Clifford Asbury

Clifford Asbury is a native of Chicago that has worked in one field for the past twenty- two years. His life experience combined with his education provides the foundation necessary to make a career change; and brings to life his creative side. Cliff attended and graduated from Senn High School in 1986. Instead of going directly to college, He opted to work a full- time job. After taking a four- year break, Cliff continued his education at Truman College. In 1992, he graduated from Truman College with a Merchandise- Marketing degree. Two years later, Cliff received a Bachelor Degree from Chicago State University, both degrees were self- financed and completed within four- years. During that four- year span, Cliff worked as a mortgage loan officer and built a successful book of business. That career lasted for over twenty- years until the industry collapsed in 2007. It was a bitter- sweet time in Cliff's life because one chapter of his life was ending as the pursuit of a childhood dream was beginning. This dream began with his parents' marriage, an union that broke the miscegenation laws of America. From that marriage came three girls and Cliff. His father was an African- American man that mastered the art of storytelling. Cliff's father was born on December 19, 1903, and saw a lot throughout his lifetime. Cliff is the youngest and last remaining Asbury male left to carry on his father's legacy. In an effort to ensure that legacy, Cliff learned the family's history through his father's fascinating folktales. Those stories made Cliff's imagination run wild, starting the film projector in his head. Furthermore, it ignited a passion for History and African- American literature; which was his undergraduate concentration at Chicago State University. After graduating from Chicago State, Cliff was accepted into a master program at one of those colleges in Boston. However, as a newlywed that was expecting his first child, he opted to provide for his family by continuing a career as a mortgage loan officer. The mortgage industry allowed Cliff to support a family for over twenty- years. He was living the American dream, but something was missing. The burning desire that Cliff's father's stories created had to be filled. That yearning led Cliff to invest in several film projects. The last project was a documentary in 2008, that stalled in the pre-production stage. This made him realizes if he wanted to create stories that he had to invest in himself. Cliff did just that in 2009, by starting a post- bachelor- certificate program in screenwriting at Columbia College. He is currently enrolled in a creative writing MFA program. Creative writing allows Cliff to apply all his previous education, life, and career experiences into one avenue. The undergraduate degree in history and Black literature introduced him to the prose form of storytelling. Cliff's life experience gives him the content to create stories. The mortgage industry background will be beneficial and helping Cliff understand how important a producer is in the five- stages production. And the past two- years of post- bachelor studies in screenwriting will be the cornerstone of Cliff's film/ television/ and advertising career. Cliff's life experiences have been combined into one melting pot. In essence in transition him from a mortgage guy to a screenwriter/copywriter/ filmmaker. Consequently, once that transformation is complete, Cliff looks forward to achieving only one personal goal. To create stories with meaning that will hopefully touch one person's life, while providing a comfortable lifestyle for him. A demanding lifestyle has been the driving force behind Cliff's success. As Sir Isaac Newton's laws of motion state; "Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it." The high demands of a writing position will be that external force for Cliff.