About Rhi Bowman

Trading words for dollars was one of Rhiannon “Rhi” Bowman’s childhood dreams. That dream finally became a reality in early 2008 when Rhi started The Word Trade as a project for an independent study class at UNC Charlotte.

The Word Trade’s current clients include publications like Charlotte magazine, Creative Loafing, Crossroads Charlotte, Qcitymetro.com, UNC Charlotte’s alumni magazine and the Carolina Weekly Newspapers.

Rhi is also working on a memoir about what it’s really like to be fat in America.

In the past, she was published in Skirt! Magazine and University City Magazine (in Jan. ’09, March ’09 and May ’09). Rhi has also ghost written articles for publications like UNITS Magazine. And, while finishing her degree, she regularly contributed to The University Times.

While Rhi shares her opinions with Creative Loafing‘s readers via the CLog blog, most of her work is journalistic and ranges from covering a town hall-style meeting about affordable housing to a many-month series investigating water quality issues near two unlined, high-hazard coal ash ponds.

All of that research led to a profile of David Merryman, the Catawba Riverkeeper, for Charlotte magazine in February 2010. Rhi continues to research and report on coal ash for the local media and has twice been asked to share her knowledge with a live audience, as she did in June 2010 at Type/Face: A Live Magazine.

Rhi also covered the locally famous, month-long Jinwright tax evasion trial for Qcitymetro.com. Several of those articles were picked up by The Charlotte Observer and Rhi was interviewed by WFAE, an NPR affiliate, about the case. (Listen to her report, from the parking lot of the federal court, house here.)

In addition to writing for local media, Rhi enjoys mentoring fellow freelancers who are looking to break into the business.

Personally, Rhi is married (with cats), an outspoken environmentalist, a lover of libraries and a newbie organic gardener.

Stay in touch with Rhi via social media:

Follow her on Twitter as @RhiBowman, @TheWordTrade and @AngryFatWoman.

Become friends on Facebook and keep up with her latests clips on The Word Trade’s page.

You can also link with Rhi:  

If you’re still hungry for more information about who Rhi is, you can read the story Alexa Massau, a student journalist, wrote about her for The University Times days before she finally graduated from college.

Memberships:

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists, the Society of Environmental Journalists and the Charlotte Writer’s Club. Also a member of the steering committee for the SPJ’s Charlotte chapter, which is in the works. If you’re interested in more information on becoming a member, e-mail Rhi here.