Welcome to the Team: Mallorey English

This month, we are excited and honored to welcome a new member to the Adoption Choices of Nevada team: Mallorey English! She will be working as a Surrogacy Editorial Intern for our Reno location over the next six months.

Mallorey English is an aspiring proofreader and editor. She’s completed a couple of online courses through Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA) and has used her education to help edit both her mother’s inspirational book, Monday Motivation: 52 Weeks of Inspiration to Keep Moving, and running blog Life Up and Running. She hopes to one day become a full-time freelance editor. As a Surrogacy Intern with Adoption Choices of Nevada – Reno, Mallorey looks forward to learning more about how surrogacy affects intended parents and gestational carriers.

Before she begins her regular blogs, I wanted to give her a chance to introduce herself and for you all to get to know her.

RR: When you hear the word, “surrogacy,” what comes to mind?

ME: Both sides of the relationship between the surrogate and the party who is looking to expand their family. We often hear about the couple who chooses to have their child via surrogacy, but rarely do we hear about the surrogate’s experience.

RR: What/Who inspires you?

ME: In the past few years, my father was diagnosed with a chronic illness. It is steady and, while there are some plateaus here and there, the illness is constant. My mother has become his full-time caregiver. There are days where she just needs to take a break from everything and let herself feel, and there are days where she can fly through the day like a total boss. She’s always been inspiring to me, but the last few years, when things have been fairly dreary, she’s always reminded me to keep the silver lining in mind. To have that sort of mentality when the world is rough is amazing.

Alex, my husband, is another constant source of inspiration. He’s sweet, hilarious and can take command of a room with a simple clearing of the throat. For a shy, introverted person like me, it’s awe-inspiring to see how effortlessly he draws people in.

RR: What was the last book you read?

ME: Neil Gaiman’s “Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders.”

RR: What is the craziest thing you’ve ever done?

ME: Oh, gosh. Long story short, I walked from our local skating rink to my walking companion’s house. The route was through a very dodgy neighborhood, at night, and we were twelve.

RR: What are you passionate about?

ME: There are plenty of things that I care very deeply about. Animals, language, literature, etc. But the thing that immediately comes to mind is music. It has always been an odd grounding place for me, as well as an escape. No matter what emotion I’m feeling, there’s music to back my feelings up. It’s constant stability in a world where very little is stable. It’s, in a word, magic.

RR: What are you currently watching on Netflix?

ME: I almost always have Schitt’s Creek or Gilmore Girls on in the background while I’m working or cleaning. Currently, though, my husband and I are watching Star Trek: The Next Generation. I was never an avid fan of anything Star Trek growing up, and only had a passing knowledge of who Kirk and Spock were. When the trailer for the new series Picard was released, my husband was ecstatic. He decided that I needed to be introduced to the series. At first, I wasn’t that into the show. A few weeks and one season later, though, I can safely say that I’m pretty hooked. I’m no Trekkie by any means, but I can definitely appreciate a good show when I see it.

RR: What did you want to be when you grew up?

ME: As a young kid, I wanted to be a veterinarian. I have always been an avid animal lover, and my dad told me that a veterinarian is one of the best ways to help when they’re sick. But, when my dad explained that I would have to sometimes put the animals down (I was too young to understand that sometimes that’s the necessary thing to do), I changed my mind. In high school, I wanted to be a Musical Therapist. Helping people with their issues with the raw power of music just seemed like the perfect job for me. Then, one day, while I was reading a book, I noticed a typo, and it just stuck with me. How could they have missed that? So, from that moment on, I decided that assisting people in telling their stories, with my natural tendency to be a grammar geek, was probably the best course for me.

RR: What do you enjoy doing when you’re not working?

ME: I like creating things of any kind. I’ve been crocheting since 7th grade, and I picked up cross-stitching about a month ago. When I’m not crafting, I enjoy baking. There’s something about making delicious bakes from scratch that puts me in a happy place.

RR: What are your career aspirations?

ME: Ultimately, I want to be able to proofread and edit, professionally, on a freelance basis. That’s the dream.

RR: Why Adoption Choices?

ME: Well, if you’ll indulge me for a moment, it’s a bit of a funny story. I’ve been applying to different freelance editing jobs. Simultaneously, my husband and I have been trying to conceive for about a year now. We’ve been tossing around the idea of adoption the last few months. When I saw that there was a job that combined two major aspects of my life, I knew that I had to take a chance.