Interview with award-winning journalist and artist Natalia Dagenhart

Interview with award-winning journalist and artist Natalia Dagenhart

Natalia Dagenhart is an award-winning independent writer and artist from Naperville, Illinois. She writes about cultural and social events happening in the Chicago area and in the world. Natalia received the Journalist of the Year 2018 Award from Congressman Danny K. Davis on October 28, 2018. Her brand, "Articles by Natalia Dagenhart," will celebrate its anniversary on November 11, 2018. We have conducted an interview with Natalia.

What makes you different from other writers and why should such organizations as orchestras, PR agencies, cultural centers and educational institutions hire you?

My writing style. Being an independent journalistand writer, I am my own boss and have freedom towrite the way I want. People call the way I writesincere and unique. My slogan is "Combining apersonable style of writing and great care todetails." I write from my heart, yet I am very detailoriented.Each story I treat individually and believethat a writer has to be honest, objective andsincere. I love writing and can't imagine my lifewithout it. Writing comes naturally to me. I do a lotof research and take every story personally. I don'trush when I write, so I devote a great amount oftime and attention to every article and find thingsthat will help me to introduce the subject and/orperson in the best possible way. I mostlyconcentrate on writing about classical musicevents.

As a former musician, I understand classical music and know how to describe different nuances of it in a professional, yet simple way that can be understood by various audiences, not only by music professionals. I write for people. I have written stories about events organized by Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chicago a cappella, New Philharmonic Orchestra, Ss. Peter and Paul Catholic Church of Naperville, Chicago Sinfonietta, Young Naperville Singers, DuPage Symphony Orchestra, West Suburban Symphony, The 5 Browns, Judson University, Moscow Festival Ballet, and Russian National Ballet Theatre. I am also proud to contribute my articles to Lyric Opera of Chicago and write about numerous opera singers including Lawrence Brownlee and Albina Shagimuratova. I also can write about any topic or subject, such as, for example, bombings at the Boston Marathon, terrorist attacks or a sick child whose mother doesn't give up and fights for her life. I also wrote a number of articles about famous people such as Queen Noor of Jordan, Nick Vujicic, Cameron Diaz, Sophia Loren, Kate Hudson, and many others. I wrote a few articles about Immortal Regiment, a worldwide action that is dedicated to honoring World War II veterans. Three of us, my friends Anna Troshina, Alena Toropov and I, organized this annual action in Chicago in 2016 and I am happy to write about it.

How did you come to journalism and writing?

I am originally from Russia where I worked as atelevision journalist for a few years. I covered socialand cultural events happening in our city. When 16years ago I came to the USA, I had to go back toschool and study English. I also had to give up onbeing a journalist in this country. At least, that washow I first felt. I tried many different jobs, got 2more degrees (my first degree is in teaching musicin elementary and middle school in Russia), butfinally I came back to journalism. I love every dayof my life now because I do what I like to do. Also,as a former musician, I love writing about classicalmusic events and attending them. I get a lot ofenergy from these concerts! Classical music is verypowerful, I believe it's coming from somewhere inthe Universe. We all should use the great energythat classical music provides us. Plus, it has ahealing power. Why not use it while enjoying themagnificent sounds of music?

Just imagine - someone who lived two, three hundred years ago composed something, the person died, but their music keeps pleasing people, keeps making them happy. Isn't it amazing?

In this country, I started writing 5 years ago when I contributed my first article that was called "A World Premiere Comes to Naperville" to the websites of Chicago Tribune and Patch. I still remember that day. It was an article about the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir that performed at Ss. Peter and Paul Catholic Church here, in Naperville, as part of Concerts at Ss. Peter and Paul. Since then, I have written tons of articles about various cultural events in the Chicago area. I contributed my articles to the website of Chicago Tribune for almost 4 years, and I am still contributing my articles to Patch. Since 2016, I have been contributing my articles to the website of Daily Herald. I also have my own website where I post my articles: https://nataliadagenhart.wixsite.com/website

What does it mean to be an immigrant-journalist? Is it hard? After all, English is your second language, and you received the Journalist of the Year Award!

It is hard to be an immigrant. You have to literallyget reborn. You have to learn the language, thecustoms, the manners, and change your mentality,at least partially. You have to fit in. Otherwise, youalways will be a stranger. As a former journalist, Iunderstood that language is everything. That's whyI went back to school, even though I was alreadyin my thirties. I knew I had to learn how tocommunicate. I remember, when I first came tothis country, I didn't know how to drive or how toexpress myself properly, and I didn't understandwhy people reacted this or that way and whatmade them laugh, for example. When I first cameto America, I thought that I knew some Englishbecause I studied it at school in Russia. However,we studied British English, which is different, plusit was many years ago. I remember not being ableto order a sandwich at Subway and running awayin tears in 2002, during my first year in thiscountry.

