Rhonda M. Lawson is the author of Cheatin’ in the Next
Room, published by JADA Press Publishing. She is also an Army
journalist, garnering various journalism awards, including the
1997 Training and Doctrine Command Journalist of the Year. She
has recently returned from the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt with the
Multinational Force and Observers, where she edited a bi-monthly
magazine for the Force.
Rhonda’s journalism career began at Loyola University in New Orleans,
where she served a short stint on the campus newspaper. In 1994,
when she left college and joined the Army, she continued her journalism
career. Her first duty station was Fort Knox, Ky., where she edited
all sections of Inside the Turret, the post newspaper. During
this tour, she earned third place awards for both commentary and
feature writing. In 1997, she moved to Fort Story, Va., where
she served as Fort Story Bureau Chief for the Fort Eustis Wheel
newspaper. During this time, she was awarded Journalist of the
Year and Noncommissioned Officer of the Quarter. She also began
to pursue her first love, fiction and started working on her first
full-length novel, Cheatin’ in the Next Room.
Rhonda’s career as a Soldier-journalist has taken her to various
parts of the world, including Japan, Hawaii, Korea, Afghanistan
and Egypt. Her work has appeared in various Army and civilian
publications all over the country, including Soldiers Magazine,
The Seattle Times, and The Army Times. She is now a sergeant first
class and will soon begin a new venture as an Advanced Individual
Training instructor at Fort Meade, Md., where she will teach journalism
to new Soldiers.
Rhonda is an active member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. She
was born the daughter of two Air Force NCOs, but grew up in New
Orleans, La. She graduated from John F. Kennedy High School and
began college at Loyola University. She is a recent graduate of
the University of Maryland. She has just completed her second
novel A Dead Rose and is a contributing author to the Anthology
Second Chances.
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