the building of a base of a clientele through these means based on quality, Christian, and others can too, has been able to build a steady clientele and many of whom have recommended others to her.
One of the interesting things about Christian is also the lecturer position at the University of Illinois at Chicago. It amounts to a position requiring the ability to convey and correct. Convey the knowledge; correct the material for learning, these can be tough on a consistent basis.
She helped build the professional writing concentration as a minor at the institution. Christian developed and designed two of the courses entitled Writing for Digital and New Media and Advanced Professional Writing.
Christian reflected, “One thing I enjoy most about being a lecturer is that the focus is on teaching and not so much research. If I choose to conduct more or to write journal articles, it is optional and not mandatory. Each semester I teach three different courses so my prep time is far reaching. Thanks to my organizational skills, I make it work effortlessly.”
Christian worked on a dissertation entitled John H. Johnson: A Historical Study on the Re-Education of African Americans in Adult Education Through the Selfethnic Liberatory Nature of Magazines. She was hired by John H. Johnson in 1995 as an assistant editor for Jet magazine. He was lovingly called Mr. Johnson and died in 2005.
Not only with the consulting services and the teaching, the people behind a publication as well can make the difference in the style, content, tone, and quality of a publication.
“Let’s just say that I knew that one day the magazine and the company as I once knew it would be no more,” Christian stated, “It hit me that there would come a time when people won’t remember or know anything about a man who lived named John H. Johnson. It struck me that one day people won’t know about his iconic publicatons.”
She reflected further on the house built at 820 S. Michigan Avenue would be gone. Christian realized: “I was the last editor hired by Mr. Johnson and worked along his side who remained at the company before my position was eliminated in 2014.”
When Jet magazine ended, her position ended. Simeon Booker covered the 1955 Emmett Till story while Christian did further coverage in 2004. She found the experience “an honor to have Booker hand me the baton and for Mr. Johnson to have approved it.”
“After a series of stories that I penned for a few years, I concluded that chapter in my life and the magazine’s annals by purchasing a beautiful oil painting of Till (shown in image) that was done by a fellow JPC employee, Raymond A. Thomas,” Christian said.
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