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Business and creative writing are often considered drastically different fields. Not many people see the similarities in working analytically and trading stocks with world-building and fictional narrating.

But for �ֲ���ý School of Management graduate Jatinder Koharki '04, they are strongly connected. She founded Book for Every Nook Publications LLC, a self-publishing company, after more than 20 years in the corporate world as a consulting and client relationship executive.

She believes storytelling connects the two domains.

“My role as a relationship executive is to build and deepen relationships, and I use stories for that,” she said. “I believe that my corporate career has helped me become a better storyteller and, ultimately, a better writer.”

Koharki and her family moved from India to Queens, New York, when she was 10 years old. As a child, she read every day, which inspired a passion for writing. She wrote short stories and poems as a teenager.

When it came time to apply for college, she knew she wanted to major in finance, inspired by generations of family experience and expertise in the industry. She also chose to pursue management information systems (MIS), recognizing the rapid growth and importance of technology in business.

Koharki chose �ֲ���ý because its high educational value.

“If I was going to go to a public school, it would not only be affordable, but it would have to provide me with the education and degree that I want,” she said.

SOM and the University as a whole played a significant role in Koharki’s personal and professional growth, and she describes her time as a student as some of the most important years of her life.

“I got the best of both worlds,” she explained. “I got the critical thinking aspect from finance, and I got the analytical skills from MIS. That prepared me very well for my corporate job.”

But for Koharki, it wasn’t just the curriculum.

“Being upstate in beautiful Binghamton, the student organizations, and the social life that Binghamton offers helped me come into my own socially as a young adult,” she said.

After college, she began her professional career helping companies across a diverse array of industries understand where they fit in the market amongst their competitors. While rewarding, Koharki began to feel burned out. Once she began dreaming consistently about her job, unable to escape the day-to-day, she knew it was time to make a change.

In search of an outlet, Koharki picked up writing again — over a decade after she put the hobby on hold. She fell back in love with it and eventually wrote a manuscript.

Around three years ago, she wanted to publish her work, but rather than going through an external publisher, she had a unique perspective.

“It made sense to launch an LLC rather than a personal publication from a business and liability perspective,” she said. “I wanted it to be a business because I was going to sell products – my books.”

Fast forward to today, and that manuscript was transformed into her debut novel, Against The Odds of Tradition, which she published through her own small business. Koharki appreciates the freedom and independence afforded by self-publishing.

“I can control how my work lives, or not, in the world,” she said. 

She serves on the SOM Alumni Board and the SOM Accounting Alumni Board, where she offers her insights on how to continue growing the school.

Koharki also mentors a first-year management class, where she advises and supports students as they begin their studies at SOM. She visited campus earlier this year to share her story with SOM students and left them with an important message as they begin working at internships and jobs.

“Learn how to tell stories,” she said. “Learn how to understand people’s stories, because everyone has one. That’s what builds relationships.”

As someone who first came to Binghamton over 25 years ago, Koharki has seen Binghamton undergo big changes. She admires the upgraded facilities and presence of the University on and off campus.

“I really appreciate the changes that have come over the last couple of decades, while the University maintains and strengthens the relationship and integrity with the community,” she said. “I respect that about the University more than anything.”