Rhonda M. Lawson is the author of A Dead Rose. She is also an Army journalist, garnering various journalism awards, including the 1997 Training and Doctrine Command Journalist of the Year. She is currently a sergeant first class stationed at Camp Red Cloud, Korea, where she works in Army Public Affairs.
A New Orleans, La. native, Rhonda's journalism career began at Loyola University in New Orleans, where she served a short stint on the campus newspaper. In 1994, when she left college and joined the Army, she continued her journalism career. Her first duty station was Fort Knox, Ky., where she edited all sections of Inside the Turret, the post newspaper. During this tour, she earned third place awards for both commentary and feature writing.
In 1997, she moved to Fort Story, Va., where she served as Fort Story Bureau Chief for the Fort Eustis Wheel newspaper. During this time, she was awarded Journalist of the Year and Noncommissioned Officer of the Quarter. She also began to pursue her first love, fiction and started working on her first full-length novel, Cheatin' in the Next Room.
Rhonda's career as a Soldier-journalist has taken her to various parts of the world, including Japan, Hawaii, Korea, Afghanistan and Egypt. Her work has appeared in various Army and civilian publications all over the country, including Soldiers Magazine, The Seattle Times, and The Army Times.
Rhonda is an active member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., Pi Eta Zeta chapter. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies from the University of Maryland and University College, and is currently working on her Master's in Public Administration from the University of Oklahoma. She is is also a member of the Divine Literary Tour, an organization made up of African American Greek-letter authors.
She has also contributed to five different anthologies, including Second Chances, Crimes of Passion, Gumbo for the Soul, The Heart of Our Community, and Surfacing.
