Experience
2005 - Present
PUBLICATIONS
Under Surge, Under Siege, the Odyssey of Bay St. Louis and Katrina - publisher: University Press of Mississippi, June, 2010
PHOTOJOURNALISM
(selected)
Publisher/Editor - French Quarter Journal
Publisher/Editor - The Shoofly Magazine
MSNBC
Salon.com
Southern Cultures
Gulf Coast Woman
The Sun Herald - reporting and photography.
South Mississippi Living Magazine
COMMUNITY PROJECTS
(selected)
~ Creator and publisher of The Shoofly Magazine, Bay St. Louis Living, 2011 - 2022.
~ Webmaster and promotional director for Old Town Merchants Association, 2010 - 2015. Launched and maintained website, social media, outreach to national publications.
~ Conceptualized and wrote proposal for Bay St. Louis Historic Walking and Biking Tour (October, 2009). Researched and wrote booklet content and provided photography. Latest update and edit, 2017. Hancock Tourism calls it the "best tool we have" to engage visitors.
~ Member of Bay St. Louis Historic Preservation Commission – 2012 – 2018. In 2018 began serving as co-chairman. Created educational campaign and website to improve public awareness.
~ board member of Mississippi Heritage Trust.
~ Board member The Arts, Hancock County – 2012 – 2014. Conceptualized and organized multi-faceted educational arts festival, involving visual, literary, musical, theatrical and culinary arts. Also designed and created original website.
~ As an independent volunteer, wrote a grant for tree replanting post-Katrina, 2006. Bay St. Louis received $100,000 in non-matched funds to plant trees throughout the city public right-of-ways and Highway 90.
~ Co-founder and director of Coastal Community Watch, a non-profit watchdog group that kept 800+ members informed of local developmental and environmental issues, 2005 - 2009. Formed only months before Hurricane Katrina devastated the coast, afterward it played a pivotal part in keeping survivors and expatriates informed of crucial community concerns and facilitating citizen participation in major city/county decisions.
DOCUMENTARY
(selected)
2013 - The Hand of An Unseen Poet: the Design, the Mystery and the Restoration of the Charnley Norwood House for Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Produced, wrote and directed.
2011 – 2012 – The Resurrection of a Rosenwald School for Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Writer, director, photographer and videographer.
2013 - Video Tour of Hancock County Scenic Byways System - Researched, wrote, directed and provided still photography for a series of eleven video shorts (24 minutes total) hosted by local newscaster Michelle Lady, for Hancock Community Development Foundation
CLIENT LIST
(selected)
Services provided include copywriting, website design and content creation, photography, press releases, newsletters, printed promotional piece and videos
Mississippi Public Broadcasting
Mississippi Department of Archives and History
Bay-Waveland Habitat for Humanity
Hancock County Tourism Development Bureau
Hancock County Chamber of Commerce
INFINITY Science Center
The City of Bay St. Louis
Hancock Medical Hospital
The Old Town Bay St. Louis Merchants Association
RECOGNITIONS
2021 - Winner of the Carol Gelderman Award for nonfiction thesis, University of New Orleans
2019 - Success Conference - Regional Top Influencer: "One of 36 women who are true game-changers, recognized for their transformative impact on their communities."
2014 - Mississippi Heritage Trust Award for Excellence in Preservation Education for the documentary short, “By the Hand of the Unseen Poet”
2014 – Mississippi Heritage Trust Award for Excellence in Preservation Education for the documentary short, “The Resurrection of Randolph School”
2013 – First Prize, Southern Writers Symposium’s Emerging Writers Contest, Fiction
2012 – Under Surge, Under Siege short-listed as Non-Fiction finalist for the William Saroyan International Book Prize, Stanford University Libraries
2011 Mississippi Library Association Non-Fiction Author’s Award for Under Surge, Under Siege
2010 Eudora Welty Book Prize for Under Surge, Under Siege
2009 - Heritage Award from the Bay St. Louis Historic Preservation Commission for "outstanding contribution to the preservation and promotion of historic Bay St. Louis."
2008 - Mississippi Public Citizen of the Year by the National Association of Social Workers, Mississippi Chapter.
2008 - Outstanding Citizen in Hancock County, MS
2007 - Literary fellowship from the Mississippi Arts Commission (2007)
2006 - “Gulf Coast Preservation Hero, ” by National Trust for Historic Preservation and Mississippi Heritage Trust
Under Surge, Under Siege, the Odyssey of Bay St. Louis and Katrina - publisher: University Press of Mississippi, June, 2010
- Eudora Welty Book Prize (2010)
- Mississippi Library Association Non-Fiction Author’s Award (2011)
- Short-listed as Non-Fiction finalist for the William Saroyan International Book Prize, Stanford University Libraries (2012)
PHOTOJOURNALISM
(selected)
Publisher/Editor - French Quarter Journal
- a digital journal covering the community's creatives and culture
- 2019 - present
- 2,000+ subscribers (Winter, 2022)
- mission statement
Publisher/Editor - The Shoofly Magazine
- a digital lifestyle magazine for Bay St. Louis & Waveland, Mississippi Gulf Coast
- 2011 - 2022
- 30,000+ unique viewers per month, 5,000+ subscribers (Summer, 2022)
- mission statement
MSNBC
Salon.com
Southern Cultures
Gulf Coast Woman
The Sun Herald - reporting and photography.
