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Cara Ellen Modisett
- Female
- Roanoke, VA
- United States
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Profile Information
- Title:
- Editor, Blue Ridge Country magazine
- Company:
- Leisure Publishing Company
- Company Website:
- http://www.BlueRidgeCountry.com
- Media Type:
- Publishing, Radio
- Media Realm:
- City & Regional
- Home Region:
- South
- I'm Looking For:
- Friends, Networking, Inspiration
- Professional Background: (Resume)
- Cara Ellen Modisett, a native of Harrisonburg, Va. and a summa cum laude graduate of James Madison University, has been on staff at Leisure Publishing since 1998; in 2005 she became editor of Blue Ridge Country magazine, Leisure’s international-award-winning travel bimonthly, established in 1988 with a current readership of 425,000.
During her tenure as editor, Modisett has created and guided the award-winning special issue and web content “The Faces of Mountain Music,” and developed a joint public radio series, “The Voices of Mountain Music,” followed by an annual series of themed issues. She has instituted expanded environmental coverage in the magazine and recruited guest columnists including novelists Ron Rash, Robert Morgan, Adriana Trigiani, Homer Hickam and Sharyn McCrumb; West Virginia Poet Laureate Irene McKinney; singer Kathy Mattea; National Public Radio producer Paul Brown and author and former NPR “All Things Considered Host” Noah Adams.
Over her years at Leisure, Modisett has edited and written for The Roanoker, the state's longest-running city magazine, and Mountain Homes, Leisure's successful homes publication; she edited two annual editions of Milepost, produced with the Blue Ridge Parkway/National Park Service. She also contributed to the debut issue of the Blue Ridge Parkway/Smokies Travel Guide and has edited annual visitor/newcomer guides for the Roanoke, Smith Mountain Lake and Lake Country regions of Virginia, and she has developed, written and/or edited special publications including For Women Only, the Western Virginia Retirement Guide and the Western Virginia Technology Guide. She has built a talented resource pool of more than 300 writers and 700 photographers in the region.
In 2005, she was named among the Top 20 Under 40 in western Virginia by the Blue Ridge Business Journal, and she has written the text for two books on the Blue Ridge Parkway, released by Farcountry Press. Her freelance work has appeared in publications including American Forests, Virginia Living and Popular Photography's online publication.
Modisett co-produces “Studio Virginia,” a weekly arts show for WVTF/Virginia Public Radio, and has received state, national and international awards in writing, editing and broadcast. Interview subjects for radio and magazine have included performers Joan Baez, Sam Bush, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Jerry Douglas, Bela Fleck, Doyle Lawson, Edgar Meyer, Dan Tyminski, Ralph Stanley I and II, Rhonda Vincent, Victor Wooten, Tim O’Brien, Tony Rice, Del McCoury, Mark O’Connor, Doc Watson, Eddie from Ohio, the Turtle Island String Quartet and Nickel Creek’s Sean Watkins and Chris Thile; Terry Gross of NPR’s “Fresh Air”; cowboy poet Baxter Black; composer Gunther Schuller; journalists Ted Koppel and Sam Donaldson; poets Charles Wright and Nikki Giovanni; former pro basketball player Bryant Stith; former NASCAR driver Ward Burton; photographer Sally Mann and painter P. Buckley Moss.
Besides her magazine and radio work, Modisett is a performing classical pianist. While at JMU, she was an award-winning writer and columnist for The Breeze and founding editor of Fugue, the honors program's arts journal. She holds degrees in piano performance (B.M.) and English education, and lives in Roanoke with her husband, Phil Atkins, and two cats.
Additional experience/recognitions:
WRITING INSTRUCTION
• Workshop leader, Roanoke Regional Writers Conference, January 2009
• Recruitment and supervision of editorial and photography interns, Leisure Publishing
• Workshop leader, Roanoke Regional Writers Conference, January 2008
• Workshop leader, Tennessee Mountain Writers annual conference, April 2004 and 2006
• Workshop leader, Virginia Highlands Festival, August 2005
• Mentor, Roanoke County Public Schools INSIGHT program, 2003-2004
• Six-week nonfiction course, Hidden Valley High School communications program, Spring 2004
• Writing instruction/mentoring, two Community High School students, 2003-2004
• Taught one-day nonfiction writing workshop, Tennessee Mountain Writers, Fall 2002
• Assistant Head Counselor, University of Virginia Young Writers Workshop, Charlottesville, VA, June-July 1996
Designed and taught courses in writing, literature and music. Assisted songwriting workshop instructor Greg Howard and designed follow-up courses.
ADDITIONAL WRITING/PUBLISHING
• Introduction and text for Blue Ridge Parkway Simply Beautiful, to be released summer 2008 by Farcountry Press
• Managing Editor, Blue Ridge Parkway/National Park Service Milepost, 2006, 2007
• Article in Popular Photography’s online publication, October 22, 2003
• Introduction and text for Blue Ridge Parkway Impressions, released summer 2003 by Farcountry Press
• Online column, “Off the Clock,” TheRoanoker.com, Spring 2003
• Freelance articles published in Virginia Living, American Forests, Montpelier, and Bridgewater magazines
• Editor, High Vistas, newsletter for nonprofit Friends of the Blue Ridge Parkway, 1999-2007
• Senior Writer and Columnist, James Madison University Breeze, 1997-1998
• Founder and Editor, James Madison University Honors Program Fugue: A Journal of the Arts, 1994-1997
ACADEMICS
• External Review Committee for James Madison University English Department, Harrisonburg, Va., March 2008
CONFERENCES/MEMBERSHIPS
• Great Smoky Mountains Sustainable Tourism Summit, April 2008
• Advisory Board, Blue Ridge Parkway 75th Anniversary, 2006
• Session leader, North Georgia tourism Winter Chautauqua, March 2006
• Panelist, West Virginia Association of CVBs Annual Conference, January 2006
• Panelist, International Regional Magazine Association Conference, San Antonio, Texas, September 2005
• International Regional Magazine Association Conference, Bar Harbour, ME, September 2004
• Nieman Foundation Conference for Narrative Journalism, Cambridge, MA, December 2003
• Hidden Valley High School Center for Mass Communications Advisory Committee, 2003-2005
• Served as speaker, panelist and moderator for events through Roanoke City and Botetourt County public schools; Roanoke College; Community High School; Roanoke Public Libraries
• Steering Committee, Local Colors, 2001-present
• Founding member, Obligato, obligatomusic.com
• Virginia Press Women/National Federation of Press Women
• Friday Morning Music Club of Washington, D. C., performance member
Arts Council of the Blue Ridge, member
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
• Representative, American Red Cross, Appalachian Region Blood Services campaign, 2007, 2008
• Musician/honorary member, Kiwanis Club of Roanoke Valley, approx. 2000-2008
- Personal Interests
- Travel, reading, classical piano/chamber music.
- Education:
- B.A. English, B.M. piano performance, James Madison University
- Other Web Profile or Personal Web Site
- http://www.facebook.com/pages/Blue-Ridge-Country/19087383530
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