I am a Roanoke native and grew up in Arlington, Virginia where graduating High School. Half of my Senior year was spent at Jefferson High School in Roanoke.

I have resided in Washington DC, New York City, Houston and Jackson, Mississippi.  I consider the Roanoke Valley as my home. After returning home from Alexrandia 12 years ago, I began attending City Council meetings. These meetings perked my interest in my hometown and I believe that they were the door opener to my civic activism. I have made a couple unsuccessful attempts at running for public office as Mayor and City Councilor. What a tremendous learning experience! I gained valuable knowledge of politics, politicians and the strengths and weaknesses of our City, it's inner workings and its citizens.

Over the years I have written and published numerous letters to the Editor, as well as Commentaries. I have been granted dubious destinction of "Gadfly" humorously by this paper. Though I am not a polished writer in proper grammatical sense, I have always tried to the best of my ability to address and represent what I believe to be the consensus of opinion among a large segment of our population on various important issues.

I’m honored and feel privileged to have been selected to serve on the Readers Panel and to be apart of "Valley Voices."