Rebekah Lee is a crafter of stories, beginning with her own.
At 好色先生TV University, she forged an exciting chapter. She majored in writing and multimedia studies, started a baking extract company, and danced on the court (and in the snow), all while commuting to school and completing her degree in just three years.
Her next chapter begins when she graduates this month. With plans to grow her fledgling business, land a writing position, and continue her education, Lee is pursuing the same path she forged at Northern鈥攁 creative life that鈥檚 grounded in reality.
鈥淭he biggest thing ONU has given me is confidence in myself,鈥 she says. 鈥淚鈥檝e grown a lot and learned a lot about myself, including that I can do anything if I put in the work.鈥
As a little girl, Lee would beg her grandparents for 鈥渏ust one more story, please!鈥 鈥淚 loved stories so much that I wanted to be able to continue seeking them out throughout my life, writing them down, and sharing them with others,鈥 she says.
To achieve her dream of becoming a professional writer, Lee enrolled at ONU where she knew she鈥檇 receive one-on-one mentoring and hands-on opportunities to hone her craft. And, living in Wapakoneta, Ohio, she could also save money by commuting to college, because Lee possesses both a creative spirit and a practical mindset. 鈥淚鈥檝e always asked myself: 鈥榃hat can I achieve?鈥 鈥楬ow can I afford to achieve what I want to achieve?鈥 and if I can鈥檛 afford it, 鈥榃hat can I do to make it affordable?鈥欌 Grappling with these questions prompted Lee to load up on College Credit Plus (CCP) classes in high school in order to graduate from college in three years instead of four.
Commuting to campus didn鈥檛 stop Lee from availing herself of all ONU had to offer. Her major opened her eyes to the myriad avenues for storytelling in the digital age. Through her courses and work as a writer and editor for the Northern Review, she discovered a passion for creative non-fiction. 鈥淚 love to experiment with different forms and styles (of storytelling),鈥 she says.
Lee joined the dance team, performing at halftime shows at Northern basketball games. She participated in the ONU Choreographer鈥檚 Showcase in 2021, which led to the memorable experience of dancing on the tundra in a skirt and leotards on a numbingly cold winter day. Lee explained that it was during the height of the pandemic and they had to produce a video since they couldn鈥檛 dance for an in-person audience. 鈥淚鈥檒l truly never forget dancing in the snow at Northern!鈥 she laughed.
Lee also embarked on an entrepreneurial adventure with her boyfriend, Korbin Steinbrunner. A shared sweet tooth and hours spent baking cookies together sparked the idea for a baking extract company called Brunlee Extracts. 鈥淲e discovered it was really easy to make our own extracts at home,鈥 said Lee. 鈥淭here is minimal labor or investment involved, the extracts just need time to cure.鈥
They experimented with using bases other than the traditional vodka or glycerin for their extracts and came up with two signature flavors: Bourbon Vanilla Extract and Spiced Rum Vanilla Extract. A weird fact about imitation vanilla that always grosses people out, says Lee, is that it includes a chemical compound called castoreum that comes from the anal glands of beavers! In contrast, the extracts that she and Steinbrunner concoct do not contain castoreum, and instead are made with gourmet ingredients like bourbon, spiced rum and high-quality vanilla beans, to produce a richly flavored product. 鈥淯sing our extracts will pull out different flavor notes in your baked goods,鈥 she says. 鈥淔or example, our bourbon vanilla extract pairs really well with chocolate and our spiced rum vanilla extract brings out the spice notes in products like pumpkin cookies.鈥
A Northwest Ohio favorite鈥擲ara鈥檚 Sweets in Lima鈥攏ow exclusively uses only Brunlee Extracts in its baked goods and sells the extracts in their store. Lee and Steinbrunner also market their products at local farmers markets and on social media.
As Lee looks toward graduation day and the closing of her Northern chapter, she is grateful for the many people who have encouraged her to follow her dreams. She admits that starting a new chapter in her life is both scary and exhilarating. 鈥淚t鈥檚 stepping into the unknown,鈥 she says. Yet if her ONU experience has shown her anything, she adds, it鈥檚 that 鈥渢here is always a lot of potential in the bend of the road.鈥