Since graduating in 2015, Kia Dawkins has published a book and has over 23,000 subscribers on her YouTube channel.

What are a few of your most memorable moments as a member of the Stevenson women's basketball team?

My most memorable moments are actually the 6 AM practices, two-a-days, and preseason workouts. They're the most memorable to me, not because of the physical pain, but because of what the team would do to make sure everybody got in the gym on time and then get through the pain every time! That chemistry was a big part of the foundation we had to win the conference and then get us to the NCAA Tournament in our last year.

Dawkins presenting her book.

How did your time at Stevenson prepare you for your professional life?

It's no secret that college is that four-year give or take window you get between high school and real life. And in that four-year span, I had the chance to try a bunch of different activities just to see what I liked and did well at, but also understand what I needed to improve on as a person. Stevenson is where I could "fail fast" so I'd be more prepared as an emerging creative professional. Stevenson made me

Dawkins with teammates Kayleigh Guzek (left) and Sabrina Vaitkevicius at her book signing.

more proactive about my career path as a creative, and offered the support and resources to allow me to be multifaceted, open-minded and to never have the mindset to turn down an awesome opportunity within my field because "I don't know how to do that yet". 

Tell us about what you are up to: job, YouTube channel, your book!

It's always something! I just did a branding makeover for my YouTube channel at the beginning of the year to really tie my business/content around personal care and wellness, especially nail care! I'm currently automating certain daunting tasks with my YouTube so that I can spend more time engaging with my core audience, creating highly requested and innovative content + expanding and sustaining the brand! As far as the book, I'm doing more live events with a focus on schools and organizations catering to the youth to either read and discuss the poetry and how it ties into life, or working with students to help them craft and tell their own stories.

What has been a memorable event in your life since you have graduated?

I think traveling abroad for the first time by myself takes the cake. I got to see a few beautiful cities in Europe and eat the food and just absorb as much as I could. That experience definitely opened my eyes to how big the world is, and how people are so different from you, and yet are still so similar. It's one of those risk and reward kind of things, and I'm really thankful for that experience.

What did you learn in your time at Stevenson that has stayed with you in your post-collegiate life?

In the words of Coach Boswell, "figure it out". No one really cares about what you're doing until it affects someone else in a more positive way, so it's like, figure out how to make sense out of this stuff so someone else can be inspired to do better for themselves. Also, with the whole "fear" thing, it's a really good idea to face it, every time you get the chance to. The good stuff is always just waiting there for you on the other side of it, as cliche as that sounds.

Do you keep in touch with your teammates?

I do! Of course there's social media and those things that you tag each other in to share a good laugh, but we work together to get stuff done. Sabrina reached out to see if I could design a gift she'd plan on giving to a family member, and I paid Kayleigh and the fam a visit a few months back cause I was overdue, roommate-to-roommate. Birthdays, nail parties, get togethers, I'm even shooting Kyarra's engagement and wedding shots! Teammates for life.

To purchase To Be Drenched in Dreams, Delights, Downfalls and Dos, clich here. And to subscribe to Kia's YouTube channel, click here.