By Joseph Chapman
Freshman David Hughley III has forged his own creative path since arriving at Youngstown State University this fall. He was valedictorian at Warrensville Heights High School and joined the Honors College at YSU. David is studying accounting with a minor in entrepreneurship at the Williamson College of Business Administration. Recently, he published his first book, “Hunter Black.” Released Jan. 17, it is available as both a paperback and as an e-book via Amazon. He said he prefers people buy the e-book to save paper. I was able to sit down with David and discuss life at YSU and his recent work as a writer.
What led you to choose accounting as your major?
Kind of just a good start. It’s the language of business. I could learn about assets, liabilities, fact checking in business, bookkeeping and also working as an accounting intern for the YSU Foundation. So it’s given me an internship experience to become ready. And later with my entrepreneurship … I wouldn’t even need an accountant because I’d be an accountant.
Was your decision to make entrepreneurship your minor inspired by you beginning to write and publish independently?
I’ll watch anime, I like to do creative things. Sometimes you get into fanfiction. And you’re like, “That’s pretty interesting, [the] story is interesting.” Alternatively, you start to write your own. It becomes a way for you to grow outside of class and not just to be a student or not just be a worker, but to be your own person. So that’s what came out of me with the “Hunter Black” book.
Are all your works inspired by anime?
It’s a bit of everything. It’s about the entire journey. Just looking at movies and cartoons and shows and getting their cinematic approach and, like, making it into your own. We all have our favorite show or favorite movie. We just want to create our own.
What is “Hunter Black” about?
It’s about how things are going, how a group of friends adjusted to the pandemic. They’re questioning themselves, and they’re growing up in a world that they didn’t expect to be like this. It’s a story about adversity. Finding who you are, essentially. It’s a quick read, 60 pages, and I’m going to write more eventually. But this is a good starting spot to my writing career.
You mentioned your book was LGBTQ inclusive?
When I created this e-book, it was kind of like a learning experience because a woman reached out to me on LinkedIn, she mentioned the Colors+ Youth Program in Cleveland. I thought that was interesting. So I was questioning [how my book was related]. She said, “Your main character is asexual and that’s technically under the queer umbrella.” I was confused because I thought queer meant homosexual. So I asked and we went back and forth and she was teaching me so much about the queer umbrella that the LGBTQIA+ community is … They really enlightened me. They really gave me some good opportunities. So I just want to thank them on my behalf for posting my book and giving me some good feedback and teaching me something that I didn’t know.
What’s your favorite way to volunteer for the Honors College?
I run the Warrensville National Honor Society page. [I’m responsible for] reposting things, reaching out to people, linking things together and managing the emails. I created a cool logo [and] created the link tree.
What are your post-grad plans?
I graduate in 2023 here at YSU … I’m probably going to go to grad school, get the [Master of Accountancy] and have a good 4+1 program. With me taking College Credit Plus courses at Warrensville, I’m a bit ahead of the game. So things are going to be a bit sped up and that’s going to do nothing but benefit me in the long run … I just know that I’m going to be an accountant. I’m going to eventually have my own business. I’m going to go back to school for that political science degree. Just get prepared to be mayor. If that’s the case, political campaigns can get crazy.