Trinity Ray and Kevin Mills, both Hawkeye alums from the 1990s, stress that their ultimate wish for students at The University of Iowa is to take advantage of every opportunity to enrich themselves through extracurricular activities on campus.

After all, it was their involvement with student organizations like the University Lecture Committee (ULC) and SCOPE Productions that allowed the pair to cultivate their skills in entertainment, talent acquisition, and client management, which propelled the launch of their business project, The Tuesday Agency, in downtown Iowa City in 2011.

This one-of-a-kind literary enterprise, describing itself online as “a small lecture agency dedicated to big ideals,” fuses elements of both men’s passions into one profession and acts as the usher between scholars with a refined spoken message and those serving the entertainment needs of mass audiences across the region.

Ray credits the success of such a career to the special backdrop of Iowa City, a UNESCO ‘City of Literature,’ and home to the world-renowned Writer’s Workshop. However, this serves only secondary to his unique preparation at Iowa, having earned a practical education in a niche field.

“The organizations I was part of as a student, like ULC and SCOPE, are unique in that they allow the students so much autonomy. We had wonderful advisors who gave us extraordinary support, but in the end, it was like putting our own education to the test! From those moments, I learned from the lessons of compromise, hard work, improvisation, and moderation,” he explains.

Similarly, Mills, a former Talent Buyer for SCOPE, considers his interactions with some exceptional names in the world of music as an asset to his resume following graduation from the university in 1999. “Working on a professional level with international, high caliber talent and their management teams taught me to perform on the same level, and adapt quickly to the ins and outs of the event industry.”

Now, this duo calls upon both their skill sets to manage the booking agreements, scheduling, and compensation for their exclusive clients. Previous lecturers they have worked with include Khaled Hosseini, acclaimed author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, Roxane Gay, the pen behind the pages of Bad Feminist, and Viet Thanh Nguyen, writer of The Sympathizer, among other famed individuals.

“I have a deep love and respect for literature, spoken word, and writing, but I never wanted to take part in it myself. This allows me to champion the people we represent at The Tuesday Agency with more of an objective, professional eye, rather than one of a fanboy or one that is hopeful of having their work published,” adds Mills.

The Tuesday Agency exemplifies the sense of pride in its mission with their boilerplate message: “We believe in the richness of real live human connections and the ability of words to change the world.”

Reflecting on the memories of their earliest forms of skill acquisition, whether conversing with Molly Irvins during happy hour as part of ULC, or laboring over the complex production sets of the Foo Fighters or Elton John, both Ray and Mills agree these moments of early exposure and industry opportunity offered by The University of Iowa contributed invaluably to their accomplishments today.

Offering a morsel of advice to current students, Ray urges, “Take full advantage of this time. Be fearless. Ask questions. Dream big. It’s been my experience that those who are not afraid to jump are almost always rewarded richly.”