I'm about as local as you can get.

My weekly business profiles highlight people and the jobs they do. I profile local businesses. These features include a take away and resources for readers.

I produce an online and print business calendar. Social business networking is a huge factor in a small business owner's success. People network to find jobs and change careers. I highlight these business events as online briefs that link readers back to the online calendar for more information and more events.

I write a weekly People on the move column which is also now online as a UGC gallery.

Often, the many bits of information about an event for the calendar or a promotion for the People on the move column - are the "budget line" for my next article. The untold, unexpected story is sometimes the best one.

Additionally, I am one of several regular contributors to our Moms & Dads parenting blog and I review restaurants for its family dining experience.

The RSS feed field does not work, so here is a link to one of my story galleries:

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/careers/sfl-manager-profiles-gallery,0,5783824.storygallery

I started my journalism career at the Miami Herald. I worked as a copy girl. I was the weather clerk on the copy desk. I worked in the composing room and the art department.

But it was my stint on the business desk where I learned to take out every flowery adjective known to PR folk. "Who says they're the 'first'," my editor would advise. "Who says they are the best? Or the most respected? Always remember who the messenger is," he cautioned.

Fast forward to a few years at the Newspaper Association of America. That's where I learned on what side a journalist's bread is really buttered!.

A few years later, I rejoined newsroom life at the Sun Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale in 1996. I'm home now.

Social media. People. Media. The mind.