Our Highlanders are using their education to do extraordinary things. In this column, we highlight some notable mentions from local, regional, national and international news media. Whether our students, alumni, faculty and staff are featured as subject matter experts in high-profile stories or simply helping make the world a better place, we’ll feature their stories.
Who’s the ‘Mack’?
Richmond-based hip-hop artist Mad Skillz scored a big win at this year’s Grammy Awards – his record “Words for Days, Vol. 1” took home the statue for “Best Spoken Word Poetry Album.”
Skillz, also known as Shaqwan Lewis, recruited an array of fellow local musicians to perform on “Words for Days,” including Radford alum Matthew Bagley ’15, who performs and records as Alexander Mack.
Bagley contributed keyboards and production to “Words for Days” and recently told WRIC that the album’s recording process was largely one big jam session.
“None of that music was planned when we went in,” he told the station, and called the Grammy win “a historical time for Virginia.”
Bagley lives and works in Richmond and said he and his collaborator first became acquainted after Mad Skillz simply followed him on Instagram.
“You never know who’s watching you, so always keep working,” Bagley said. “Life can change quickly. Being consistent and never giving up really matters.”
The wind in her sails
As an undergraduate, Erica Custis ’99 majored in art and psychology and was planning on becoming a therapist.
Something unexpected happened along the way, however: The sea came calling.
As Custis tells it, it happened somewhat naturally. After graduation, she set sail helping her uncle deliver boats along the East Coast, then found herself in the Virgin Islands, working as a hand on the decks of charter vessels.
Soon after, she got her marine transportation degree from Texas A&M Maritime Academy, went on to work in Alaska and along the Great Lakes, then put in 16 years as a ship-assist tug captain in Norfolk, Virginia.
Today, Custis is general manager of Moran Towing, out of Wilmington, North Carolina, a company whose seafaring roots date back to the mid-19th century, and she was recently named among Marine Log magazine’s Top 20 Women in Maritime.
She’s also the subject of an extensive profile in WILMA Magazine, which focuses tightly on the inlets and outlets of her experiences on the open water. The story also boils down her career approach into a basic and admirable ethos.
“I was diligent, clear about my path and showed up with a good attitude,” Custis explained of her versatility and longevity.
A writer’s recollection
On Feb. 4, The Washington Post initiated a 30% reduction of its staff – according to the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild, about 375 journalists were let go, amounting to roughly half its newsroom; also shelved were the publication’s sports section and book reviews, among other departments.
The following day on X, ESPN journalist Marty Smith ’98 recalled his own personal experience with the Post’s sports department, back when he was an up-and-coming writer just looking to make a big break.
That boost came during his senior year, and Smith talks about it below – it’s a warmhearted short story and a reflection on the impact of the changes; it also includes a snapshot of Smith's nearly 30 year old copy of the Aug. 29, 1997 Post piece that sped him on his way.
Here’s what Smith wrote:
As someone who benefited immensely from the Washington Post sports department, I hate to see the news that it's being shuttered.
In 1997, the Post took a chance on me, a hayseed college senior at Radford University, to cover an important beat – Virginia Tech football. The Hokies were on the rise nationally, and when a previous student stringer at Tech suggested me to her editor, Steve Berkowitz, I somehow got the nod. I made countless mistakes. I wasn't ready. But the tough coaching I received from Berkowitz taught me more in a few months than any class ever did. About real life and real responsibility.
I am grateful for an opportunity that became a notable catalyst towards a dream career.
At the time, my mom was sick with breast cancer. Seeing my name in that newspaper gave her some joy when joy was hard to come by. She kept everything. I found this recently in a scrapbook she kept in the basement of my childhood home. It wasn't very good, but I was proud that momma was proud that our name was on top of it.