Coffee with my Main Character!

The first time I saw her, I stopped in my tracks on the historic Ohio Village’s plank walkway. “It’s Rosie Graham,” I said out loud.

That was a year ago, and no one knew what I was talking about because the first novel of the Together series, Pressed Together, wasn’t out yet. That series is set in 1946 Buckeye Lake, in the days of the amusement park and big bands. In that first, award-winning book (May 2024, Mt. Zion Ridge Press), readers would get to know Rosie Graham as the main character, Emily’s, older sister.

Rosie had lived in my mind for years as beautiful, red-haired, artistic … and essentially lonely.

She is also the main character of Packed Together, Book 2, which releases just two weeks from now!

Of course, it turned out the young woman I saw in 1940s attire with Rosie’s hair and face was (thankfully) not a figment of an overactive imagination. She’s made of flesh and blood, and she’s 29-year old Mikala Johnston, a WW2-era reenactor and expert in all things vintage beauty, from fashion to hair and makeup.

Photo courtesy of Mikala Johnston

She was at the Ohio Village a year ago as part of the Best Years of Our Lives reenactment, a celebration of the return of soldiers to their hometowns post-war. I’d gone to do some research for the series, and Mikala’s storefront display of clothing and accessories was an enormous help.

“I’m writing a book series set in Buckeye Lake in this era,” I told her when I introduced myself. “Most people don’t know this, but there used to be a big amusement park there.”

“Oh, of course,” Mikala said. “I live in Thornville.”

Thornville is on the Perry County side of Buckeye Lake, making my run-in with this fascinating woman all the more uncanny.

I did take my time telling Mikala that she looks exactly like my main character because it sounds like the kind of thing someone says just before they murder you.

But readers, this is what Rosie looks like! Eye color, hairstyle, clothing, everything (except Rosie, as an artist, will often be sporting a hand-knit sweater or paint-speckled apron).

Here’s the really fascinating thing about the real life Mikala: she doesn’t just dress up for reenactments. Vintage fashion and style are her everyday life! I just couldn’t resist sharing her with you, and I’m grateful she’s not only allowed me to do that but also has painstakingly explained 1940s hair care to me.

A hairstylist in New Albany, Mikala has also been a jewelry maker in San Francisco and studied Forensic Biology at The Ohio State University. She’d grown up hanging out with her grandparents and playing dress up with trunks of clothing and her great-grandmother’s jewelry. Fascinated by art and fashion, she couldn’t resist buying vintage clothing from thrift stores, learning as she did so the way to care for and repair it. Others began gifting her their family fashion treasures, and she soon found herself with an eager Instagram following.

Mikala was sponsored by Besame Cosmetics, a big name in vintage cosmetics, and she went on to start the Penn-Ohio Vintage Women's Society (POVWS).

She “sets” her hair every time she washes it, and she lives in true vintage daily. When she’s doing hair, she wears vintage-inspired rather than the real thing, though, to keep from ruining authentic pieces. At her salon, young people who have caught the vintage bug travel from all over the state and even from out of state for her to cut their hair according to long-ago fashion.

Why is she so committed to a lifestyle that claims most of her time?

“I love the history so much that I’d be devastated if it ever went away,” she says. “We are so eager as a society to get rid of the past, but how do we move forward without understanding it?”

It’s the education piece that is so important to Mikala.

“Also, I feel most like myself this way. It’s what feels normal,” she explains with a shrug. “It’s when I wear modern clothing, that’s when I feel I’m playing dress up.”

I hope you run into her at the supermarket some time, looking just like she does in these photos she was kind enough to let me post. I personally love walking into a restaurant full of people and finding her so easily, looking like a fresh burst of color … just as Rosie has always looked in my mind.

I’m sure if I were to see Mikala in an Old Navy sweatshirt and yoga pants that the spell would be broken, but regardless, I’m grateful our paths have crossed.

And I’m beyond excited for her to meet Rosie Graham in December on the pages of Packed Together. It’s time for Rosie to catch a break when it comes to matters of the heart, but first a Christmas blizzard is going to make things way worse before they get better!

Watch for pre-order information very soon by following me on social media at Kim Garee, Author, or sign up for my newsletter (below) here at www.kimgaree.com.

Follow Mikala on Instagram @mikalakitty

Photo courtesy of Mikala Johnston