Several years ago, as writer/author Michael A. Knipp continued to increase his readership through published articles in periodicals across North America and Europe, he encountered a problem: his very serious, often controversial essays conflicted with his lighter, celebrity-focused features and interviews.

To make a distinction between the two categories, Knipp created the pseudonym Mikey Rox to separate his award-winning content – which he continued to publish under his birth name – from the fluff, the bylines to which appeared as Mikey Rox.

As time passed, however, the name Mikey Rox proved more advantageous than Michael A. Knipp – it was press savvier, it looked better in print, and it lent itself to building a brand.

Eventually, as the publishing industry declined, forcing Knipp to reevaluate his creative priorities, the full potential of Mikey Rox – the man and the brand – was realized.

Today, Mikey Rox is no longer just an alias. It’s an adopted name that signifies who and what Mikey Rox is as the principal of Paper Rox Scissors (http://www.paperroxscissors.com): Edgy, daring and unwilling to adhere to the rules of an outdated “establishment.”

With Paper Rox Scissors, Mikey is committed to building a different kind of company – one at which internal politics has no place, colleagues have unlimited license to enhance clients’ intellectual properties, and creativity lives free of the professional pessimism that plagues an already ailing industry.

They say it can’t be done. He says watch and learn.

Mikey graduated from Roanoke College in 2003 with a B.A. in English. Before starting his own media and marketing company in New York City, he worked as an assistant editor at the Maryland Pennysaver and served as chief copywriter/editor at CDR Fundraising Group for two-and-a-half years where his work within the nonprofit fundraising industry was recognized with several awards, including a Fundraising Professional of the Year Award in the "Rising Star" category from Fundraising Success magazine.

In 2005, Mikey received media attention from several publications, including the Maryland Gazette, for a story that he contributed to the best-selling anthology "Brotherhood: Gay Life in College Fraternities."

In 2007, Mikey placed second in the Opinion/Editorial category of the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association's Excellence in Journalism Awards, sponsored by Hearst Newspapers, for an article titled "Gays: Get Out of the Military," published in The Examiner newspaper. (Link to the awards listing: http://www.nlgja.org/news/30august07.html; link to the award-winning article: http://www.examiner.com/a-619926~Michael_A__Knipp__Gays__Get_out_of_the_military.html). Mikey continues to publish articles in print and digital format in publications across North American and Europe. He has interviewed some of pop culture's most memorable personalities, including Henry Rollins, Cyndi Lauper, Rue McClanahan and Margaret Cho.

More recently, Mikey received positive media attention for his public proposal to his boyfriend of three and half years, Lt. Everett Earl Morrow, a graduate of the United States Naval Academy. (Links to the proposal and the media hits regarding it: http://www.lifestylermag.com/features/5-financially-savvy-steps-to-popping-%E2%80%98the-question%E2%80%99; http://www.queerty.com/the-youtube-gay-marriage-proposal-that-was-accepted-via-facebook-20100215/; http://mediaelites.com/?cat=1)