I grew up in Western North Carolina, and like many who grew up here, left for bigger and better things. I ended up choosing to come right back where I started. I have lived in cities from Manhattan to San Francisco to Atlanta. Asheville is my favorite. After getting a master’s degree in journalism with a public relations focus, my first job was with an agency in Greenville working on crisis communications for the hospital system. That began a career where I’ve handled almost every job there is in PR/marketing /media, from copywriter to media buyer to event planner to salesperson. I was in the trenches during the first dot com boom and bust and worked with Google before it became a verb. I’ve written regular columns for publications on beauty products and how to navigate the internet.