Letter from the publisher: closing this chapter

“My time has come to an end.” These are the awkward words that came out of my mouth when telling my boss I was leaving the paper. Those words were so awkward because they were something I never imagined saying.

Newspapers have consumed pretty much my entire professional life. I started 14 years ago as a receptionist with Steamboat Today (hired by the man who is now my current boss). I worked in Steamboat for five and a half years, Summit for one and a half years, and have spent the last seven years dedicated to the Sky-Hi News and Grand County.

I’ve met some incredible people and grown significantly as a professional over those years. I would not be where I am today without this community and the many lessons I have learned along the way. I can’t tell you how many times I have had to tell friends, “You have to do your job and I have to do mine and sometimes we won’t see eye-to-eye.”

I also owe my career to my best friend and mentor, Meg Boyer, who passed away from cancer in December 2021 at the incredibly young age of 40. If you met her, you knew she was something special and a force to be reckoned with. She saw something in me and pushed me to be the best version of myself. She believed in me when others did not and helped me grow significantly.  She saw my value even when I did not.

Honestly, since her passing, I’ve felt a huge hole in my life personally and professionally. I’ve felt like the newspaper business is not the same without her. Weekly I pick up my phone to vent or ask her advice on how I should handle something. I’m thankful for other mentors that have stepped in, but no one will ever fill the void she has left.

I am so passionate about this community and paper. I believe that the work we do is important and know for a fact that all the staff that has been here over the last seven years took their job seriously. I know we haven’t always gotten everything perfect, but I know we tried and made it right when we weren’t.

What many people don’t know about my role is that 75% of my time was dedicated to serving as the Director of Sales Training and Development for Swift Communications. In that role, I was responsible for helping develop sales training and onboarding programs for all salespeople in the company. I tell you this to say that I was a well-known face of the paper, but many of my daily duties fell outside of the Sky-Hi News.

That said, the Sky-Hi News will continue without me. Providing coverage of the topics that are important and providing small business marketing solutions to help them grow.

As for me, I love learning, so I have decided to leave the newspaper industry and start a new adventure. I will continue to serve this community just in a different capacity. I will be focusing the next couple of months of my life studying and getting licensed (hopefully) to be a financial advisor. My last day is May 5.

My parting request is that you continue to send news tips (this county is HUGE) and continue to turn to and support the Sky-Hi News. I am leaving this paper in good hands, and they will continue to publish online and twice a week in print.

I used to always say in my columns that my door is always open, but my door is now shut at the Sky-Hi News.