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.