Kean professor self-published her second book with sights set on a third

By Craig Epstein | Published by Nov. 8, 2018

Kean University Professor Martha Salama’s journey from student to author is one that entails a lot of hard work, dedication, and time management. At 27 years old, not only is she already the author of two self-published books, one a children’s book titled “I’ll Carry You” and the other a public speaking book titled “The Millennial Guide to Public Speaking,” but she is on her way to earning her Ph.D. as well.

“I waited years to really find that right book that inspired me and can inspire others because books are for the benefit of others,” Salama said. “I didn’t think the children’s book would come first but it did, meanwhile I was still writing The Millennial Guide to Public Speaking.”

When it came to her first writing “I’ll Carry You,” Salama wrote about the relationship between a daughter and her father and how, although the dynamics of the two might have changed over time, the love that they shared was everlasting.

The communications professor feels that her writing not only represents her relationship with her father, but that of her illustrator Stephanie Calixto’s, as well and how many females perceive their bonds with their dads to be.

“I would say it’s more my story and her story and I know it’s the story for many young girls,” Salama said. “One of the speeches a lot of girls tend to do is thanking their dad, it’s just a tendency with a female to sometimes have that bond with their dad.”

In Salama’s second writing “The Millennial Guide to Public Speaking,” although there are plenty of her own thoughts and experiences throughout when it comes to the difficult task of speaking in a public forum, she decided to take a step back and let her students do most of the talking.

“When I was writing this book I wanted to not only incorporate my lessons, but the lessons of my students as well,” Salama described. “I put in homework assignments for my students and they were very intimate with their writing. I’ve received topics from suicide, breakups, relationships with their parents, moving out, their deepest fears, and things they wished they’d always done in life.”

The young author knew that these stories were too good to be kept a secret, so she got their consent for both the pictures and the papers and put it all together. Although she was suggested to cut some stories out due to redundancy, Salama decided to have a friend rate the stories from one to five in order to gain a better understanding of what to keep in and what to take out.

“I’ve been through my ups and downs in the workplace and I want to pass it on to the next generation,” Salama said. “The point of these students’ work is to show others that they are no different when it comes to public speaking, they may have their own issues but they want to become something, be inspired, and express their voice.”

Juggling the task of being a professor, author, and working towards a Ph.D. is by no means easy for anybody to handle. For Salama, she tries not to think about it too much because even she does not know how she does it.

“By the end of the year, month, and week I say to myself I don’t know how I did it, I just do it,” Salama explained. “My dad always taught me to never waste time, if you have that time with you then take it.”

Growing up as an aspiring author, the last place that the self-professed introvert ever pictured herself at was teaching public speaking. The reason being, she dealt with a lot of anxiety and depression in college and hadn’t been a public speaker for most of her life. It was through counseling that Salama realized that she wanted to grow and better herself through this field.

“The counselor really gave me the tactics to manage my anxiety, I was always thinking of the past and future but I never thought about today, I kept saying ‘what if’ and that’s how I would fail,” Salama said. “She helped me stay focused, organized, and positive on my speech for my master’s degree and taught me that if I didn’t do well then there’s always the next one.”

For the first-generation Egyptian American, after all of her books have been written and her title changes to Dr. Martha Salama, her ultimate goal is to perform a Ted Talk. Although her topic remains a secret, she hints that it will have “something to do with students.”

Salama is going back to her roots for her third book and is working hard on yet another children’s book, this time one that revolves around the relationship between a mother and her son. Her other two books can be found either on Amazon or purchased from her directly.

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