There are many reasons I love working at Hammock, but one of the biggest ones is getting the chance to indulge in my love of magazines—and not just any magazines but teen magazines. Yes, I’m 31 years old, and I can still be spotted checking out all the great ones at the grocery store racks, including Seventeen, Justine and even Cosmogirl! Hey, what can I say? Just because I’m a responsible, tax-paying career girl with a 401K doesn’t mean I still can’t use advice on the timeless subjects of beauty, fashion, friendship and dating.

I still remember my mom buying my first Teen magazine for me at 14. It felt like a rite of passage (like getting my ears pierced or going to my first New Kids on the Block concert). I spent hours in my room that day engrossed in a glossy book that introduced me to a new world I'd only begun to explore—one of style, possibilities, angst, infatuation and identity.

Recently, while doing some research for a client who publishes a magazine for teenagers, I found the perfect excuse to delve into this world once again. Boy, was I surprised! Like everything else, teen magazines have gone digital.

Before joining Hammock, Emily worked as an editor at a newspaper in Decatur, Ala., where she covered the teen and young adult beat and designed weekly sections for Gen-Xers. There she spent most of her time scoping out malls, arcades and the local water park for sources, and writing about everything from breakups to blogging.

Now most days, you’ll find her scouring the Web for business owners to profile for her MyBusiness features. Or she may be spotted lurking around libraries to research American Spirit articles and interviewing everyone from East Coast water-sport devotees to West Coast health-care executives—all without losing her Southern accent.

Storytelling is her strength—one she came by honestly growing up amongst big talkers and colorful characters in the small northern Alabama town of Tuscumbia (birthplace of another writer, Helen Keller). She swept through several small towns pursuing her education, traveling first to Searcy, Ark., where she received her English degree from Harding University and honed her journalistic skills at the same campus newspaper that the infamous Ken Starr wrote for as a freshman.

After a detour at a book publisher in West Monroe, La., Emily headed south again to Tuscaloosa, where she graduated with a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Alabama (home of her favorite team, the Crimson Tide, and alma mater of her favorite author, Harper Lee).

Now she’s glad to be a small-town girl in the big city, exploring museums, staking out live music, going salsa dancing and drinking Starbucks anytime she wants.