Meet The Staff: Founder, Creative Director Ashley Ruggirello

The Rules of the Game:

1. Introduce yourself, providing a little background on your role at REUTS and any other important tidbits.
2. Post a photo of yourself. 
3. Post eleven random facts about yourself. 
4. Answer the questions given to you by the tagger’s post.
5. Create 11 new questions and tag someone to answer them. 

Got it? Good, then let’s get to it:

 

 

Hi REUTies… REUTheads… REUTinites…

Hi REUTS friends and fans. That’s better.

One of the most awkward things for me to do is talk about myself, so here goes… HI! I’m Ashley R., the founder and Creative Director here at REUTS. If you’ve contacted us in any way, I’m likely the person you’ve dealt with, but I am most definitely not the only brains of this operation. I started REUTS to try to change the experience authors have whilst publishing their most prized possession, and have really spilled my heart and soul into making it the exact opposite of the experience I had publishing my debut novel, Morningside (Ashley Madau). I often say that I’m a designer by nature, but writer at heart, and am blessed to be here, doing what I love. When I’m not busy manning the back-end of REUTS, I have my own freelance design boutique, Cardboard Monet, and work with small to medium sized businesses on their branding and web needs. It’s a blasty-blast, really! And then when I’m not freelancing in my spare time, I work full-time as an Interactive Designer for one of the top independent advertising agencies in the country (talk about connections!). And yes, I still have time to spend with my husband, puppy– Furler– and kitten– Dexter. She’s a girl, by the way.

So with REUTS, I funnel a lot of the emails to their appropriate location, deal with acquisitions, and head up the marketing/design of new titles. There will be a lot more publishing-design-related blog posts coming your way soon. My wonderful team has done a wonderful job (imagine that!) posting about what they, as acquisitions editors, too, look for in a novel. Isn’t it all wonderful?

I hope you think so, too. 🙂 Never hesitate to email us (or me directly) if you have any questions!

Whew. Done. That wasn’t so bad, was it?

Here come those random fact-nuggets I’m sure everyone is looking forward to…

1. I’m a (video) gamer.

2. I’m 100% Romanian (probably where all this vampire nonsense comes from).

3. The first part of the first chapter of my book is a true story– it’s how I met my now husband. Minus him being a vampire (I think…).

4. I’m a self-taught web and graphic designer.

5. If I could (or, if my husband would let me) I would be a crazy cat lady.

6. I love to sing karaoke, but am not a very good singer.

7. I can type faster than I can think. It’s both a blessing and a curse.

8. I’ve always wanted to make video game walkthroughs for a living, but don’t think I have the attention span to do so.

9. I have an unhealthy addiction to horror/thriller movies. It doesn’t help that I also have a crazy wild imagination.

10. If I could eat seafood for the rest of my life, I would. Oysters, lobster, sushi, scallops… you name it, I love it.

11. I have very thick, curly hair. And hate it.

 

1. Where are you from? Originally from Michigan, but I now live in Wisconsin with my husband, puppy & kitten.

2. If you’re a writer, what genres do you write? If you’re not a writer, what’s your favorite genre to read? I tend to write within the paranormal/fantasy genres, but I’m attempting a post-apocalyptic tale that has been suffering from an extreme case of Writer’s Block. And I pretty much like to ready those genres, too.

3. What’s your dream job and are you lucky enough to have it? Outside of REUTS, I’m a designer for an advertising agency, which is close to my dream job. I’d love to be able to brach out on my own and live fully off of my freelance design boutique, Cardboard Monet. And, of course, REUTS is my new baby, and I love ever minute of it and hope it remains a part of my dream job future 🙂

4. Name someone who inspired you and tell us why/how. My husband. He’s a firefighter, and it was amazing to see the process he took to fulfill his dreams. He never gave up. He worked his butt off. And he did it. I’ve never been so proud and inspired by someone in my entire life!

5. What’s something you’ve always wanted to do, but haven’t? Scuba diving, or cave diving.

6. What’s your favorite animal? (Real or Fictitious) I love the kind of creepy, flying dog thing from The Never Ending Story. But in all seriousness, the Ocelot is one of my favorite animals. Any big cat, really.

7. If you could visit anywhere in the world, where would you go? Backpacking throughout Europe. Ireland. New Zealand. Pretty much everywhere.

8. You’re getting shipped to the proverbial deserted island and can only bring 3 things. What are they? A yacht 😉 I know, you’re looking for something else. Probably my husband, a gardening kit (fully equip with vegetable seeds, a shovel, gloves, etc…) and something warm to wear.

9. List your top five all-time favorite songs, including the artist. Oh boy… well these top five songs come from my top five artists, as well, so it’s safe to say I like allllll their songs 🙂 1. Entertaining Angels, by the Newsboys. 2. Somebody to Love, by Queen. 3. Pick You Love Up Off The Floor, by Mika. 4. From Yesterday, by 30 Seconds to Mars. 5. Gravity, by Sara Bareilles.

10. Where is your happy place? With my  husband, or on a beach surrounded by fresh seafood. Preferably both, together.

11. What’s your favorite girl’s name? Boy’s? Oops! Can’t say. These remain a secret until I have kids and are able to claim them as my own. But I can say that the characters in my novel Morningside have some of my most loved names: Ava, Liam and Julian.

 

 

Now here’s my callout to Gabrielle! You ready? Questions below:

1. What’s the most you’ve sneeze in one time? What’s the norm?

2. Are there any instances where you prefer the movie over the book?

3. If you could eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?

4. Do you prefer to be the writer, or the editor?

5. Do you have any crazy talents?

6. Are there any other languages besides English that you wish you could speak?

7. If you could rewrite one book, what would it be?

8. If you could recast one movie, what would it be? And who would you cast in those roles?

9. How do you decorate your hot dogs?

10. What’s your favorite word?

11. How often do you find yourself saying “um”?

 

And that’s that, folks 🙂