South Mississippi Living Magazine
COMMUNITY PROJECTS
(selected)
~ Creator and publisher of The Shoofly Magazine, Bay St. Louis Living, 2011 - 2022.
~ Webmaster and promotional director for Old Town Merchants Association, 2010 - 2015. Launched and maintained website, social media, outreach to national publications.
~ Conceptualized and wrote proposal for Bay St. Louis Historic Walking and Biking Tour (October, 2009). Researched and wrote booklet content and provided photography. Latest update and edit, 2017. Hancock Tourism calls it the "best tool we have" to engage visitors.
~ Member of Bay St. Louis Historic Preservation Commission – 2012 – 2018. In 2018 began serving as co-chairman. Created educational campaign and website to improve public awareness.
~ board member of Mississippi Heritage Trust.
~ Board member The Arts, Hancock County – 2012 – 2014. Conceptualized and organized multi-faceted educational arts festival, involving visual, literary, musical, theatrical and culinary arts. Also designed and created original website.
~ As an independent volunteer, wrote a grant for tree replanting post-Katrina, 2006. Bay St. Louis received $100,000 in non-matched funds to plant trees throughout the city public right-of-ways and Highway 90.
~ Co-founder and director of Coastal Community Watch, a non-profit watchdog group that kept 800+ members informed of local developmental and environmental issues, 2005 - 2009. Formed only months before Hurricane Katrina devastated the coast, afterward it played a pivotal part in keeping survivors and expatriates informed of crucial community concerns and facilitating citizen participation in major city/county decisions.
DOCUMENTARY
(selected)
2013 - The Hand of An Unseen Poet: the Design, the Mystery and the Restoration of the Charnley Norwood House for Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Produced, wrote and directed.
2011 – 2012 – The Resurrection of a Rosenwald School for Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Writer, director, photographer and videographer.
2013 - Video Tour of Hancock County Scenic Byways System - Researched, wrote, directed and provided still photography for a series of eleven video shorts (24 minutes total) hosted by local newscaster Michelle Lady, for Hancock Community Development Foundation
CLIENT LIST
(selected)
Services provided include copywriting, website design and content creation, photography, press releases, newsletters, printed promotional piece and videos
Mississippi Public Broadcasting
Mississippi Department of Archives and History
Bay-Waveland Habitat for Humanity
Hancock County Tourism Development Bureau
Hancock County Chamber of Commerce
INFINITY Science Center
The City of Bay St. Louis
Hancock Medical Hospital
The Old Town Bay St. Louis Merchants Association
RECOGNITIONS
2021 - Winner of the Carol Gelderman Award for nonfiction thesis, University of New Orleans
2019 - Success Conference - Regional Top Influencer: "One of 36 women who are true game-changers, recognized for their transformative impact on their communities."
2014 - Mississippi Heritage Trust Award for Excellence in Preservation Education for the documentary short, “By the Hand of the Unseen Poet”
2014 – Mississippi Heritage Trust Award for Excellence in Preservation Education for the documentary short, “The Resurrection of Randolph School”
2013 – First Prize, Southern Writers Symposium’s Emerging Writers Contest, Fiction
2012 – Under Surge, Under Siege short-listed as Non-Fiction finalist for the William Saroyan International Book Prize, Stanford University Libraries
2011 Mississippi Library Association Non-Fiction Author’s Award for Under Surge, Under Siege
2010 Eudora Welty Book Prize for Under Surge, Under Siege
2009 - Heritage Award from the Bay St. Louis Historic Preservation Commission for "outstanding contribution to the preservation and promotion of historic Bay St. Louis."
2008 - Mississippi Public Citizen of the Year by the National Association of Social Workers, Mississippi Chapter.
2008 - Outstanding Citizen in Hancock County, MS
2007 - Literary fellowship from the Mississippi Arts Commission (2007)
2006 - “Gulf Coast Preservation Hero, ” by National Trust for Historic Preservation and Mississippi Heritage Trust
Education
BS Communications - Lipscomb University, Nashville, TN
2021: MFA in Creative Writing - nonfiction, University of New Orleans, with distinction. Winner of the Carol Gelderman Award for nonfiction thesis.
2021: MFA in Creative Writing - nonfiction, University of New Orleans, with distinction. Winner of the Carol Gelderman Award for nonfiction thesis.