After 23 years of thriving in the magazine world, Jeanie Ralston has begun a second journey. Far from the hustle and bustle of Manhattan and Austin, Ralston’s new life is in rural Texas.

Once she made the drastic move, Ralston took over the lavender farm that her husband had established and developed it into a successful business. She then decided to write about it.

Ralston will be speaking at 1:15 p.m. today in the Joyce Hergenhan Auditorium in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

In her first book, ‘The Unlikely Lavender Queen: A Memoir of Unexpected Blossoming,’ Ralston explains how the lavender business has transformed her, her community and her area’s agricultural industry.

She will also be promoting her Seed Campaign, in which she is giving a percentage of each sold book to different organizations each month, this month being the John Dau Sudan Foundation. Her goal is to raise $60,000 this coming year, according to her Web site.

But beyond the typical book talk, Ralston is anticipated to speak of her impressive career in journalism, both as an editor and a freelancer.

‘It’s going to be really interesting,’ said Sarah DiGiulio, junior magazine journalism and political science major and a staff writer for The Daily Orange.

‘I don’t know much about her book, but since she’s coming to the school of journalism, and students here are interested in the industry, I hope she’ll talk about that too.’

Ralston’s work has been published in Life, Time, National Geographic and The New York Times, according to her online biography. She was also a contributing editor for Allure for eight years, Ladies Home Journal for three, and Parenting magazine for eight, where she currently works.

‘She’s had a ton of magazine experience,’ DiGiulio said. ‘It’s really cool for her to be able to talk about it.’

tpollock@syr.edu

Published on October 23, 2008 at 12:00 pm