Featured Interview With Jamilette Cintron

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I’m Jamilette Cintron—an award-winning author, nurse, and mother of five. My writing is deeply rooted in mythology, gothic horror, and emotional truth. I’ve always been fascinated by the stories that live between the lines—the ones whispered through generations, hidden in shadow, and pulsing with ancient magic.

As a storyteller, I breathe life into forgotten goddesses, haunted legacies, and the sacred power of feminine rage and redemption. My work, particularly The Dark Mother Collector’s Edition—is about reclaiming space for women in myth, challenging the idea of fate, and exploring the beauty that can bloom even in darkness.
Outside of writing, I’m a nurse, which has given me a deep reverence for life, death, and everything in between. My greatest inspiration comes from my children—who remind me that legacy is not just about what we leave behind, but what we choose to rise from.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I’ve been journaling for as long as I can remember—it was always my way of processing the world, even before I understood what storytelling truly was. But my deep fascination with books began around the age of 12. One night, I couldn’t sleep and decided to sneak downstairs. I turned on the TV while everyone was sleeping, and that’s when I saw Stephen King’s Carrie for the first time. I was instantly captivated—by the darkness, the emotion, and the way the story wasn’t afraid to be raw and honest.

Not long after, a classmate told me the book was even better. That one comment changed everything. I started going to the library, and from the moment I stepped in, it felt like I had discovered a portal. It became one of my safest places. The quiet, the scent of old pages, and the stillness—it all made it feel like the only sound that existed was the voice of the story in my hands.

That love for books, especially ones that dared to explore the darker parts of life and emotion, shaped me as a writer. And even now, that curious, wide-eyed twelve-year-old still lives in me, chasing stories in the shadows and scribbling them into light.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Some of my favorite authors to read are the ones who know how to peel back the layers of the human soul; Stephen King being at the top of that list. His ability to tap into fear, grief, and the supernatural in a way that still feels human is something I deeply admire. His son, Joe Hill, has also captured my attention, there’s a unique, almost inherited magic in his storytelling that I find incredibly compelling.
I’ve also always been drawn to the timeless darkness of Edgar Allan Poe. His words feel like whispers from another realm—haunting, lyrical, and laced with deep emotional truth. And William Blake, with his poetic visions and philosophical depth, reminds me that storytelling can also be spiritual, symbolic, and soul-shifting.

As for Some of my favorite authors to read are the ones who know how to peel back the layers of the human soul—Stephen King being at the top of that list. His ability to tap into fear, grief, and the supernatural in a way that still feels human is something I deeply admire. His son, Joe Hill, has also captured my attention—there’s a unique, almost inherited magic in his storytelling that I find incredibly compelling.

I’ve also always been drawn to the timeless darkness of Edgar Allan Poe. His words feel like whispers from another realm—haunting, lyrical, and laced with deep emotional truth. And William Blake, with his poetic visions and philosophical depth, reminds me that storytelling can also be spiritual, symbolic, and soul-shifting.

As for genre—I’m in love with gothic horror, dark fantasy, and myth-based fiction. I gravitate toward stories that blend beauty with darkness, light with shadow. The kind of tales that linger in your bones and make you think long after you’ve closed the book.

When it comes to inspiration, I pull from all of them—but also from the world around me. Music, silence, motherhood, grief, justice, the things left unsaid—they all pour into my writing. I write for the women who carry the weight of generations, for the broken who still rise, and for the forgotten voices who deserve to be remembered.
As for genre .. I am in love with Gothic horror, dark fantasy, and myth-based fiction. I gravitate toward stories that blend beauty with darkness, light with shadow. The kind of tales that linger in your bones and make you think long after you’ve closed the book.

When it comes to inspiration, I pull from all of them, but also from the world around me. Music, silence, motherhood, grief, justice, the things left unsaid, all pour into my writing. I write for the women who carry the weight of generations, for the broken who still rise, and for the forgotten voices who deserve to be remembered.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book, The Dark Mother Collector’s Edition, is a powerful blend of mythology, Gothic horror, and feminine rage. It’s a collection of interconnected stories, each story explores what happens when divine justice meets human cruelty, and how women reclaim their power, even after death.

The book is deeply emotional, mythic in scale, and rooted in the idea that the feminine is both sacred and fearsome. You’ll meet gods, monsters, elemental beings, and even Death himself. Some stories feel like ancient legends; others echo modern struggles. All of them are tied together by a divine thread of consequence, sacrifice, and legacy.

