Three and a half years ago I came through the Liberty Tunnel for the first time and found myself in the South Hills of Pittsburgh. I was looking for a place for my boyfriend and I to live after graduation that would make for an easy commute downtown, and we heard about this mysterious vehicle called “The T.” We knew absolutely nothing about the area, so we decided to drive around a bit to take a look around. During the drive we realized the South Hills would be our forever home.

I am from Indiana, PA, and I went to Mercyhurst University in Erie, originally to study voice performance. I was lucky enough to meet my now-husband (we are two weeks married!) from Dublin, Ireland on my first day of freshman orientation.

I quickly realized that singing opera is not necessarily my cup of tea, and although I was playing some amazing roles, I began to worry that the stress of constant performing would make my favorite hobby feel more like a chore. So in the middle of sophomore year, my major became my minor (I continued my heavy involvement in the theatre program) and I began studying strategic communication, also known as public relations. At the time, I thought my outgoing personality and my love of writing would make me well-suited to the profession.

I found that my writing fulfills me every bit as much as that final bow to a standing ovation in a full house on opening night. I still get to sing in a church with the marvelous St. Bernard Parish choir, but my main creative outlet has become my writing assignments at work. I was thrilled, after graduation, to begin working with PICT Classic Theatre as the marketing and communications coordinator, and I found myself looking forward to the quiet hours when I could barricade myself in my office (or my living room with my cat, Tonks) to write press releases for the upcoming shows.

My husband and I bought our first home, in Mt. Lebanon, early this year, despite my parents’ pleas for us to move to Murrysville, which would put me two tunnels and one bridge closer to Indiana. We fell in love with Mt. Lebanon the moment we first saw Uptown and set foot into Rollier’s. In fact, our real-estate agent quickly realized we would not be happy with anything not walkable to Uptown. We received calls from him saying, “You will love this one. Tons of charm and only .4 mile walk to the Saloon.”

When PICT hit some tough financial times this summer and laid off the staff, I began looking for work and was delighted to find a posting in my new hometown.

Yesterday was my first day at mtl. I filled out loads of paperwork, met more people than I could possibly remember and crammed thousands of bits of information into my head about internal policies and writing styles. Yet I went home more energized than I have been in years. I am ecstatic to work with such an incredible group of people while doing something that I absolutely adore—writing.

But the best part about it is that I get to write about the wonderful place that I am proud to have chosen for my forever home. I just need to remember to wake up an extra 10 minutes early so that I can grab a quick latte at Uptown Coffee on my walk to work.