The Twenty-Year Project, with Silvia Foti

<p>Silvia Kučėnaitė Foti, MSJ, MAT, MFA, is a journalist, creative writer, teacher, and mother. Silvia holds Masters’ degrees in Journalism, Education, and Creative Nonfiction has been a journalist for twenty years, has published two mystery novels, and has been a high school English teacher since 2007.</p> <p>With a Master’s in Journalism from Northwestern University, Silvia has extensive experience in writing nonfiction and has written for a variety of publications, including the Chicago Tribune, Southtown Economist, Southwest News-Herald, Crain’s Chicago Business, Chicago Parent, LA Parent, Buenos Aires Herald, Argentine News.</p> <p>After she earned her Master’s degree in Journalism, she moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina, to live with her great aunt, her grandfather’s sister, while recording many stories about her legendary grandfather. At the same time, she wrote movie reviews and features for the Buenos Aires Herald and Argentine News, photographed polo players for Polo News, taught English to business executives, and learned how to speak Spanish fluently.</p> <p>Upon her return to Chicago, she worked for the Academy of General Dentistry, where she managed its flagship monthly newsmagazine AGD Impact, as well as its major communications pieces. She left the AGD to form her own freelance writing company called Lotus Ink, and worked from home while raising two children, Gabriel and Alessandra. As a freelance writer, she wrote content for several websites, columns for newsmagazines, and feature articles for several publications, including Crain’s Chicago Business, Southtown Daily, and Real Woman Magazine. She won an Honorable Mention Award from Parenting Publications of America for her spot-news feature on “Are we scaring our kids silly?” published in Chicago Parent.</p> <p>While working as a journalist, she wrote two mystery novels featuring a journalist who covers paranormal events. Skullduggery, published by Creative Arts, received a positive review by the Library Journal: “A highly appealing, up-front heroi