Sometimes — it’s the simple things that stick with us longest.

“I work at Chernoff Newman, and we are constantly writing and editing proposals and materials for clients. So, lots of copy editing being done,” says Chardonnay Ismail, ‘16 public relations, a client engagement manager for the agency.

“Of course, we’re using AP Style, and I will never forget my first semester of college, having a class with Deborah Gump. I remember she was very strict about AP Style, and she said, ‘It’s always comma which, comma which.’”

“I can still hear it in my head,” Ismail says, smiling.

Gump wasn’t the only professor to make a lasting impression on Ismail. She had a special bond with longtime public relations instructor Lisa Sisk.

“I feel like she poured into me and we connected so well,” says Ismail. “And I’d always loved writing growing up, and I just loved how critical she was of our writing. She really pushed all of us to do our absolute best work.”

The enduring lessons and investment by faculty are the reasons that Ismail gives back to the College of Information and Communications. One of the causes she has given to is Cocky’s Reading Express, the college’s signature childhood literacy initiative.

I believe that it’s our responsibility to pour into the generations that come after us and try to make things better for those who come after us.

-- Charonnay Ismail

She chose to give in celebration of the program’s 20th anniversary because she believes literacy is the foundation upon which all CIC majors depend.

“I believe that it’s our responsibility to pour into the generations that come after us and try to make things better for those who come after us,” says Ismail. 

“And for children, literacy means everything. I’ve always been drawn to the fact that Cocky’s Reading Express is so intentional about going out to communities that really need that extra support.”

Thanks to donors like Chardonnay Ismail, Cocky’s Reading Express was able to distribute more than 22,500 books to 4k through fifth grade students in Title I elementary schools across South Carolina in 2025.

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