Rising Stars: Meet Lisa Snedeker of Downtown

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lisa Snedeker.

Hi Lisa, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I am a communications expert creating high-quality multimedia content for the web, social, and print. A magazine, newspaper, and wire service veteran, I excel at media relations and communications as a result of working for more than three decades as a print and broadcast journalist. I have served as a higher-ed administrator for nearly 15 years. I have taught communications, journalism, broadcasting, French, and English as a Second Language (ESL) at several universities and community colleges. I am currently the Communications and Marketing Director for Campbell University School of Law, and I teach various communications classes for Campbell University’s Adult and Online Education Department. Before coming to Campbell, I was the first Communications and Marketing Director for the Wake Forest University School of Law for over a decade. I am also a freelance writer for various publications, including Raleigh Magazine. I have been on the Friends of the City of Raleigh Museum volunteer board, serving as the Events Committee Chair for nearly two years. I am also on the Koka Booth Amphitheatre Advisory Board for the Town of Cary, where I have served for four years. I am also a member of the Raleigh Chamber of Commerce Leadership Raleigh Class of 39. I met my husband in Las Vegas, where I was a newswoman for The Associated Press at the time. He was an editor at the Las Vegas Sun, where I was an editor before earning my master’s degree from the University of Illinois at Springfield in Public Affairs Reporting.

I moved to North Carolina 20 years ago with my husband, John Trump, who is the editor of The Carolina Journal. We lived in Fayetteville, where we were both editors for The Fayetteville Observer, for four years. Our twin boys, Jackson and Jacob Trump were born in the Cape Fear Valley Medical Center. We moved to the Triad in 2006, where we lived in Madison, just north of Greensboro, for 11 years before moving to Triangle in 2017.

While I was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, my hometown is Marshall, Illinois, where both sides of my family homesteaded, and my parents live on our Centennial farm. I have lived in more than 50 places, and I went to four schools in second grade. Growing up, we lived in Guam, Japan, outside Tokyo, Alaska, Hawaii, Florida, Washington State, Texas, North Carolina, Illinois, and Indiana, among others. I spent a semester in France while an undergraduate at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, which was the oldest all-women’s Catholic college in the nation. After graduation in 1987, I went to China, where I taught English to graduate students and served as a training manager for Sheraton International until 1988. You can learn more here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisasnedeker/

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Is anyone’s road smooth? I sincerely doubt it. But moving around a LOT as a child, I think, made me resilient and a perpetual optimist. I nearly died from an infection after giving birth to my boys, so I consider every day a gift. When faced with a challenge, I consider it a new opportunity rather than an obstacle. And when I am faced with something I truly am not sure I can handle, I turn it over to the Lord and let His will be done. The best lessons I have learned are that life isn’t fair, we are not owed anything, and that God will never give you more than you can handle, especially if you turn your struggles over to Him.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a music writer on the side, and I started a blog in 2014: https://wordpress.com/view/musicreporterblog.wordpress.com, which now has more than 22,000 views/followers. I started the blog because life is too short to listen to mediocre music. I have been writing about performers — many of whom you may have never heard of — for over three decades for numerous media outlets, including The Associated Press. And The Huffington Post. I have interviewed hundreds of artists ranging from Taylor Swift to Rickey Medlocke to Steve Earle to Sam Bush and reviewed even more concerts and music festivals, including MerleFest, Floydfest, the Charlie Poole Festival, the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Front Porch Fest, Shakori Music Festival, Red Wing Roots and Rooster Walk Music and Arts Festival. Now a freelance entertainment writer who calls North Carolina home, she focuses on area music festivals and musicians to expose their offerings and talents to broader audiences. Follow her on Twitter @lisa_snedeker. I look forward to covering MerleFest 2022 in just a few weeks to kick off this year’s music festival season.

Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I have always been naturally curious and was constantly trying new things, even if I wasn’t very good at them, such as playing volleyball and basketball or downhill skiing (I am not very coordinated or athletic, although I love to run, and bike, hike, and swim). I have always loved reading and music. When I was in fifth grade, I would check out a Nancy Drew book from the school library, take it home and read it in one night. I still do that but have moved on to more non-fiction books, although I am a fan of the Reese Witherspoon Book Club fiction picks! I am also a talker and have never met a stranger. My co-workers find me amusing, although my nephew does not think I am funny (this is an inside joke), and my students see me as entertaining (I hope).

Contact Info:

• Website: https://wordpress.com/view/musicreporterblog.wordpress.com
• Instagram: @lsned
• Twitter: @lisa_snedeker
• Other: www.halfwaysouth.com