However, it just motivated me to study more. I am very persistent and goal-oriented, and if I decide to achieve something, I do. I was an A student at college here, in America, and was always very determined and always worked hard. I still do. Every day I learn new words and expressions. It is a never-ending process. I believe that as a result of my hard work and perseverance I got the Journalist of the Year 2018 Award from His Honor Congressman Danny K. Davis. I will cherish this award forever.

It means a lot to me. When I look at it, I remember my long, sleepless nights writing, writing and writing. Being a full-time mom and a housewife, I have to find time for everything, and I do. In some ways, writing is a way for me to express myself. I always work with my heart and wouldn't write about things that don't touch my soul. I have to get the story that I write about literally through myself, and then I produce the best result.

So, you said that you contribute your articles. Does it mean that you are getting paid by newspapers?

No. I am not their staff member, so usually I don'tget paid by the newspapers. On a few occasions, Ihave written articles as a freelance writer and havebeen paid by a newspaper. Sometimes I also getpaid by creative individuals who want me to writeabout them. Oftentimes big, world-renownedcompanies invite me to their events and want meto write for them. They do that because they likethe way I present their events in my writings. Ithelps me to promote my name and my brand anddemonstrate my skills and unique writing style. Ithink outside of the box. The way I write catchesattention, and I know how to do that. Each articleis a puzzle for me; I just have to put all the partstogether in the right way.

I love to use quotes in my articles because I believe that nothing can beat the wisdom of great people. I love studying the circumstances in which composers wrote their music, for example, because I want to feel what they felt and want to know what they went through when they composed this or that piece. At the moment, I enjoy being my own boss, having my own schedule and writing without any instructions from anyone. However, if someday there would be an organization that would love the way I write and would let me work for them while still preserving my individual style of writing and give me freedom to do that, I would gladly accept their offer. Meanwhile, I enjoy writing and am looking for more ways to make my work more profitable. I keep my eyes and ears open to any new opportunities and possibilities.

What else do you do? We found out you are also an award-winning artist and a songwriter. Also, is it true that you participated in the Mrs. Illinois pageant a few years ago?

Yes, I am a self-taught artist. I started painting inDecember 2012. I paint with acrylics. I started withabstract, and that is what I did for the first coupleof years. However,

I am very interested in painting faces. I love to observe people, their emotions, character and personality.

It attracts me as an artist. Every little move, muscle of the face, wrinkle - you name it! – tells the whole life story of the person, and I love showing it with paints. I forget to eat when I paint. Thank God, I always have a bottle of water next to me and at least drink. I turn on classical music when I paint; it gives me energy. I choose music depending on what I am painting; each piece carries different energy - sometimes it is sad, sometimes victorious, sometimes thoughtful.

Painting is just another way to express my feelings and emotions. Since 2013, I am a member of the Naperville Art League where I recently received three awards: Best of Show for the “Portrait of Unknown Woman” in February 2017, Merit Award for the “Portrait of Liza Minnelli” in February 2018

(both are part of the annual Fabulous Fakes art show), and Merit Award for painting "Euterpe" in October 2018. Euterpe was one of the nine Muses, the goddesses of music, song and dance. She is presiding over lyric poetry and music. I painted her because I feel deeply connected to her. She gives me positive energy, and she helped me to get that award!

I also wrote a lot of music and songs in Russian when I still lived in Russia. I published a book of my poetry in Russian in 2016 and a shorter version of it in 2017. I also translated a book "Three Simple Rules" by Rueben P. Job from English into Russian in 2014. One of my songs called "Snyeg Letit" (Snow is falling) was performed here, in Naperville, in December 2014 by Young Naperville Singers as part of their annual Christmas concert. It was one of the best days in my life!

Hundreds of people in the audience heard it, plus the concert was recorded and distributed in the form of CD and DVD. The year of 2014 was in general very interesting and productive for me. In April I participated in the Mrs. Illinois/America Pageant. It was fun! I didn't win anything, but the fact that I was brave enough to come on stage in my middle forties and represent Naperville - being a Russian-American - it is by itself worth a lot! And, of course, I wrote an article about myself and my experience and posted it on the websites of Chicago Tribune and Patch.

Now I am working on promoting my song "Bird" that I wrote about 20 years ago in Russia. It was originally written in Russian, but recently I translated it into English. I raise money now for the professional arrangement of this song and would love to share it with everyone! It is a powerful song about reviving after going through difficult times. You can listen to it on YouTube. Also, recently I finished translating from Russian into English a song called "Live" (Zhit) which is part of a big social project in Russia that was started by Russian composer Igor Matvienko.

I made an a cappella arrangement of this song and soon will start looking for vocal ensembles that would agree to perform it in front of American audiences. This song carries very wise and kind thoughts about the value of life and its meaning. I believe it will help our nations understand each other better. We have good people everywhere; let’s build bridges between all the people using the means of music. I will always try to make this world more beautiful; whether through my writings, my poetry, my music or my art. However, first of all I am a writer. It is my destiny. I will keep writing as long as I can and will always do it from my heart.