Steven Ujifusa

It was the summer of 2019, and author and historian Steven Ujifusa had a meeting with Geoffrey Paul, a respected art collector and preservationist. Geoffrey had read Steven’s latest book, Barons of the Sea, and was now pitching a different kind of project: writing the history of Geoffrey’s house.

The Essex, Connecticut, estate that Geoffrey owned dated to 1818. Over the years, Geoffrey had dedicated himself to restoring the house and building a collection of antiques and artwork related to the Champlin family, the original owners.

As they discussed the project, it became clear that Steven would need assistance, particularly in organizing the vast amount of material and conducting research into the Champlin family’s history. Steven turned to N2 Communications for help. 

N2 leveraged its roster of experts and paired Steven with editor and writer Celeste Marcus in the fall of 2019. Celeste’s research and relationship with Geoffrey proved invaluable for Steven’s writing. 

“N2 provided me with someone of such brilliance and personal magnetism whom I could trust and who got along so well with a discerning client,” Steven said. 

Together, Steven and Celeste built out an extensive timeline of events from the 17th century to the middle of the 20th century of the Champlin family. All of that research helped Steven move forward efficiently with writing the house’s history.

The success of the project has led Geoffrey to commission a second volume. It’s also enabled Steven to scale up the staffing of his company, Tradewinds History LLC.  

“N2 has allowed my business to really expand,” Steven said. “That’s given me the bandwidth as a historian to take on multiple projects and build my business into what it is today.”