Deb Kaganowich Discenza

Deb Kaganowich Discenza Image

Tell us about your career.

My career has spanned the technology and publishing industries with a strong focus on writing and communication in both sectors.  In the technology field I helped start and manage Internet companies in the web-hosting and web-hosting applications field.  From there I helped start and manage a web-hosting monthly magazine.  With the premature birth of my daughter I left the technology field to do something different and therein started Preemie Magazine to help families and professionals working with premature babies.  The magazine was hugely successful but unfortunately had a demise with the faltering economy.  I now have PreemieWorld, LLC that houses a book I published called The Preemie Parent's Survival Guide to the NICU and I do speeches and media interviews nationally on a regular basis.

What was your area of focus when you were an undergraduate?

My focus at GMU was English from the very start.  I won a couple of awards during my high school years and I knew that I loved the creativity of writing not only fiction but non-fiction subjects.  When I got my BA I knew that I was not done and wanted to further my education and therefore got my MA at GMU as well in the Professional Writing and Editing degree.

How has what you learned as an English major helped you in your career?

Oddly enough I learned that creativity is a much-needed tool in the business world and one that has served me very well throughout my career.  Being an English major trained me to think critically about everything I wrote but yet kept that creative seed alive and germinate and organize expanding ideas beyond original thought.  My training serves me every single day personally and professionally.  This training has also helped me to translate my talent to speeches and translating my ideas publicly.

What do you like about the work you've been doing?

I don't like the work I do - I love it!  Every day I wake up grateful that I am able to use my skills to not only communicate with others on a professional level but do so successfully.  With the Internet boom, my work has gone international and for the young adult still inside me, that is a real kick!