About US
Melinda Rothouse, Founder and Owner of Austin Writing Coach, is a professional writing, creativity, and communications coach and consultant based in Austin, Texas. She works with people to bring their writing and creative projects to fruition. She is also the Co-Founder of Syncreate, with Charlotte Gullick, which offers creativity coaching, consulting, workshops, and retreats designed to enhance creativity in life and work, and to foster communication, collaboration, and community. She is the host and creator of the new podcast Syncreate: Empowering Creativity, a show exploring the intersections of creativity, psychology, and spirituality.
Melinda is a professor of Creativity, Innovation, and Leadership at Saybrook University, and the author of A Mindful Approach to Team Creativity and Collaboration: Creating a Culture of Innovation, published in 2020 by Palgrave Macmillan, as well as the co-author of the award-winning Syncreate: A Guide to Navigating the Creative Process for Individuals, Teams, and Communities, with Charlotte Gullick (winner of a Silver Nautilus Award for Creativity and Innovation) published in 2021 from Mandorla Books.
Melinda did her undergraduate work at Vassar College, focusing on cognitive science and music, and graduated with a B.A. in Biopsychology. She also has a Master's degree in Religious Studies from Indiana University, a Master's degree in Performance Studies from New York University's Tisch School for the Arts and a Ph.D. in Psychology with a Specialization in Creativity Studies from Saybrook University. She's taught college-level courses in academic writing, composition, and creative non-fiction at Tulane University in New Orleans, and worked in academic writing centers at Tulane, Texas State University, and St. Edward’s University. From 2009-2013, she served as an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy, Religion, and Humanities at Austin Community College.
In 2013 she completed the Co-Active Coach Training Program with the Coaches Training Institute, and she is certified as a coach with the International Coach Federation.
Melinda is a professor of Creativity, Innovation, and Leadership at Saybrook University, and the author of A Mindful Approach to Team Creativity and Collaboration: Creating a Culture of Innovation, published in 2020 by Palgrave Macmillan, as well as the co-author of the award-winning Syncreate: A Guide to Navigating the Creative Process for Individuals, Teams, and Communities, with Charlotte Gullick (winner of a Silver Nautilus Award for Creativity and Innovation) published in 2021 from Mandorla Books.
Melinda did her undergraduate work at Vassar College, focusing on cognitive science and music, and graduated with a B.A. in Biopsychology. She also has a Master's degree in Religious Studies from Indiana University, a Master's degree in Performance Studies from New York University's Tisch School for the Arts and a Ph.D. in Psychology with a Specialization in Creativity Studies from Saybrook University. She's taught college-level courses in academic writing, composition, and creative non-fiction at Tulane University in New Orleans, and worked in academic writing centers at Tulane, Texas State University, and St. Edward’s University. From 2009-2013, she served as an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy, Religion, and Humanities at Austin Community College.
In 2013 she completed the Co-Active Coach Training Program with the Coaches Training Institute, and she is certified as a coach with the International Coach Federation.
Charlotte Gullick is a novelist, essayist, editor, and educator. Currently at Vassar College in Upstate New York, she was previously Chair of the Creative Writing Department at Austin Community College. A first-generation college graduate, she received her AA with High Honors from Santa Rosa Junior College, a BA with Honors in Literature/Creative Writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a MA in English/Creative Writing from the University of California, Davis. She graduated with a MFA in Creative Nonfiction from the Institute of American Indian Arts in May 2016.
Charlotte's first novel, By Way of Water, was chosen by Jayne Anne Phillips as the Grand Prize winner of the Santa Fe Writers Project Literary Awards Program, and a special author's edition was reissued by the Santa Fe Writers Project in November of 2013. Her nonfiction has appeared in The Rumpus, The Best of Brevity. Brevity, Barnstorm Journal, Pithead Chapel, Cleaver Magazine, The Los Angeles Review, and Hippocampus.
In the fall of 2020, American Short Fiction awarded Charlotte their Gold Star for Teaching and Mentorship.
Her other awards include a Christopher Isherwood Fellowship for Fiction, a Colorado Council on the Arts Fellowship for Poetry, a MacDowell Colony Residency, a Ragdale Residency, Faculty of Year from College of the Redwoods as well as the Evergreen State College 2012 Teacher Excellence Award. She has taught in the Travis County Correctional Complex and organized classes and literary events for Veterans in the Austin Community. Additionally, she has presented four times at the Associated Writing Programs Annual Conference (Washington, DC and Chicago, IL) on offering writing courses for Veterans and other topics.
Charlotte's first novel, By Way of Water, was chosen by Jayne Anne Phillips as the Grand Prize winner of the Santa Fe Writers Project Literary Awards Program, and a special author's edition was reissued by the Santa Fe Writers Project in November of 2013. Her nonfiction has appeared in The Rumpus, The Best of Brevity. Brevity, Barnstorm Journal, Pithead Chapel, Cleaver Magazine, The Los Angeles Review, and Hippocampus.
In the fall of 2020, American Short Fiction awarded Charlotte their Gold Star for Teaching and Mentorship.
Her other awards include a Christopher Isherwood Fellowship for Fiction, a Colorado Council on the Arts Fellowship for Poetry, a MacDowell Colony Residency, a Ragdale Residency, Faculty of Year from College of the Redwoods as well as the Evergreen State College 2012 Teacher Excellence Award. She has taught in the Travis County Correctional Complex and organized classes and literary events for Veterans in the Austin Community. Additionally, she has presented four times at the Associated Writing Programs Annual Conference (Washington, DC and Chicago, IL) on offering writing courses for Veterans and other topics.
Shuja Uddin - Born and raised in Karachi, Pakistan, Shuja is a screenwriter, filmmaker and educator who graduated from Boston University with an MFA in Screenwriting. Shuja currently runs the International Baccalaureate Film Department at Headwaters School and teaches cinema at the Austin Community College. Shuja is based in Austin, TX. He is the Founder of Tishna Films, a film, video, and transmedia storytelling firm that creates thought provoking films, documentaries, commercials, emerging and social media.
Shuja’s short film “Article 370” received an Honorable Mention at the Prague International Indie Film Quarterly Festival 2021 edition for Best Screenwriter. Shuja has also written for international brands such as FIFA, P&G, Alibaba and was the first ever showrunner for PUBG Mobile Pakistan Gully Squads live action series, a popular video game owned by Chinese tech giant Tencent Games.
Shuja’s writings on cinema, memoirs and South Asian pop culture have been published in the Times of India, Film Companion, The Wire and The Express Tribune.
Shuja has taught undergraduate communications students at Boston University and has done guest speaking sessions at University of Massachusetts Boston, Emerson College and University of Iowa Summer Institute. Shuja also teaches Digital Filmmaking at East Austin based creative non-profit Austin School of Film.
Shuja’s short film “Article 370” received an Honorable Mention at the Prague International Indie Film Quarterly Festival 2021 edition for Best Screenwriter. Shuja has also written for international brands such as FIFA, P&G, Alibaba and was the first ever showrunner for PUBG Mobile Pakistan Gully Squads live action series, a popular video game owned by Chinese tech giant Tencent Games.
Shuja’s writings on cinema, memoirs and South Asian pop culture have been published in the Times of India, Film Companion, The Wire and The Express Tribune.
Shuja has taught undergraduate communications students at Boston University and has done guest speaking sessions at University of Massachusetts Boston, Emerson College and University of Iowa Summer Institute. Shuja also teaches Digital Filmmaking at East Austin based creative non-profit Austin School of Film.
We look forward to meeting you and learning about your creative dreams and aspirations!
MELINDA'S SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
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AUDIO & VIDEO
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