Appalachian women have always been strong figures. These women bring that mountain spirit to everything from technology and manufacturing to activism and law, in every part of the state. West Virginia Focus celebrates them—and expresses Great Expectations for their up-and-coming sisters. Living Local Alisa Bailey thinks Charleston—not to mention the state as a whole—is poised for a renaissance, and she says…
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The two women vying to be our next senator open up about themselves, their backgrounds, and their thoughts on the future for women in West Virginia. “What’s it like being both a woman and a politician?” They’ve both gotten this question dozens, maybe hundreds of times over the course of their careers, because they’re both powerful women in politics—and now…
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The head of social media at ABC News is from West Virginia. We talked with him about Twitter, journalism, marketing, and the way they all work together. Andrew Springer could predict how this story would begin even during the interview for it. “When you sit down to write this story about me, you’ll pick out the most interesting thing we…
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A textile artist in Elkins learns that art and business can work in tandem. Nellie Rose Davis reads more artist than entrepreneur, more dreamer than utilitarian, more inspired than methodical. Even the creation story of Davis herself sounds magical—she writes in her artist’s statement that as soon as she was born, in Elkins to a pair of textile artists, she…
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We’re off and running, but there’s a long road ahead. Community development work isn’t easy. There’s a lot of waiting around for projects to get approved, for money to come in, for people to get on board. A lot of it is dependent on things that are at least partly outside of your control: Will we get approval? Will we…
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