Breiseus Ashford

PROFILE: Noted poet Robert Frost once said: “Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.” Graduate Scholar and budding poet Breiseus “Alex” Ashford has found those emotionally-charged words at various locations in her college career--Mayhew, MS, Malibu, CA, and New Orleans, LA. Three distinct communities represent the cross-country route Alex has taken in her academic journey from junior college in Mississippi; to Pepperdine University in Southern California; to graduate school at the University of New Orleans. Alex has a passion for putting words on paper, and of trying to make a positive difference in society with those words. At Pepperdine, Alex was both editor-in-chief of, and a contributor to the campus literary magazine. While finishing her degree, several of her poems were accepted for publication in The Rose and Thorn Journal, Review Americana, and Chopper Journal.

INSPIRATION: Alex’s mentor, Dr. Leslie Kreiner Wilson, had a profound influence on her life. “She taught me to be what she calls a ‘cat on a hot tin roof,’” Alex said.  “A writer who defies traditional fixity and is able to move from one genre to the next with agility and skill, transcending all the common notions of what a contemporary writer is supposed to be.” 

ASPIRATION: Writing is Alex’s passion and she hopes to continue to hone her craft in graduate school. She is currently working on her second collection of poems as well as her first creative nonfiction collection.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE: “I'm proudest of the fact that my colleagues consider me worthy to advise them on the craft of writing,” Alex said. Toward the end of her final semester at Pepperdine, she recommended to a fellow student-writer a list of literary magazines to which she should submit her work. “Shortly thereafter, my friend told me her work had been accepted for publication in one of the magazines,” Alex said. “I was so excited for her.” Alex is also excited that her first poetry collection, Danke Schoen, will be published this year.

ACCOLADES: Alex was awarded the Prize Americana for Poetry, as well as Pepperdine’s Douglas Scholarship for Creative Writing, and a Humanities Department Grant.

INTERESTING FACT: Pepperdine University’s Malibu campus looks out over the Pacific and sits a mere stone’s throw from the water’s edge. Though Alex has lived on the campus for more than two years, she has only been to the beach once.