#MediaMonday – Lynette Carrington

I love nothing more than living vicariously through all of my friends on Facebook – and I have some pretty fancy friends.

While I sit and watch reruns of Detectives Benson and Stabler solving crimes most nights, my friends are moving and shaking all over the world.

One of the very coolest movers and shakers is none other than Lynette Carrington, syndicated columnist and story teller extraordinaire. Oh, she also happens to be a Shadow Mountain High School alum, just like our own Abbie S. Fink (and Curt Schilling, too)!

I don’t want to spoil her story, though, so I will let her take it from here.

By the way – be sure to read this one all the way until the end. The last bullet is my favorite part of her story…

So, Lynette, time to share!

What do you want to tell the blogosphere about yourself today?

I am the media specialist, features writer and a syndicated columnist for Scottsdale.com and parent company City Brand Media. City Brand Media is also the home of Mesa, Tempe, Chandler, Apache Junction and Fountain Hills.com websites, plus about 400 other city-branded websites in the United States and abroad. What I’d love everyone to know right out of the gate is that I adore storytelling and writing. I enjoy bringing interesting stories to our readers and viewers at Scottsdale.com and City Brand Media, representing Scottsdale.com at events and connecting people in their business, marketing and branding endeavors through our large family of websites. I’m constantly writing about businesses, business owners, special events, restaurants, fundraising galas and luncheons, travel, lifestyle interests and much more.

My journey into writing, marketing and public relations came through a distinctively exciting journey that began with business communications, took a jog into a decade of insurance business management, dove head-first into busy retail business ownership, hung a left at Hollywood and finally came in for a landing in the busy world of Scottsdale.com. I’m often asked how I ultimately got into the type of writing I do currently. The truncated version? I wrote to Vogue Magazine. They published me. The bug bit, and off I went; mach 10 with my hair on fire.

My diverse background in business, marketing, media, entertainment industry PR and all manners of storytelling gives me an undeniably acute edge in creating a great story. I finally stopped counting after 14,000 published articles, because I realize it’s not about quantity anymore. At the end of the day, if somebody is crying, cheering, laughing or speechless after reading what I’ve written, I know I’ve done my job well. If they click the link in the article or pick up the phone to call the business, I know I’ve done my job exceptionally well. I aim for door No. 2 every time.

I am consistently looking to bring fun, informational, heartstring-tugging and important stories to our readers and viewers at Scottsdale.com. I frequently interview celebrities – my area of expertise, because I understand an artist’s mind, yearn to know what drives them, and always want a “peek behind the curtain.” When I am not writing, sourcing stories or providing resources to business owners, I’m traveling, dining out, watching movies, learning from industry professionals, attending my three kiddo’s sports games, or attempting to solve the world’s business challenges over a glass of wine with my husband. Or, I might be doing 200 extra sit-ups to help burn off some of those calories that I gleefully and lustfully engaged in at my most recent media or foodie dinner.

I’m always looking to meet and work with like-minded business, industry and media professionals. Join me on social networking if you don’t mind my intense business prowess coupled with a silly sense of humor.

FUN FACTS —

• I was named after gold medal Australian swimmer in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, Lynette Velma McClements.
• I am an Arizona native.
• My two most elusive interview subjects? Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford.
• I was Arizona’s top-ranked gymnast in floor exercise in 1983.
• I got engaged to my husband only 36 hours after meeting him. We’ve now been married for 22 years.

Connect with me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Arizona Websites – Scottsdale.com, Tempe.com, Mesa.com, ApacheJunction.com, FountainHills.com. A full list of City Brand Media websites can be found here.