Associate Editor Lisa Low: This week in our Writer’s Day Jobs series, we feature Tatiana Johnson-Boria, whose poem “Black Womxn Are Violets” appeared in miCRo last month. Not only does Johnson-Boria teach writing, as many writers do, but she also works with education and equity-based organizations as a content director: “I get to help organizations think about their own stories and how they talk about themselves, in order for others to truly feel moved by them,” she told me in an email interview. We were so excited to learn about her work at The Matterlab Group, and how they, in turn, support her creatively:
How would you describe what you do for your day job?
I currently work as the Director of Content for a creative consultancy called The Matterlab Group. Matterlab works with education and equity organizations to clarify and communicate the impact; meaning I help build strategy and develop content for The Matterlab Group as an entity and for dozens of education, nonprofit, and equity-based organizations. Each day I do anything from strategizing messaging, writing content (blogs, articles, etc.), and connecting with equity leaders to best communicate their mission. In addition to this, I teach courses at Emerson College, GrubStreet, and Catapult.
What do you enjoy about that job, and what are some of its detractions?
I truly love the team at The Matterlab Group. First, it’s the most diverse and fun team I’ve ever worked with. Second, they are all incredible creatives. Because of this, we all champion and support everyone’s creative pursuits. For example, I was fortunate to receive a fellowship at the MacDowell residency, giving me uninterrupted and supported time to work on my nonfiction project. My team at Matterlab not only supported this but allowed me the space to actually engage in this opportunity. That’s often not possible with a day job, so I am incredibly grateful to work somewhere that encourages my work as a writer. The only detraction, as I found with most day jobs, is not always finding the time to write as much as I’d like, but this is something I’m always balancing.
How, if at all, does your day job inform—or relate to—your writing life?
As a writer, I am so interested in what it means to immerse yourself in a story and to feel changed by it. That’s something I get to bring to my work at Matterlab. I get to help organizations think about their own stories and how they talk about themselves, in order for others to truly feel moved by them. In some ways, I get to exercise a similar creative muscle that I use when writing creatively, just in a different context.
What creative projects are you working on right now?
Right now, I’m working on a memoir about my relationship with my mother, our mental-health diagnoses, and our identity as Black women. I just completed a second draft and I’m working with my agent, Lauren Scovel, about how we can continue to shape it and hopefully move it toward publication.
Tatiana Johnson-Boria (she/her) is a writer, artist, and educator. Her writing explores identity, trauma, especially inherited trauma, and what it means to heal. Her work has been selected as a finalist for the Prairie Schooner Book Prize, the Black Warrior Review Poetry Contest (2020), and others. She is a 2021 MacDowell Fellowship recipient and received honorable mention for the 2021 and 2020 Academy of American Poets Prize. She completed her MFA in creative writing at Emerson College and is a 2021 Tin House Scholar. Find her work at her website.
