Contributors

Laura Barnard

Laura Barnard lives in Madison and is mom to a hilarious set of twins. When she's not sitting in car line or waiting for the bus, she's the owner of Sweet Tea Communications, a public relations, graphic design and website design company. Her family loves exploring, traveling, sports, music, and their family dog.

Latoya Binford

Latoya Binford was born and raised in Huntsville, AL. She wears many hats and often changes them out by the second - including wife, mom, teacher, writer, speaker, and blogger just to name a few. She's wife to Sidney, her high school sweetheart, and mom to four daughters, Jordyn, Lauryn, Carmyn, and Camylle! Her house is chaotic, loud, and dripping in girlitude. She is an alumna of AAA, Lee High School, and UAH, holding both a Bachelor's and Master's degree in Communication. She has many passions, but among the top are family, food, traveling, and writing. Her many adventures can be read about on over at The Binford Way of Life.

Taralyn Caudle

Taralyn Caudle is a freelance writer and Huntsville native who returned to her hometown to raise her beautiful and energetic daughter, Gabby. When she’s not nurturing the talents of her budding artist, she can be found on the hunt for good food, good music, or a good deal on a pair of shoes. Practically possessed by politics, purple, and Prince, she loves alliteration (obviously) and has been known to quote music lyrics in everyday conversation, from Hall & Oates to Kanye West Kendrick Lamar. Her current philosophy on life: a little bit of sarcasm and a whole lot of laughter never hurt anybody.

Sam Chow

Sam Chow was born and raised in the Mississippi Delta. A 5th grade field trip to Space Camp started his lifelong love of technology and engineering. He juggled working in Huntsville while studying for his engineering degree at Mississippi State and moved here full-time in 2001. He and his lovely wife Connie were married in 2006 and currently have a five year old and a nine year old, a dog, and a cat. In his spare time he enjoys training and watching mixed martial arts, watching old foreign films, reading, and video gaming.

Melissa Davison

Melissa Davison is a former Youth Services Librarian turned Stay-at-Home-Mom of 2 boys and 1 girl. Married to her high school sweetheart since 2001, she moved with her family to Madison in 2013 from North Carolina and loves exploring her adopted home. When she's not volunteering with Cub Scouts or the PTA, you can find Melissa drinking caffeinated beverages, knitting, or trying to work her way through her massive To-Read list.

Christal Gamble

Christal Gamble was raised in Triana, Alabama and graduated from Bob Jones High School. After spending 15 years in fast-paced Atlanta as an Art Gallery Director, Christal decided that she missed her Sweet Home Alabama and came back to reside in the very place she grew up. She’s now a full time wife, homeschool mom and blogger that enjoys reading, fine art, traveling, spending time outdoors, and volunteering with Triana Friends of the Library. You can find Christal and her 7 year old, Cash, encouraging and helping other parents with Learning at Home through their Multi-platform online presence, @Mamasweetbaby.

Karen Gann

Karen Gann had a marketing communications career in high tech before taking a sharp turn into stay-at-home-momdom and homeschooling. She grew up in the Tennesse Valley, lives in Huntsville, and is wife to the wittiest man alive, mother to two head-strong and independent girls (they're adorable, really), and human caregiver to the cats. Addictions include Facebook, Pinterest, NYC's Radio Lab, coffee, food, and politics (not necessarily in that order but sometimes all at the same time). She's also the marketing director for Pandia Press in her spare time.

Cornelius Joe II

Cornelius Joe II is a food influencer with a family focus. He's a husband and father of two little girls, and they love all kinds of food in their household! Watch as he makes awesome recipes, tries new foods, and discovers amazing new restaurants. Follow their cooking adventures on the  RecipeJoes YouTube channel.

Victoria Hewlett

Born and raised in Pasadena, CA, I now call Alabama home. While growing up, my parents loved exploring and traveling and so I am always on the lookout for new places to explore with my family (if I’m not behind the desk being an auditor). I have three wonderful children, ages 2, 9, and 13, a wonderful husband, a turtle and a cat. Life is precious and short. I love the saying “we travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us.”

Sallie Keene

Sallie Keene is a food-motivated fast talker (it’s probably all the coffee) and Enneagram 3 — and a Huntsville native and single mom. After moving away for college and a job in Atlanta, she saw Huntsville growing and excitedly returned to town in 2013. Sallie loves all the local coffee, but if you made her choose a favorite, it’d be the Salted Caramel Latte from Canadian Bakin! An Interior Designer by trade, she’s passionate about motherhood, all things Huntsville and social media. When she's not working, Sallie enjoys serving our city as a volunteer, reading as fast and as much as she can, supporting local, female-owned businesses and exploring Huntsville with her daughter, Keely.

