Hello

I am a graduate of Greeneville High School and East Tennessee State University in Johnson City where I received a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism. Since graduating college, I have served as a part-time reporter at the Erwin Record and a full-time reporter at the Elizabethton Star and the Bristol Herald Courier.

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Although I have never worked to receive awards, I have been the recipient of numerous journalism awards over the years, including multiple first, second, and third-place honors from the Tennessee Press Association, Tennessee Associated Press Broadcasters and Media Editors, and the Virginia Press Association. I also contributed to a Bristol Herald Courier series on neonatal abstinence syndrome that resulted in the Scripps Howard Award for Community Journalism. In addition, I was honored to receive the Journalist of the Year award from the East Tennessee Constables Association in 2019. In 2015, I received the Award of Distinction from the East Tennessee Historical Society for my book, Images of America: Roan Mountain. In 2023, the ETHS honored me with the Award of Excellence for another book, The Story of Becoming Piney Flats.

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I have also written for several regional and national magazines and newspapers on an array of topics, from farming to history. My freelance work has been published in Grit Magazine, Pinnacle Living Mountain Homes, Marquee Magazine, Georgia Magazine, Hobby Farms, the Laurel of Asheville, Now & Then: The Appalachian Magazine, Tri-Cities Business Journal, The Tennessean, Blue Ridge Country, Bristol Now, Erwin Record, Johnson City Press, Elizabethton Star, Bristol Herald Courier, and the Kingsport Times-News.

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Since 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, I obtained my real estate license. I am now licensed in Tennessee, where I work with CENTURY 21 Legacy in Johnson City, and in North Carolina, where I work with Braswell Realty in Newland.

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I am a member of the Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors, High Country Association of Realtors, Forest Fire Lookout Association, Piney Flats Historical Society, and the Watauga Historical Association.