At the age of 24, Nicole Buntgen is fulfilling her lifelong dream of becoming an author. Buntgen recently self-published her memoir: Onward and Upward. 

It is an aspiration that began at a young age and materialized into a book about Buntgen’s experiences with adoption, racial ignorance and mental health. 

“I want to talk about my life stories and experiences with those three topics and give people a glimpse into what my life has been like experiencing those,” Buntgen said. 

“I want to really provide a lot of educational value; essentially inform people and educate them on these topics and provide information that they might not know about, as well as my perspective.”

Buntgen said she decided to write the book after moving to Omaha for her job at Edge Magazine where she works as an account executive and contributing writer. Once she started writing for the magazine, she rediscovered her love for writing and joined a virtual authors’ program to kickstart her memoir. 

Buntgen explained that her book starts with the beginning of her life, which includes her adoption. She was adopted from Seoul, South Korea when she was four months old and was later raised in David City, Nebraska. 

She described this as an experience that became a pivotal part in her journey and her book as an Asian-American in Nebraska. 

“I grew up in a town that was predominantly Caucasian. So, there was just no diversity”, Buntgen said. “Ultimately, with my book, I want to talk about racial oppression from my perspective as an Asian-American, but also just overall racial oppression with any race.” 

With an increase racially motivated violence against the Asian community during the COVID-19 pandemic, she said her personal struggles and the recent incidents became vital components in her book. 

“I really just want to shine a light on that topic and really highlight how much ignorance there is in this world because people are unfortunately uneducated. Hopefully through my book, I can provide some perspective from a minority standpoint and educate people on these topics.” 

Which she said leads into the final and largest section of her book: mental health. 

Much like her topics of adoption and racial ignorance, she incorporated academic research and her personal understanding to develop the chapters about mental health. 

“I think that everyone can struggle with their mental health to an extent, but I really just wanted to share my story and the really hard situations that I overcame to get to where I am today and now be an advocate for mental health.” 

Buntgen explained that her book is meant to share her experience, but it is also for people that can related to the three main topics. 

“I want it to be very powerful, personal but also educational, and especially if people can relate to those three topics of adoption, racial oppression and mental health. I think it can definitely leave an impact on people,” Buntgen said. 

Buntgen’s book Onward and Upward is set to publish in September 2022, but her presale campaign is currently running until April 30.  

“I really hope I can inspire other people too; whether they're an aspiring writer or they have other goals and dreams they want to achieve and they might think they're too young or too old,” Buntgen said.  “You can accomplish anything in your life as long as you put your mind to it.” 

Buntgen’s book can be preordered at https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/onward-and-upward-by-nicole-kyung-buntgen--2#/