Jennifer Kelly

Jennifer Kelly grew up in the Birmingham area, but migrated to Huntsville for graduate school and put down roots after meeting her husband, Jamie. In addition to being a mom to her two boys, she is a tennis ninja, trivia nerd, freelance editor, and aspiring writer. You can visit her at The Sir Barton Project, a blog about her upcoming book.

Haley Loveday

Haley Loveday likes apple juice in a wine glass and the smell of freshly snuffed candles. She's a mother, a wife, a book worm, a writer, and a renaissance craft woman. She loves the rain, movies, and live theatre. She's absolutely terrible at high fives, but will never quit trying. She has a breathlessly wild daughter, Emmylou, who is just as much punk as she is princess, and a beautiful wife, Marge, that would move mountains to make her happy. She was born in Huntsville, raised in Jasper, then found her way back by way of Space Camp counseling in the summer of 2014. Rocket City has been her home ever since.

Christa Landingham

Christa Landingham and her husband are Madison County natives and life-long residents. They have boy/girl twins and two crazy puppers. She loves all things teaching, organizing, and supporting local small businesses. In her “free-time” she loves to garden, travel with her family, volunteer, and comb local thrift stores. Pearl Jam is her jam.

Shannan Moore Malone

Shannan Moore Malone squeezes in the time to write while taking care of the Buddy Man. As you already know, she loves books but she also loves great movies, running, and is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, a foodie. Though generally more on the quiet side, you can get her talking by mentioning living authentically, the importance of clarity and organization, and enjoying life, which she occasionally writes about on her blog her blog and posts about on Instagram.

Jenni McCarty

Jenni McCarty is a wife, mom of four, l'il bit granola, jean-wearer, iced coffee drinker, home schooler, more than just a little obsessed with photography, frustrated organizer (see “mom of four”) yet ironically logical, Pinterest addict and Facebook follower, sufferer of ADCD (attention deficit crafters disorder), displaced Alaskan. She opened Jenni M Photography in 2012 and she really enjoys blogging about her personal family adventures whenever she has a chance.

Tab McGee

Tab McGee was born at Huntsville Hospital and raised in Decatur. She lives with her husband who is known as “The Crane Ninja”, and 4 children on their farm in Elkmont. Tab spends most of her time homeschooling her kids, taking care of their animals, and rolling up to the soccer fields in her van. She is always looking for fun things to do with the kids and places to explore, especially if animals are involved, she even loves bugs. Some of her favorite things to do in her free time include reading self improvement books, cooking, organizing, drinking smoothies, and she is always excited to learn something new.

Shannon Miller

Shannon Miller is a coffee-loving wife and mother of two who lives and works in the heart of Huntsville, Alabama. As the director of marketing for an e-commerce startup by day and owner of lifestyle brand Hettie Joan by night, she has managed the Rocket City Mom events calendar since 2014.

Heather Morgan

Heather Morgan is from Enterprise, Alabama, but she traded the allergies of the coastal plain for the allergies of the Tennessee Valley. She is a former outdoor environmental educator who enjoys walking in the woods, splashing in creeks, and searching for insects, snakes, and other critters. When at home, she spends more time outside than in, especially in her pool or on her back porch where she can keep an eye on her bird feeders and her gardening fails. She and her husband moved to the Madison area 18 years ago after meeting at the University of Alabama. They, along with their 9-year-old son Luke and 13-year-old German Shepherd mix Anni, moved into Madison City proper in 2020. What Heather likes most about the area is the overall kid friendliness, the schools, and the abundance of natural and other green spaces. When she’s inside, she can be found cooking, reading nonfiction, daydreaming about international travel, and watching broody, British detective shows. She is a stay-at-home mom and Co-founder of I Vote Madison, a non-partisan voter engagement organization.

Taina Nixon

Taina Nixon is a Christian, lifelong public health professional, and a grade-A sister-friend. Most people call her Tai. She loves to laugh and spend quality time with her loved ones, especially her husband, and her baby boy. She's obsessed with all things rose gold, and spends way too much time watching political dramas. She's been oversharing on the internet for over a decade. As a public health professional, she knows how important it is to have other women to talk to & relate shared experiences of self development, career choices, friendship, dating, marriage, and motherhood. All women need and deserve a tribe of other like-minded women with whom they can do life! See more of her work on AbundantlyTiny.com.

