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Published Features & Opinion Pieces

As a writer-for-hire, I strive for invisibility. After all, people hire me to elevate their profile, not mine. That's the gig. 

Working this way does, however, complicate efforts to take credit for my work. The pieces in this section were all published under someone else's byline; click on any item below to see contact information for that person, who has agreed in advance to verify my authorship. 

Inside Indiana Business •

Innovate or Perish: On economic and environmental health, the same rule applies

For decades, policy debates around environmental protection and economic growth in Indiana and across the nation have been characterized by a “zero sum” philosophy; most of us have been trained to think that supporting one is tantamount to opposing the other. But a growing body of evidence proves the truth is just the opposite: the health of Indiana’s environment has never been more closely intertwined with the health of the state’s economy.
Inside Indiana Business •

Property taxes and the new 'pop' economics

Watching a clown make balloon animals at a birthday party is a surprisingly intuitive lesson on the principles of Boyle’s law, which says that the pressure and volume of a gas – like air in a balloon – are inversely proportional. Squeeze one part of a balloon and the increased pressure will cause other parts to expand. Apply the right amount of pressure at precisely the right points and you end up with a cute balloon weenie dog. Apply too much pressure on any one point and you risk popping the whole thing.
Indianapolis Recorder •

Just (keep) telling it - Indianapolis Recorder

The headlines rang out in every direction earlier this week: Eric Holcomb’s 2024 legislative agenda — his last as governor of Indiana — is aimed squarely at easing our state’s workforce development challenges.

Anyone who’s tried to fill team vacancies in the past few years likely applauded this news. According to data from a 2022 survey by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, talent is the top concern for our state’s...
Minority Business Review •

The path forward for women in the workforce

As the school year winds down and save-the-dates for graduation celebrations start arriving, newly minted graduates across the country are busy looking for that first “real” job. For many, that job introduces them to the professional world and provides opportunities to use their newfound expertise. First jobs also often serve as springboards to bigger and better jobs at bigger and better companies. But virtually no one talks about landing...
Indianapolis Recorder •

Indianapolis community must come together against gun violence

Of all the challenges Indianapolis has faced since I first was elected to the council a decade ago, none pains my heart more deeply or has visited more despair on our community than the reality of the lives, loves and human potential our city has lost to gun violence.

Not once, but twice so far in 2021, entire households have been slaughtered by a member of their own family. And the eight people, guilty of nothing more than going to work, killed by a troubled young man that our society deemed...
Indianapolis Recorder •

Vop Osili: ‘The road to real change’

In February 2020, the Indianapolis City-County Council unanimously adopted a special resolution directing city and county departments and other agencies to use “all available tools to assist in the elimination of racial and social disparities in Indianapolis and to promote equity within the City-County workplace and in delivery of City-County services.” The resolution was signed by Mayor Joe Hogsett, Prosecutor Ryan Mears, Sheriff Kerry Forestal, County Auditor Julie Voorhies, Assessor Joseph O’...
Indianapolis Star •

Op-ed: COVID-19 is widening racial gaps in food access. Here's what Indy's doing about it.

Black residents of Marion County are likelier than people from any other racial or ethnic group in the area to live in a food desert, a low-income area with low access to healthy food.

That's according to data from an online community information system at IUPUI called the SAVI program, which a year ago reported that this problem affected one-third of Marion County's Black residents, compared to 21% of Latinx residents and 18% of whites.

And while the COVID-19 pandemic has had a catastrophic i...
Indianapolis Business Journal •

Osili: Riots must shake us out of the status quo

We’re known for Hoosier hospitality—not Hoosier hostility. And we live in a city, a truly nice city, in many ways untainted by the outward signs of despair and disparity seen in other locations across the country.

Riots happen other places: Los Angeles, New York, Baltimore. But Indianapolis? I can’t think of a time that we have tarnished whole swaths of our own city, set fire to it, broken doors and windows, vandalized and looted.
Indianapolis Recorder •

Time to have those awkward conversations

To the Editor:  We have a wonderful attribute in our part of the country. It is often called “Midwest Nice.” We are known as gracious hosts. Friendly. Polite. Kind. But this attribute can have an unfortunate downside; namely, a tendency to shy away from discussing issues deemed uncomfortable, awkward or distressing. Inequities surrounding race, place and identity are among such issues. Too often we tend to avoid difficult conversations as a way of avoiding conflict. I believe, though, that truly...
IndyStar •

Op-ed: Violent spring should drive community to action

Only a few short weeks ago, tragedy struck our city, and it struck hard. Seven people were killed in Indianapolis, making it the city’s most deadly weekend in the past five years.

Cities across the country are dealing with the same challenge, searching for answers to violence that often seem unattainable. Indianapolis is all-too familiar with the hardships death and tragedy bring, but our city is a resilient one.

A resilient city tackles issues head on, standing up to wrongdoing rather than tu...