This collector’s edition dives deep into the origin stories of the Fates, their children, and the cosmic forces that shaped them. It’s my love letter to readers who crave layered storytelling, complex female characters, and the kind of haunting beauty that lingers long after the last page.

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Featured Interview With Chadd SJ Ciccarelli

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Chadd Ciccarelli is a former touring musician, global executive, and lifelong storyteller. Raised in Pittsburgh, he graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with University Honors as a Philosophy major and was inducted into both Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society.

Over the course of 12+ years at Amazon, Chadd built and led international teams across London, Seattle, Los Angeles, and Sydney, helping launch several of the company’s most impactful global programs. He was also part of Zillow during its IPO journey and contributed to the expansion of Sumerian Records into broader areas of entertainment.

A passionate traveler who has explored more than 60 countries, Chadd now resides in Balmain, Australia. He is the founder of the Chadd SJ Ciccarelli Student Award at CMU’s Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences and the author of It’s All Trash ‘Til It’s Cash: Applying Amazon’s Blueprint for Builders.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
Books have been part of my life for as long as I can remember. As a kid, I was hooked on Dr. Seuss—I must’ve read Green Eggs and Ham a million times. I was drawn to the rhythm, the wild imagination, and how playful language could carry big ideas.

As I got older, I found Camus and Dostoevsky—writers who didn’t just tell stories but wrestled with the human condition. Their work cracked something open for me. It wasn’t just about reading for fun anymore. I was reading to understand how the world worked, and more importantly, why we think the way we do.

When I arrived at Carnegie Mellon, I didn’t have a clear path in mind. But I knew one thing: if I could learn how to solve hard problems, I’d be ready for anything. That led me to a Philosophy degree, where I immersed myself in the Philosophy of Science. CMU had some of the best thinkers in the world in that space—Clark Glymour, Preston King Covey, and Wesley Salmon. Their ideas challenged everything I thought I knew about logic, truth, and systems.

That mindset followed me into my career. One of the first things I did when I joined Amazon was ask senior leadership what books had shaped them. I’d go out and read every title they mentioned—books like Tim Ferriss’s Tools of Titans, which gave me a toolkit for productivity, mindset, and high-performance habits. For me, reading has never been passive. It’s how I’ve leveled up at every stage of my life.

Writing came later, but naturally. I started putting thoughts on paper as a way to make sense of what I’d learned and experienced—both in business and in life. Over time, it evolved into a craft. Now, I write to share the lessons, the scars, and the frameworks that helped me build a life and career on my own terms.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I’m really drawn to non-fiction and biographies—books that pull back the curtain on someone’s real story, flaws and all. Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey is one of my all-time favorites. It’s poetic, raw, and unexpectedly profound. I also loved Too Fat to Fish by Artie Lange—before everything went sideways for him, that book was brutally honest and hilarious. Private Parts by Howard Stern is another classic—it captured a voice that felt completely unfiltered and unapologetic.

At the same time, I find myself revisiting timeless handbooks like Meditations by Marcus Aurelius or The Art of War. There’s something grounding about those texts—they’ve survived for a reason.

When I started writing my first book, It’s All Trash ’Til It’s Cash, I didn’t want to just tell my story—I wanted to create something useful. A book you could reference, mark up, come back to when you’re stuck. It’s a blend of personal journey and practical tools, inspired by the books that helped shape my own thinking.

In terms of inspiration, I’m drawn to voices that are honest, curious, and a little rebellious—people who aren’t afraid to say the quiet part out loud and still leave you with something you can use.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
It’s All Trash ’Til It’s Cash is based on my 12-year journey at Amazon, where I worked across four countries—London, Seattle, Los Angeles, and Sydney. The book is part memoir, part playbook. It captures the lessons I learned while being constantly thrown into situations I wasn’t technically qualified for—but had to figure out anyway.

Amazon has this reputation for being a corporate machine, but one of the most misunderstood things about it is that it still operates like a giant startup—just one backed by a publicly traded company. That mindset shaped everything I learned and ultimately what I put into this book.

I wrote it to be both a story and a blueprint. It covers the things no one really trains you for—how to interview effectively, how to launch a new product or idea, how to build something from scratch using Amazon’s “Working Backwards” method. These are the same tools I used to build global programs and lead teams around the world.

If you’re a founder, builder, or someone trying to create something real in a noisy world, this book was written for you. It’s meant to be something you can go back to again and again—not just read once and shelve.

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