David Parham

David grew up in Birmingham, went to college in Tuscaloosa, and currently lives in Huntsville as an engineer. David loves exploring the outdoors exploring Huntsville and its surrounding areas seeing all the different views, caves, and waterfalls with his 2 daughters and wife.

Kelli Pavlovec

Kelli Pavlovec writes as a hobby and as a career. She loves running in the rain, old British TV shows, reading fantastic literature, and all things nature. She’s taking a course on Fiction Writing this semester and hopes to finally write and publish some books which she’ll post at kellipav.com.

Mandy Pinyan

Mandy Pinyan has been a passionate book lover from an early age, where being busted for bringing Stephen King to school (a book, not the guy) led to much reading by flashlight. She turned out okay. She is the Youth Services Coordinator and Manager of Outreach Services at the Huntsville Madison County Public Library Extension and Outreach Department, where she can be seen driving a Rainbow Van or a Bookmobile in between gigs. Mom to a tween, Adelyn and wife to a ruggedly handsome outdoorsman with an obsession with planting bamboo, Mandy finds enjoyment in painting, gardening and geeking out over various pop culture. A small menagerie of pets - dachshunds Matt Damon and Angel, kitty BB and Boston-Chihuahua-chupacabra mix Bailey just make the chaos complete.

Rockie Price

Rockie Price is from the DC area, she moved here in the fall of 2019. She is the proud momma to Mira & Luke. Her fur-babies are Dylan and Frank. She's married to her best friend, Dave Price. She is passionate about body positivity, mental health awareness, low tox living and Jesus. Since moving to the Madison area, the Price family has enjoyed lots of weekend trips, local breweries, and searching places to fly Dave's drone. If you follow her on Instagram you'll see lots of this wild family's adventures, probably learn a little bit about oils, and definitely learn about her dogs.

Beth Ridgeway

Beth Ridgeway lives in Madison with her husband, daughter, and toy poodle. She works as the Social Media Specialist at the Huntsville/Madison County Convention & Visitors Bureau. When she’s not volunteering or working, you can find her binge watching Netflix, reading, or rehearsing improv.

Grayson Schmidt

Grayson is a stay at home mom of one sweet baby girl. She moved from Music City, her hometown, to Rocket City in 2018 after she married her husband, Peter. They toured a few cities in the Southeast, in search of a place to call home, and when they visited Huntsville, it felt just like that. Her favorite things about Huntsville are Tinsel Trail, her church, and Big Spring Park. Grayson loves a good thrift store find and having people over for dinner. She and her husband also do photography in Huntsville. You can see their website and her blog at peterandgrayson.com.

Andrea Stewart

Andi Stewart is a Decatur-native, who spent over a decade living in Miami. She finally returned home, married a boy she’s known since childhood, and loves raising her family in the hometown she adores. She has two children, a son and a daughter. She’s a professional Environmental Engineer who balances a full-time career with motherhood. She’s run more marathons than she can count (mostly because she really enjoys eating) and she loves her daily barre class and traveling. She is passionate about her River City community and when she’s not volunteering, she’s enjoying all her city has to offer.

Nalee Suh

Nalee Suh is a transplant from Atlanta who has called Huntsville her home since 2013. A stay at home mom to two adorable young children, she is now finding the time to get back to the things she enjoys. She and her husband own Huntsville's Classy Beauty Supply, a fun retail business that keeps her in the world of beauty! When she’s not running after her two littles or filling in at work, she enjoys trying all things new - bakeries, parks & playgrounds, coffee shops, boutiques, and restaurants!

Yonder Girl

Kailani, trail name Yonder Girl, is an avid hiker, nature lover, and sometimes photographer. She spends her hours after school drafting and writing... all while being a normal 4th grader with friends, homework, and weekly spelling and vocabulary tests. She blogs about her travels and adventures in hopes of inspiring other girls to love being outside as much as she does. Learn more at Yonder Girl.

Rocket City Mom

Rocket City Mom is a website about raising children in and around Huntsville, Alabama. Started in late 2010 by a local mom and newcomer to Huntsville, Rocket City Mom has grown into a thriving community of local parents and now boasts a staff of four, thirteen regular contributors, and tens of thousands of Tennessee Valley readers making it the #1 Parenting Resource in North Alabama.

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