Anita Woodley: The Author of Her Life

Anita Woodley is a great writer; she will tell you that about herself. But she wasn’t always so confident. Her experiences growing up in the rich cultural environment of Oakland, California, gave her a unique voice—but she worried that her writing skills were not strong enough to express it.  “In college, I worked closely with my English professors to learn what I was not properly taught in the Oakland Public school system. Even as an NPR producer, I swelled with fear when asked to write a promo or revise my notes from a pre-interview.” Anita recalls.

To gain confidence in her writing, she decided to take a Community Classroom Series course called “Write Your Life.” For Anita, this was the beginning of a life-changing transformation. “It taught me to appreciate who I am and to put it into my work. I just soared!” she recalls. She learned so much from the instructor that she decided to take another one of his courses, this time in the Carolina Courses Online program for academic credit.  Anita plans to take more writing courses through the Friday Center, but for the time being she is enjoying great success in her career as a radio producer, having recently won two national journalism awards, and she is now charging top dollar for freelance writing assignments. “I’m really a writer!” she says, with all the confidence in the world.

For information on the programs that helped Anita Woodley, see Community Classroom Series and Carolina Courses Online.

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