It’s not all ruffles: Meet me and my day job

I realized recently that a lot of ya’ll who are new to SSD don’t know me, so I wanted to take a minute to tell you about me, my job, and why I started this blog.

My name’s Ivana, and I work for AL.com— the biggest online news source in Alabama. We produce three papers across the state, and typically I’m writing several stories a day.

The thing is, I don’t write about entertainment, or style, or food. I cover homicides, fatal fires, fatal car crashes, etc. for half of my day. The other half I spend in courtrooms covering the trials for those responsible for those crimes. I know, ya’ll weren’t expecting that from me.

I always say, I meet people on the worst days of their lives. I’ll never get used to parents finding out their child is dead, or a child being killed in a horrible way. I’ll never be okay with a wife sobbing in court because her husband was murdered from a stray bullet, which was fired from a drug deal across the street. It’s hard, and it doesn’t get easier.

With that being said, I have to believe this job has made me realize that you have to appreciate the small things in life. For me, that’s a good pair of jeans and red lipstick. You have to appreciate your family, like when I have dinner with my fiancé or go shopping with my mama. These are the things that keep me going and motivated to tell the stories of those who can’t.

I’ve had several blogs over the years, but I created SSD in 2016 when I was at a turning point in my career and needed a place to channel my love of all these things, and share what my tips and tricks to being a woman in the south with some dang good style. It’s not been an easy journey to handle this blog AND a full-time job, but it’s totally worth it. I get to do both things I love in the same way: Telling stories.

So, that’s me in a nutshell. Questions about my day job or the Southern Style Diaries? Leave them in the comments because I would love to share! Also, if you ever have requests for posts on this blog, please let me know and I would be happy to do it. 

xoxo

Ivana