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Yellow Studio Residents

Winter 2024 Residents

Author-In-Residence

Jessica is an award-winning journalist and media professional with extensive experience in the business, lifestyle, and corporate/PR sectors. She’s held contributor roles at CNBC and Gannett, and has overseen communications for Fortune 500 companies.

In addition to her media career, Jessica is the author of three middle-grade books published by McGraw Hill. She has performed at Writer’s Read, a live essay reading series, and her work appears in two 650 Anthologies -- At the Bar and Back to High School. Jessica honed her creative writing skills at the Sarah Lawrence Writing Institute and is seeking representation for her first novel Tuesday Night Special.

Jessica currently serves as the Vice President of the White Plains Library Foundation Board. She hosts and produces “Books & Brew,” a new author series benefiting the foundation, and the live storytelling show, StoryBOOM.

"During my Yellow Residency, my focus will be finishing a draft of my second novel. I’ve written about 25K words and plan to write a minimum of 25K words while in residence. My goal is to have a completed draft of the project by the end of the year." - Jessica Rao

Jessica Rao

Jessica Rao

Author-In-Residence

"I finished my MFA in fiction writing at Columbia University less than a year ago. A third of my second novel served as my graduating thesis. After discussing the pages with my advisor and after a few months away from my craft due to the loss of both my elderly parents, I feel now it's time to go back to work, concentrate, and finish my book.

My second novel is an immigrant story. So far, I have 25,000 words written and edited, corresponding to the first part of this book. What I want to accomplish with the Yellow Studio residency is to complete the second part of the novel or at least 30,000 words. This is a narrative about women, and it would be a plus if I could be in a place that encourages female artists to pursue their dreams." - Ines Rodrigues

Ines Rodrigues

Ines Rodrigues