Hello! Welcome to Good Girl Gone Redneck. I'm Andrea, and I'm thrilled you're here.
REACH ME
If you're trying to reach me quickly? Email me. Just click my email info and the pop-up window should give you instant access: ACE1028@gmail.com.
ABOUT ME
I'm a licensed clinical social worker living in Durham, North Carolina. I'm an editor and a writer, and communicator extraordinaire (if I do say so myself!). I'm a single mother to an incredible teenager who was born right here in Raleigh, NC in February of 2007.
I relocated from Brooklyn, New York back in 2006 - an absolute game-changer for me.
I love to read, and write, and drink lots and lots of coffee.
I also love being outside when it's a comfortable temperature, and would love to be traveling the world with my daughter - except school (for her) and work (for me) don't permit that quite as much as we'd like.
I love living in the Triangle and have started getting to know local businesses a bit better in recent years. Being a single mom is difficult, but when I do have time to myself I try to ensure I'm spending some of it with friends - and good meals and good drinks and fun new atmospheres are how we do that. Sometimes. Sometimes I'm home catching up on my DVR and Netflix and Hulu and wherever else there's something on that I just MUST watch.
EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCES
I was born and raised in Brooklyn and lived with my parents and brother until I left for college in 1990. I graduated in 1994 from Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY (Long Island), where I received my Bachelors in Communication Arts with a focus on print journalism and a dual minor of English and Psychology.
After obtaining my undergraduate degree I returned home ready to find work. A few months out of school I found a job working for a tax publishing company. I worked there for nine years. I switched jobs and departments several times over the almost-decade. I held supervisory positions and transitioned from print publications to working on their online database and systems. I also held a role where I was responsible [and on-call, back in the days of pagers!] for monitoring web content for their newly (at the time) launched business website.
About 4-5 years in I decided to make a change. I started taking classes at Fordham University's School of Social Services at Columbus Circle in NYC. I took four classes before enrolling in the program so I would be 100% certain that this new career path was the direction I wanted to take. I attended classes at night while working at my publishing job during the day. For a while there I was - as I often explain - working 21 hrs/week, attending school 2-3 nights/week AND doing a 21 hour internship each week - all over the course of a 5-day workweek. As you can guess, this grew tiring, and after nine years at my company I decided to go to school full-time.
WHO I AM AND WHERE TO FIND ME
Over the years my writing has gone from focusing on motherhood and living in the south to covering a wonderful combination of life, love, relationships, mental health and my passion for reading.
I've been a writer for as long as I can remember. I am so very proud to share my words. I've been published on a number of websites and in several books.
If you'd like to see my professional resume, you can find all of that information, along with many references and recommendations on LinkedIn.
