About Us

Located in Westover, West Virginia, just across the river from the downtown Morgantown campus of West Virginia University, Populore Publishing Company is happy to have been helping people publish their words in beautiful books since 1995. We are a small group of specialists in writing, research, design, personal history, and production oversight and management. We're friendly, experienced, and good at what we do.

Rae Jean Sielen and Ken St. Louis
Populore Co-Owners
Rae Jean Sielen and Ken St. Louis, husband and wife, founded Populore in 1995 in order to make publishing more accessible for everyday people.

As President of Populore, Rae Jean's primary role is project development and management. Rae Jean loves publishing for its variety—in clients, words, graphics, processes, challenges, and results. As project manager, she's involved in every facet of the process.

Rae Jean brings an extensive and varied small business, writing, management, and training background to Populore. She received an A.B. in linguistics from the University of California and an M.S. in speech and hearing sciences from the University of Washington. She is also a graduate of University of Washington's "mini-MBA certification program."

Prior to Populore, much of Rae Jean's life had been devoted to good writing and editing, as well as recording people's and organizations's stories in indirect ways. One of the first places she began to recognize the value of sharing and preserving stories in writing was during her speech-language pathology student days, much of which included interviewing, listening and writing.

To Top

As a driving force in Populore's founding, Ken St. Louis continues to be involved as an officer of the company and an advisor. A former owner of two small businesses, his expertise is in the areas of planning, operations management, and story research.

Ken St. Louis is a Professor at West Virginia University in the Speech Pathology and Audiology department. Some of his scholarly work has been in the area of "stories;" specifically, he has looked at the healing power of telling one's story for people who stutter and have other speech disorders. More about Ken's work in stuttering…

Ken grew up on a ranch in rural Colorado and went to a one-room schoolhouse where his aunt was the teacher and most of his fellow classmates were his siblings and cousins. Ken's youth and large extended family has made him a great fan of good stories, and a believer in preserving stories for future generations.

To Top

Ida Stewart
Writing and Editing

Ida has been working as a writer and editor with Populore since 2001. A graduate of West Virginia University with degrees in English and Political Science and a concentration in Creative Writing, she was selected to WVU's prestigious "Order of Augusta" as one of the university's top eight graduating seniors in 2004.

Ida first became acquainted with Populore as a high-school student working on an oral history project. Populore President Rae Jean Sielen became her project mentor and, as a community service, offered the services of Populore for design and layout of her book.

Since winning a local newspaper's writing contest in the first grade, Ida has been fascinated and motivated to write by the creative potential of publishing. She's experienced with interviewing and working one-on-one with clients to find the best words to communicate their stories. In all areas of writing and editing, Ida likes to keep in mind the idea "say it simply and you make it beautiful."

To Top

Angela Caudill
Design

Angela Caudill received her degree in Graphic Design from West Virginia University. She went on to work as a designer, Manager of Publications Services, and Director of Creative Services at WVU.

When a project has special design needs, Populore seeks out Angela's capable creative input. There are many milestones in the book production process, but one of the most exciting for clients, and the Populore staff, is seeing Angela's cover and page layout designs. At that point, the manuscript begins to become a "book."

Angela's creative talents go beyond designing book covers and page layouts—she has produced maps, tables, collages, sketches, and elements of our web site. She's quick, creative, and has a great eye and artistic vision. Angela understands what Populore is all about and believes in its mission.

To Top

Other Members of the Populore Team

If you call Populore, you may talk to Publishing Assistant Joe Ervin. Joe, who has bachelor's and master's degrees in foreign languages from West Virginia University, provides computer, bookkeeping, and production support.

Through the years we've been fortunate to have many students work for us—either in part-time student jobs or for paid and unpaid internships. Such resources are part of the joy of being located in a university town. Offering opportunities for students has been one of Populore's common practices since its founding.

To Top

And Also…

A successful [book] production manager is one who knows the vast array of technical data, material specifications, prices, sources, processes, and equipment that go into the manufacture of books and can organize this knowledge in a smooth and efficient operation…[he/she needs] a knack for getting cooperation from a variety of people.— M. Lee, author: Bookmaking…

All of the expertise required to complete most Populore projects won't fit under our one roof. We contract with other great writers, interviewers, graphics people, and translators, as well as various printers (offset, letterpress, specialty ink-jet, and laser) and binders (hand, bindery, and book manufacturers). We also work with an extraordinarily talented and patient computer technician.

Thanks to over ten years of working with diverse and interesting clients, Rae Jean has built these strong working relationships with outside craftsmen and businesses. They comprise a strong foundation of resources and wisdom that supports Populore in achieving its mission.

To Top