Young, Gifted and Black: Journalism, English Alum Brings Art To City Hall

If it weren’t for basketball, Indiana native Elese Daniel would likely never have stepped foot on the University of Cincinnati campus. The Journalism and English graduate now works at Cincinnati City Hall as the Vice Mayor’s Community Liaison and Office Aid, but she grew up on basketball courts. She was raised to be an athlete and her goal was always clear: a college scholarship. 

Daniel’s path to a life of hoop dreams started with her older brother. he played basketball, she did too. She started playing for AAU, a competitive non-profit sports organization, because she wasn’t old enough to play in school. That exposed her to college recruiters, which is how she eventually landed a full scholarship to Cincinnati.  

While playing basketball at UC, Daniel lived the sport. A typical day consisted of an early morning workout before her first class, a four-hour practice after class and a post-workout before her night class. Her busy schedule forced her to stay on top of homework assignments

All was going as planned, and then, while playing in a game her junior year, the unimaginable happened: she tore her ACL. She had torn the ligament once before, but this new injury put a permanent end to her basketball career. She was disappointed, but soon saw that the experience opened her up to a new world of opportunities. 

“My injuries gave me an avenue to pursue my other interests more, and I’m appreciative of that,” she said.

Daniel chose to write because she had always wanted to pursue a career in journalism. Her goal of becoming a “less dirty” Carrie Bradshaw faded when she realized that she wanted to write about other people, not herself.  It turns out that creating narratives about other people’s stories was what she loved the most about journalism. 

She also enjoyed creative writing, because it offered an alternative to journalism—and she could write anything she wanted.

Daniel credits her A&S professors and administrators for much of her career success to date, in particular Journalism Director of Undergraduate Studies Jenny Wohlfarth, who helped her land her job in Vice Mayor David Mann’s office.

“I wanted to get out of this circle of campus life,” said Daniel. “This was the perfect opportunity. How better to learn about a city from than from the inside?”

At City Hall, she spends a lot of time responding to and drafting emails, answering  phone calls, setting up community council meeting visits, and managing Mann’s calendar. She even updates his Facebook page. Through it all, she has found that the skills she learned at UC are definitely transferable to the real world. 

“I think journalism can have different faces,” she said.

Daniel is also proud of her work to create and curate art shows in the Vice Mayor’s office suite which connects him to the local art scene.

“Not everyone in the art world gets to meet city staff and the vice mayor, so it’s a cool opportunity,” she said. 

Daniel’s appreciation for art inspired her to work on an even bigger project. Through her volunteer work with poet collective Chase Public, she became a major contributor to the city-wide initiative known as “Ink Your Love.” 

The project began with street poetry written about the city by local poets. Daniel’s work takes up ten percent of the finished product and is featured on murals and even tattoos. Well-known Cincinnati booster Ryan Messer, the president of the Over the Rhine Community Council, has one of Daniel’s mama stanzas tattooed on his ribs. 

“It’s a cool connector for people,” says Daniel. 

When Daniel isn’t busy writing poems or curating artwork, she’s playing with a new team on a new kind of court, one approved by her doctors. The avid cyclist is a major proponent of bike polo and  now helping plan and promote the second bike polo court in Cincinnati.